Halfway Nursery Infant School

RE

At Halfway Nursery and Infant school we deliver RE lessons using the RE Today Primary RE Curriculum scheme. RE is timetabled in a weekly slot in KS1, where RE is taught through a stand-alone lesson once a week in a series of sequenced lessons across the half term. Within EYFS RE is taught through “People and Communities”. 

Following the expectations of the Sheffield Agreed Syllabus, children within our school will learn about the religions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. In the EYFS, Children will encounter Christianity and other faiths, as part of their growing sense of self, their own community and their place within it. In year 1, children will begin to explore the religion of Judaism alongside deepening their knowledge and understanding of Christianity. Finally, in year 2, children will begin to explore the religion of Islam alongside deepening their knowledge and understanding of Christianity. It is expected that, whilst year groups are encouraged to cover any other religions where appropriate (for example, in accordance with important religious celebrations individual children within their cohorts may be practising), children leave their year group with a clear understanding of the beliefs and practise of their key religion. 

The school’s scheme of work for R.E. is based on locally agreed Programmes of Study, Attainment Targets and the Sheffield Agreed Syllabus for R.E in Sheffield 2024-2029.

Purpose of Study

Religious Education contributes dynamically to children and young people’s education in schools by provoking challenging questions about meaning and purpose in life, beliefs about God, ultimate reality, issues of right and wrong and what it means to be human. In RE pupils learn about religions and beliefs in local, national and global contexts, to discover, explore and consider different answers to these questions. Pupils will also learn to weigh up the value of wisdom from different sources, to develop and express their insights in response and to agree or disagree respectfully. 

Legal Requirements

The National Curriculum states the legal requirement that:

“Every state-funded school must offer a curriculum which is balanced and broadly based, and which:

• Promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society, and 
• Prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.” 

And:

“All state schools... must teach religious education to pupils at every key stage... "

(DfE National Curriculum Framework, July 2013, page 4). 

The statutory requirements for Religious Education in schools

The main statutory requirements relating to RE in schools and the Local Authority’s responsibilities are in the Education Acts 1996 and 2002, the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, the Children Act 2004 and the Education and Inspections Act 2006. The Department for Education also published its current guidance in “Religious Education in English Schools: Non-Statutory Guidance 2010”.

Whole school yearly overview