Intent

Characteristics of a Religious Scholar

• An outstanding level of religious understanding and knowledge.
• A thorough engagement with a range of ultimate questions about the meaning and significance of existence.
• The ability to ask significant and highly reflective questions about religion and demonstrate an excellent understanding of issues related to the nature, truth and value of religion.
• A strong understanding of how the beliefs, values, practices and ways of life within any religion cohere together.
• Exceptional independence; the ability to think for themselves and take the initiative in, for example, asking questions, carrying out investigations, evaluating ideas and working constructively with others.
• Significant levels of originality, imagination or creativity, which are shown in their responses to their learning in RE.
• The ability to link the study of religion and belief to personal reflections on meaning and purpose.
• A wide knowledge and deep understanding across a wide range of religions and beliefs. 

Aspirations For The Future

Pupils develop an understanding of how subjects and specific skills are linked to future jobs. 
 

Here are some of the jobs you could aspire to do in the future as a Religious Scholar:

Vicar

Chaplain

Member of Parliament

Journalist

Advice Worker

Charity fundraiser

Youth worker

For more careers, please visit First Careers.

Implementation

Our pupils should be able to organise their knowledge, skills and understanding around the following learning concepts:

• Understand beliefs and teachings
• Understand practices and lifestyles
• Understand how beliefs are conveyed
• Reflect
• Understand values

These key concepts underpin learning in each milestone. This enables pupils to reinforce and build upon prior learning, make connections and develop subject specific language. 

At Woodhouse West, we follow the Discovery RE^®   approach to Religious Education.

This is an enquiry based learning approach from Foundation Stage to Year 6.  These enquiry based learning sessions support the teacher to deliver engaging and challenging RE lessons. 

Christianity is taught in every year group and develops children's learning, building on their knowledge and skills in a progressive way.

Discovery RE is used to support the teaching of RE across the school to ensure consistency and a high level of teaching throughout. It advocates an enquiry model (recommended by Ofsted in “Religious education: realising the potential”, 2013) with a 4-step approach as the basis for implementation. RE is taught once a week and every unit (enquiry) is based around a key question. The key question for the enquiry is such that it demands an answer that weighs up ‘evidence’ (subject knowledge) and reaches a conclusion based on this. This necessitates children using their subject knowledge and applying it to the enquiry question, rather than this knowledge being an end in itself. Discovery RE focuses on critical thinking skills, on personal reflection into the child’s own thoughts and feelings, on growing subject knowledge and nurturing spiritual development

Impact

The impact of our curriculum is measured in terms of the extent to which pupils have developed new knowledge, understanding and skills and that they can use and recall this with fluency.  

This will be measured by:

• Lesson observations and work scrutiny
• Termly testing and teacher assessments, pupil progress meetings, reporting to governors etc.
• Internal and external moderation
• Subject review, feedback and action plans
• Reporting to parents
• Pupil voice – questionnaires, pupil book reviews
• Subject Leader monitoring – Lesson visits, scrutiny of books, assessment, pupil interviews and questionnaires 
• Outcomes at the end of EYFS, KS1 and KS2 
• ASPIRE Awards
• Governor monitoring

Collective Worship

All staff and children meet for collective worship, which takes a variety of forms. The content of our assemblies encourages a positive school ethos of tolerance, caring and understanding for all. Assemblies are used to reinforce and develop our school standards.