RE - our intent
Religious Education contributes dynamically to children’s education by provoking challenging questions about the meaning of life, beliefs about God, issues of right and wrong and what it means to be human.
At Iveson, we celebrate diversity and inclusivity at it is promoted through our Religious Education curriculum.
Iveson Religious Education teaches about a range of religious and non-religious worldviews, enhancing understanding and cultivating mutual respect and tolerance.
The 1988 Education Act states that ‘Religious Education has equal standing in relation to core subjects of the National Curriculum in that it is compulsory for all registered pupils’.
At Iveson, we offer time and space, allowing our children to reflect on their own thoughts, providing opportunities to raise curiosity and questions.
Through Iveson’s Religious Education curriculum, we aim:
- to engage pupils by questioning religions and beliefs, to promote their personal, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
- to provide learners with knowledge and understanding of religious traditions and beliefs represented in our community and across the world.
- to encourage learners to develop a positive attitude towards other people who hold religious beliefs different from their own.
- to develop their understanding of the ways in which beliefs impact people in their behaviour, practices and outlook on life.
At Iveson, we offer time and space, allowing our children to reflect on their own thoughts, providing opportunities to raise curiosity and questions.
Iveson Primary School
Religious Education in the Early Years Foundation Stage
Understanding the World
Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community. The frequency and range of children’s personal experiences increases their knowledge and sense of the world around them – from visiting parks, libraries and museums to meeting important members of society such as police officers, nurses and firefighters. In addition, listening to a broad selection of stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems will foster their understanding of our culturally, socially, technologically and ecologically diverse world. As well as building important knowledge, this extends their familiarity with words that support understanding across domains. Enriching and widening children’s vocabulary will support later reading comprehension.
Early Learning Goals
Understanding the World
Early Learning Goals
People, Culture and Communities
Children at the expected level of development will:
Describe their immediate environment using knowledge from observation, discussion, stories, non-fiction texts and maps.
Know some similarities and differences between different religious and cultural communities in this country, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.
Explain some similarities and differences between life in this country and life in other countries, drawing on knowledge from stories, non-fiction texts and – when appropriate – maps.
Purpose of study
A high-quality geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Teaching should equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. As pupils progress, their growing knowledge about the world should help them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments. Geographical knowledge, understanding and skills provide the frameworks and approaches that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.
Aims
The national curriculum for geography aims to ensure that all pupils:
- develop contextual knowledge of the location of globally significant places – both terrestrial and marine – including their defining physical and human characteristics and how these provide a geographical context for understanding the actions of processes
- understand the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world, how these are interdependent and how they bring about spatial variation and change over time
- are competent in the geographical skills needed to:
- collect, analyse and communicate with a range of data gathered through experiences of fieldwork that deepen their understanding of geographical processes
- interpret a range of sources of geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
- communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and writing at length.
Attainment targets
By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study.
Schools are not required by law to teach the example content in [square brackets].
Subject content
Key stage 1
Pupils should develop knowledge about the world, the United Kingdom and their locality. They should understand basic subject-specific vocabulary relating to human and physical geography and begin to use geographical skills, including first-hand observation, to enhance their locational awareness.
Pupils should be taught to:
Locational knowledge
- name and locate the world’s seven continents and five oceans
- name, locate and identify characteristics of the four countries and capital cities of the United Kingdom and its surrounding seas
Place knowledge
- understand geographical similarities and differences through studying the human and physical geography of a small area of the United Kingdom, and of a small area in a contrasting non-European country
Human and physical geography
- identify seasonal and daily weather patterns in the United Kingdom and the location of hot and cold areas of the world in relation to the Equator and the North and South Poles
- use basic geographical vocabulary to refer to:
- key physical features, including: beach, cliff, coast, forest, hill, mountain, sea, ocean, river, soil, valley, vegetation, season and weather
- key human features, including: city, town, village, factory, farm, house, office, port, harbour and shop
Geographical skills and fieldwork
- use world maps, atlases and globes to identify the United Kingdom and its countries, as well as the countries, continents and oceans studied at this key stage
- use simple compass directions (North, South, East and West) and locational and directional language [for example, near and far; left and right], to describe the location of features and routes on a map
- use aerial photographs and plan perspectives to recognise landmarks and basic human and physical features; devise a simple map; and use and construct basic symbols in a key
- use simple fieldwork and observational skills to study the geography of their school and its grounds and the key human and physical features of its surrounding environment.
Key stage 2
Pupils should extend their knowledge and understanding beyond the local area to include the United Kingdom and Europe, North and South America. This will include the location and characteristics of a range of the world’s most significant human and physical features. They should develop their use of geographical knowledge, understanding and skills to enhance their locational and place knowledge.
Pupils should be taught to:
Locational knowledge
- locate the world’s countries, using maps to focus on Europe (including the location of Russia) and North and South America, concentrating on their environmental regions, key physical and human characteristics, countries, and major cities
- name and locate counties and cities of the United Kingdom, geographical regions and their identifying human and physical characteristics, key topographical features (including hills, mountains, coasts and rivers), and land-use patterns; and understand how some of these aspects have changed over time
- identify the position and significance of latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic Circle, the Prime/Greenwich Meridian and time zones (including day and night)
Place knowledge
- understand geographical similarities and differences through the study of human and physical geography of a region of the United Kingdom, a region in a European country, and a region within North or South America
Human and physical geography
- describe and understand key aspects of:
- physical geography, including: climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes, and the water cycle
- human geography, including: types of settlement and land use, economic activity including trade links, and the distribution of natural resources including energy, food, minerals and water
Geographical skills and fieldwork
- use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe features studied
- use the eight points of a compass, four and six-figure grid references, symbols and key (including the use of Ordnance Survey maps) to build their knowledge of the United Kingdom and the wider world
- use fieldwork to observe, measure, record and present the human and physical features in the local area using a range of methods, including sketch maps, plans and graphs, and digital technologies.
NOTE: Insert text (not images) if possible as this is better for SEO and more accessible. It’s difficult to read text in images at small sizes on mobile devices and for screen readers it’s impossible.
EYFS-
Nursery
JLH- ‘We celebrate Easter. We eat chocolate eggs.’
AD- ‘We celebrate family. We can go out with family.’
IR- ‘I’m going to my friend’s birthday and were going to give him a present.’
Reception
ZS – ‘We need to be kind, when people have a toy we can have it for 5 minutes and then they can have the toy we give’
EA- ‘When people need help with their things we can help. My friend was taking care of me.’
BH- ‘We’re special. We have different eye colour and different skin.’
Year 1-
AW- I like listening to the stories. We had the book on the wall and that helps. The Lion and the Mouse taught us how kindness is never wasted. We have been learning about the tortoise and the hare. Slow and steady always wins.
BR- We need to try hard but it’s not always about the winning it’s about the taking part and having fun. The boy who cried wolf is about a boy that tells people the wolf is eating the sheep and then they don’t believe him.
Year 2-
SB- I like RE because we get to learn about different religions and how to look after the world. Don’t throw litter in water. If you have a younger sister, you could give clothes to her.
ZS-You get to know new things like don’t make land fill sites. We learnt about Muslims, they go to mosque every Friday, they fast until it is the evening or midnight.
RN- We have been learning about how to save the planet like not putting plastic in the bin, we need to recycle or not use plastic. I like knowing more things about Eid.
Year 3-
GG- I like learning about the Jewish religion. On the 4th we are going to the Synagogue. They read the Torah. The Rabbi is the teacher. It’s very interesting in RE, different religions can be a like.
FG- I like RE because I like learning about how it started with one and grew like a community. There’s some similarity between religions. Christianity and Muslims, in the holy book they talk about the first people to be born and how it all started.
Year 4-
LA – Learning about different religions stops prejudice in the world.
FM – I like learning about other people’s celebrations and comparing them to my own. I like how many religions just want peace – just like I do!
AG – We visited a Sikh Temple and I really liked being able to see inside all the different rooms. One room was very special and ornate, it stored their holy book.
EC – It is important to learn about other people’s religions – I understand their celebrations and festivals now when they happen, like when people celebrate Eid.
Year 5-
LR- We’ve Learnt about humanist and the Jewish religion and Muslims. I like it because we get to learn about culture and different people believe in different things.
KG- My friends believe in god and I don’t but that’s okay. I like different people because it’s interesting.
Year 6-
HB- I like learning about other people religions and how its changes from the past. We can compare them and see the differences. We can learn about what they do like covering themselves up so we can respect them.
AY- I like how other people have lots of other beliefs and we have beliefs. It’s cool that we get to learn from them.
NOTE: Insert text (not images) if possible as this is better for SEO and more accessible. It’s difficult to read text in images at small sizes on mobile devices and for screen readers it’s impossible.
