Religious Education

RE is that people celebrate and believe in different things and that is ok!

Intent

At Tibshelf Infant and Nursery School our Religious Education curriculum follows the Derbyshire Agreed Syllabus 2025-2030 and is designed to spark curiosity and wonder in our young learners. We aim to introduce children to the “big questions” of life by exploring what people believe and how those beliefs shape their daily lives.

The Principal Aim of RE, outlined by the Derbyshire Agreed Syllabus is –

At Tibshelf Infant and Nursery School we intend to provide a curriculum to our children that allows them to:

• Use RE to ask and answer big questions about life, God, and what it means to be human.
• Learn about different religions and beliefs in our local community and the wider world around them.
• Learn to listen to others’ ideas and express their own thoughts with kindness and respect.
• Gain a clear understanding of various faiths to help shape personal values and identity.
• Provide time for pupils to think about their own “ways of living” and personal responses to life’s questions.
• Learn to explore and understand stories, symbols, and other sources such as artefacts and artwork.
• Explain their own beliefs and experiences clearly while valuing the right of others to be different, linking to our work in school around British Values.

Following the Derbyshire Agreed Syllabus, our curriculum is built around three key strands to fulfil the principal aims of Religious Education: 

Believing – exploring religious beliefs and questions about meaning, purpose and truth

Expressing – religious and spiritual forms of expression, questions about identity and diversity

Living – religious practices and ways of living, questions about values and commitments.

Implementation

RE is taught every half term throughout the year in line with Derbyshire and Derby City Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education 2025-2030. 

It is important that RE is delivered within a safe, secure and supportive learning environment where pupils can question and reflect on both their own and others religious beliefs. We foster a reflective approach to learning by encouraging an open and honest enquiry, a growing self-understanding and respecting the rights of others to hold different beliefs.

The RE subject leader has created a ‘whole school overview’ to ensure that all aspects of the syllabus are well covered throughout the school. This information has been passed on to all teachers for them to utilise and plan the RE lessons for their class for the term. Key knowledge has been identified that we aim for our children to learn as part of each unit of work with key vocabulary alongside this.

In the Early Years, children explore Religious Education the through both continuous provision activities and direct adult taught sessions. Religious Education is taught using the Derbyshire Agreed Syllabus 2025-30 which brings a renewed focus on a ‘worldview’s’ approach, which is well integrated into our Early Years Foundation Stage. Children also learn about major festivals and traditions of other religions as appropriate during RE lessons, topic sessions and during Assemblies throughout the school year. Whilst we realise that it is not statutory for Nursery children to take part in Religious Education, we are keen to expose children to the themes through stories, resources and play-based learning.

In Key Stage One, children have a Religious Education lesson weekly, where they explore a Key Question each term. Other festivals and celebrations are covered throughout the year as part of the wider curriculum and during Assemblies. We also have several visits a year from Vally CIDs, who do engaging assemblies with our Key Stage One children.

RE is taught in various ways including stories, artefacts, the internet, art and drama. These learning opportunities will be further enriched with the use of assemblies, artefacts, visitors and visits where appropriate. Children will be given the opportunity to reflect on prior learning and build upon this to allow them to gain a deeper understanding.

Our curriculum is adapted to the needs of all our children, including those with SEND. As a core part of the curriculum all pupils must be taught RE. However, parents have the right to withdraw their children from the subject after discussion with the Head teacher if they wish to provide their own Religious Education for their child.

Impact

At Tibshelf Infant and Nursery school our children will develop self-confidence in relation to their own religious views whilst having a good understanding and appreciation of others. This will be further enhanced by links to PSHCE and British Values. Children will be able to reflect on what they have learnt in school and transfer this to the wider community. Children will gain a broad and balanced understanding of RE, with their knowledge being built on and deepened each year.

The children at Tibshelf Infant and Nursery School enjoy learning about other religions and why people choose or choose not to follow a religion. Through learning in RE lessons, the children can make links between their own lives and those of others in their community and in the wider world. Through R.E. our children are developing an understanding of other people’s cultures and ways of life, which they are then able to communicate to the wider community.