Religious Education

At Harpenden Academy, we have decided to use Discovery RE to support our high quality RE teaching. Discovery RE brings together learning about and from religion, questioning and spiritual development in a comprehensive scheme of learning. Teaching strategies are varied and are mindful of preferred learning styles and the need for adaptation. Each enquiry starts from the children’s own life experiences, using these as a bridge into the investigation of the religion being studied. Learning is assessed and children have opportunities to express their own thoughts and beliefs and empathise with believers of that religion or express their own position (respectfully). This program is written as a universal core curriculum provision for all children. Teachers will tailor each enquiry to meet the needs of the children in their classes.

By following this Discovery RE programme, we intend that Religious Education taught at Harpenden Academy will:

• adopt an enquiry-based approach as recommended by Ofsted, beginning with the children’s own life experience before moving into learning about and from religion.
• provoke challenging questions about the meaning and purpose of life, beliefs, the self, and issues of right and wrong, commitment and belonging. It develops pupils’ knowledge and understanding of Christianity, other principal religions, and religious traditions that examine these questions, fostering personal reflection and spiritual development.
• encourage pupils to explore their own beliefs (religious or non-religious), in the light of what they learn, as they examine issues of religious belief and faith and how these impact on personal, institutional and social ethics; and to express their responses.
• enable pupils to build their sense of identity and belonging, which helps them flourish within their communities and as citizens in a diverse society.
• teach pupils to develop respect for others, including people with different faiths and beliefs, and helps to challenge prejudice
• prompt pupils to consider their responsibilities to themselves and to others, and to explore how they might contribute to their communities and to wider society. It encourages empathy, generosity and compassion.
• develop a sense of awe, wonder and mystery
• nurture children’s own spiritual development

Teachers are eager to ensure children are making progress with their learning throughout their RE. Therefore, each enquiry has built-in assessment.  This task is the formal opportunity for teacher assessment of the children’s knowledge of that religion, depth of critical thinking, and ability to answer the enquiry question. This stand-alone evidence is used in conjunction with other evidence such as records of discussions and annotations from other lessons within the enquiry to assist the teacher in assessing whether a child is working at the expected level or towards or beyond it. Children are assessed over three aspects of learning:

• a personal resonance with or reflection on the material/religion being studied to answer the enquiry question.
• knowledge and understanding of the material/religion being studied to answer the enquiry question.
• evaluation/critical thinking in relation to the enquiry question

The RE leader monitors delivery of the programme.  Evaluation of the programme’s effectiveness is conducted on the basis of:

• Pupil and teacher evaluation of the content and learning processes
• Staff meetings to review and share experience
• Monitoring of assessment to ensure progression throughout the school.

Unit	Title	Religions Studied
Reception – Autumn 1	What makes people special?	All Principal Religions
Reception – Autumn 2	What is Christmas?	Christianity
Reception – Spring 1	How do people celebrate?	All Principal Religions
Reception – Spring 2	What is Easter?	Christianity
Reception – Summer 1	What can we learn from stories?	Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism
Reception – Summer 2	What makes people special?	Christianity, Islam, Judaism.
Year 1 – Autumn 1	Does God want Christians to look after the world?	Christianity
Year 1 – Autumn 2	What gift might Christians in my town have given Jesus if he had been born here rather than in Bethlehem?	Christianity
Year 1 – Spring 1	Was it always easy for Jesus to show friendship?	Christianity
Year 1 – Spring 2	Why was Jesus welcomed like a king or celebrity on Palm Sunday?	Christianity
Year 1 – Summer 1	Is Shabbat important to Jewish children?	Judaism
Year 1 – Summer 2	Are Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur important to Jewish children?	Judaism
Year 2 – Autumn 1	Is it possible to be kind to everyone all of the time?	Christianity
Year 2 – Autumn 2	Why do Christians believe God gave Jesus to the world?	Christianity
Year 2 – Spring 1	How important is it for Jewish people to do what God asks them to do? OR Does praying at regular intervals every day help a Muslim in his/her everyday life?	Judaism   Islam
Year 2 – Spring 2	How important is it to Christians that Jesus came back to life after His crucifixion?	Christianity
Year 2 – Summer 1	How special is the relationship Jews have with God? OR Does going to a Mosque gives Muslims a sense of belonging?	Judaism   Islam
Year 2 – Summer 2	What is the best way for a Jew to show commitment to God? OR Does completing Hajj make a person a better Muslim?	Judaism   Islam
Year 3 – Autumn 1	Would celebrating Diwali at home and in the community bring a feeling of belonging to a Hindu child? OR Does joining the Khalsa make a person a better Sikh?	Hinduism     Sikhism
Year 3 – Autumn 2	Has Christmas lost its true meaning?	Christianity
Year 3 – Spring 1	Could Jesus really heal people? Were these miracles or is there some other explanation?	Christianity
Year 3 – Spring 2	What is “good” about Good Friday?	Christianity
Year 3 – Summer 1	How can Brahman be everywhere and in everything? OR Do Sikhs this it is important to share?	Hinduism   Sikhism
Year 3 – Summer 2	Would visiting the River Ganges feel special to a non-Hindu? OR What is the best way for a Sikh to show commitment to God?	Hinduism   Sikhism
Year 4 – Autumn 1	How special relationship is the relationship Jews have with God? OR Is it possible for everyone to be happy?	Judaism   Buddhism
Year 4 – Autumn 2	What is the most significant part of the nativity story for Christians today?	Christianity
Year 4 – Spring 1	How important is it for Jewish people to do what God asks them to do? OR Can the Buddha’s teachings make the world a better place?	Judaism   Buddhism
Year 4 – Spring 2	Is forgiveness always possible for Christians?	Christianity
Year 4 – Summer 1	What is the best way for a Jew to show commitment to God? OR What is the best way for a Buddhist to lead a good life?	Judaism   Buddhism
Year 4 – Summer 2	Do people need to go to church to show they are Christians?	Christianity
Year 5 – Autumn 1	How far would a Sikh go for his/her religion? OR What is the best way for a Hindu to show commitment to God?	Sikhism   Hinduism
Year 5 – Autumn 2	Is the Christmas story true?	Christianity
Year 5 – Spring 1	Are Sikh stories important today? OR How can Brahman be everywhere and in everything?	Sikhism   Hinduism
Year 5 – Spring 2	How significant is it for Christians to believe God intend Jesus to die?	Christianity
Year 5 – Summer 1	What is the best way for a Sikh to show commitment to God? OR Do beliefs in Karma, Samsara and Moksha help Hindus lead better lives?	Sikhism   Hinduism
Year 5 – Summer 2	What is the best way for Christian to show commitment to God?	Christianity
Year 6 – Autumn 1	What is the best way for a Muslim to show commitment to God?	Islam
Year 6 – Autumn 2	How significant is it that Mary is Jesus’ mother? OR Do Christmas celebrations and traditions help Christians understand who Jesus was and why he was born?	Christianity
Year 6 – Spring 1	Is anything ever eternal?	All Principal Religions and Atheism
Year 6 – Spring 2	Is Christianity still a strong religion 2000 years after Jesus was on Earth?	Christianity
Year 6 – Summer 1	Does belief in Akhirah (life after death) help Muslims lead good lives? (Double unit)	Islam
Year 6 – Summer 2	Does belief in Akhirah (life after death) help Muslims lead good lives? (Double unit)	Islam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oracy

First Hand Experiences

Belonging

Subject on a page

Adaptive teaching

Year 5 visit Sikh, Guru Nanak Gurdwara 

The highlight of this week was the Year 5 pupil trip to the Sikh 'Guru Nanak Gurdwara' in Luton.

After the results of the ‘Cultural Capital Survey’ at the beginning of the year we will be making more trips to places of worship from all religious faiths.  This was an area of the survey which showed a ‘gap’ in children’s experiences.

The children and staff had a really informative and interesting time, and when asked afterwards said they would recommend going again.  It is always really helpful for parents to join these trips – particularly to a place of worship – because as adults its often something we haven’t been exposed to either. 

Easter Christingle at St Nicholas' Church

Today we had our final event for the Spring Term which was our Easter Christingle service at St Nicholas’ church. Thank you to all the parents who came to the event – it was amazing to see so many of you there.

The children sang beautifully – those of you who were there will not be able to get the ‘Spring Chicken’ song out of your heads for a while to come!

We used the flowers to decorate the cross and when this was revealed to the children, the ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ were quite brilliant – a pure moment of awe and wonder.

It was a lovely way to end a busy term. 

Visit from The Salvation Army

Team Shakespeare enjoyed a visit from The Salvation Army, learning about the important and meaningful community work that they support.

Year 3 Religious Education

Year 3 had a visit from Reverend DaCosta to explore the significance of Good Friday for Christians. This links to our RE topic 'What is good about Good Friday?'. We learned the main events of the Easter Story and talked about the key symbols that appear in it. We also found out why eggs are used at Easter.

Milne Class, Year 4 visited St Albans Cathedral

On Thursday, Year 4 had a wonderful trip to St Albans Cathedral to learn about the life of Christian Monks. We had a lovely day learning about the different parts of the monastery and used compasses and maps to locate where the buildings would have been. 

In the afternoon, we become Benedictine Monks and the children all dressed up and learned about royalty in the monastery and then children took part in activities the Monks would participate in such as Chapter studies and prayers. 

Dahl class have had a great afternoon making Christingles in our RE lesson! 

Thank you to Jump! for organising a Christingle-making workshop for us this afternoon. We had a lot of fun in Dr Seuss class! 

Year 3 Potter learn about Islam

This term in RE we have been looking at Islam and therefore we had a lovely talk from Muriam's Mum and we got to touch even more artefacts. We really appreciated Muriam's mum coming in. 

   

Reception celebrate Diwali

The children were inspired by our learning on Diwali and decided to create their own sarees. The children came up with the idea and asked me to help them execute their plan. The children were able to guide and direct me to enable their desired outcome to be reached.

Reception had a lovely week celebrating Diwali. On Thursday, Sid and her Mum, helped us make our own Diva lamps and we tried Indian sweets . Sid and her mum told us how they celebrate Diwali in their house. It sounds so much fun . Thank you for sharing with us.

part of our learning on Diwali, we have explored some Henna designs and created some of our own. We worked with partners and got to eat our designs at the end! We tried really hard...

Jump Workshop, Year 2 Aslan Class

Year 2 were fascinated by the lovely ladies from “Jump” who came into Aslan class on Thursday to talk about Good Friday, Palm Sunday, The last Supper and The Crucifixion. They enjoyed acting out each segment of the story and some children really excelled themselves by becoming the Donkey that carried Jesus through the streets on his journey!  As the picture shows , they all sat beautifully and listened to the bible stories, showcasing their     abilities to be “Pro Social “ young people. Well done Aslan class. You have made Miss Henshall and Mrs Palmer Cooper very proud. Keep up those beautiful listening skills.

St Alban's Cathedral, KS1 & EYFS School Trip, March 2019

  

  

St Alban's Cathedral, Year 5 School Trip

On Tuesday 11th December, we travelled to the St Albans Cathedral for Dahl classes’ school trip. We were fascinated by all of the intricately designed statues and carvings, not to mention the facts we learnt!   

As soon as we arrived at the cathedral, we were welcomed in and were lucky enough to have our own private tour. First, we were split up into two groups to start looking around. Our group was shown the ‘Font’ where people were baptised/ christened. We were even allowed to see it being done by three class members. One was the font, one was the priest and the other was the person being christened. It was really interesting to be able to see the procedure that Christians go through in front of us. 

Next we learnt about the advent wreath. We were shown one and the guide explained to us the meaning of each candle and what the colour represents. They each were a memoir for one or a group of people and what they did in relation to Christmas and their good deeds. We also went on and learnt that the colour of the cope that bishops wear during advent is purple/violet. 

After that we learnt all about St Albans and the blue and gold crest of his. Did you know that people believe when he was about to be executed, roses sprang up from the ground wherever he stepped? The rose is now symbolic to the St Albans’ abbey. After lunch, we went to a special room where we were given a lump of clay which we were going to make a tile out of. This session was a particular highlight to most of the children. A popular theme for our creations was a rose/flower, an angel or a cross. 

We really enjoyed our trip and would definitely recommend it to other classes, schools, or people as it is super educational. 

Report by Lottie Watson and Lauren Daly 

    

   

Buddhism Symbolism, Year 6

This week in Year 6 we have been learning about the symbolism of mudras (hand gestures) in Buddhism and linking them to hand gestures in other religions to explore similarities and differences between religions. The children then created their own mudras to symbolise an important belief of their own. Wonderful peacefulness and thoughtfulness in this session.

 

Diwali Celebrations, KS1 and EYFS

On Wednesday Ladybird class, Elmer class and Aslan class learnt how people around the world celebrate Diwali. They listened to the story of Rama and Sita and learnt why Diwali is called the Festival of Lights. They had lots of fun making rangoli patterns to decorate the classroom. They also made Diwali cards and Divas. Elmer class had a go at some traditional dancing using dandyia sticks and some children were even brave enough to perform to the rest of the class