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Religious Education

Our curriculum is underpinned by British Values. 

Religious Education at Ormesby, is an important subject and our curriculum follows the Norfolk Agreed Syllabus. Two-thirds of our RE studies are based upon Christianity (in class lessons and through special themed days) with the other third being made up of a study of a different world faith and a comparative study between religions. We have four blocks of RE teaching across the year. The main purpose of our curriculum is to enable pupils to become more religiously literate. This means providing them with the knowledge and understanding of religion and belief, so that they are able to hold informed and balanced discussions about it. This essential outcome is achieved by teaching pupils through three equal disciplines: Theology, Philosophy and Human/Social Sciences.

 Theology: Thinking through believing. It is about asking questions that believers would ask. It requires pupils to think like theologians or to look through a theological lens at concepts. It looks at where beliefs come from, how they have changed over time, how they are applied differently in different contexts and how they relate to each other.

Philosophy: Thinking through thinking. It is about asking questions that thinkers would ask. It requires pupils to think like philosophers or to look through a philosophical lens at concepts. It is about finding out how and whether things make sense. It deals with questions of morality and ethics. It takes seriously the nature of reality, knowledge and existence

 Human/Social Sciences: Thinking through living. It is about asking questions that people who study lived reality or phenomena would ask. It requires pupils to think like human and social scientists or to look through a human/social science lens at concepts. It explores the diverse ways in which people practise their beliefs. It engages with the impact of beliefs on individuals, communities and societies. 

The link below is a video explaining the three disciplines in more detail. 

Curriculum Design in Religious Education - #balancedRE - YouTube

RE at Ormesby Village Infant and Junior Schools Federation is also designed to enable pupils to flourish as unique individuals, to develop their SMSC characters and to link well to other areas of the curriculum to practise further their reading, writing and vocabulary skills. Several elements are used to support learning, but our main resource comes from Understanding Christianity, Diocesan planning, Growing Foundations (EYFS) and our local Church community. RE is assessed against Diocesan approved age-related expectations driven by the three disciplines above.