RE Curriculum Rationale

At West Malling, pupils and their families can expect a high-quality Religious Education (RE) curriculum that is enquiry led, challenging and varied. The rich curriculum enables learners to acquire a thorough knowledge, understanding and respect of a range of faiths and world views. As a church school, the teaching of Christianity is at the heart of our RE curriculum.

Substantive Content

The substantive content for the West Malling RE curriculum is:

• ambitiously broad in scope (exceeding the demands of the National Curriculum; for example, using ‘Understanding Christianity’ and ‘Golden Threads’ resources to deepen and enrich theological concepts)
• meticulous in rigour (expectations are high in challenging pupils to enquire, analyse, interpret, evaluate and reflect, in turn deepening their understanding of the impact of Religion and world views as lived by believers)
• highly coherent (intricate links have been built within faiths and between faiths enabling children to make connections and foster a respect for them)
• carefully sequenced (learning is carefully repeated and built upon throughout KS1 and KS2 with an explicit focus on text, vocabulary, impact and making connections, so that pupils can make sense of complex concepts)

Disciplinary Content

The disciplinary aspect of the subject directly fosters the critical and creative aspects of learning, and these are strengthened by the distinctive demands of the subject.

Pupils will learn to:

• Hold theologically informed discussions.
• Be inquisitive, ask and respond to theological questions.
• Demonstrate an informed and respectful attitude to Religions and world views in their search for God and meaning.
• Reflect critically and responsibly on their own spiritual, philosophical and ethical convictions.