Our R.E. curriculum aims to engage students in a five-year learning journey of knowledge and understanding religions and ethics. We aim to set students up to succeed by making clear from the start our learning objectives, expectations and the reasoning for them.
We teach our students to enquire and learn in an interactive way, using low-stake quizzing, feedback, collaboration and student-centred resources to close knowledge gaps from KS2. By building opportunities for extended writing into our units, we monitor students' subject-specific vocabulary and embed literacy and reading into every lesson, thereby improving literacy skills and subject vocabulary. We build time into lessons for students to reflect on their learning and their own world view and we use big questions to build on students’ current knowledge and understanding of world issues and the varying views surrounding them.
Key Stage 3
We implement our Year 7 and Year 8 curriculum through six units of work for each year group and our Year 9 curriculum though four units of work, all building on the knowledge and understanding that students have gained from previous years. Each unit has a separate overview that includes further details of aims, learning objectives and justifications for sequencing. Each lesson has a PowerPoint aiming to facilitate an engaging and thought-provoking lesson. All resources are stored on a shared area to which all R.E. teachers and designated members of SLT have access. The aim is for students to progress through a unit per half term. Units are reviewed throughout the year and are adjusted based on student progress and engagement.
Key Stage 4
Our Year 10/11 curriculum uses eight units of work, following the AQA Religious Studies A 8062 course to build on the knowledge and understanding that students have gained from our KS3 curriculum. Each unit has a separate overview that includes further details of aims, learning objectives and justifications for sequencing. Each lesson has a PowerPoint aiming to facilitate an engaging and thought-provoking lesson. All resources are stored on a shared area to which all R.E. teachers and designated members of SLT have access. The aim is for students to progress through a unit per term, although this is flexible and the sequencing of the curriculum has taken this in to account. Units are reviewed throughout the year and adjusted based on student progress and engagement.
Cultural Capital
Outside visitors from local community |Youth Pilton co-operative | Visits from Gideons (assembly and gift of New Testament) | Pilton Church visits – Rev. Sanders for marriage and baptism services | Children’s Remembrance Service, Rock Park | Visit to Exeter cathedral and Exeter Mosque | External speakers from charities | Barnstaple Magistrates visit and mock trial.
Curriculum Documents
Our spiralling curriculum has been designed to ensure topics are revisited throughout KS3 and KS4. We begin and end each unit of work with Progress Trackers and Learning Journeys to ensure gaps in knowledge are covered by all students and students are aware of links between units. We begin each lesson with a do it now task which supports knowledge retrieval.
KS3 tests have the same structure, scaffolded and a feedback lesson is completed after each assessment. KS4 students are supported to succeed through the use of the BVT revision folders on the school website following the Revise-Recall-Practice model. We also provide all learners with a work book to ensure all knowledge gaps can be acknowledged and appropriate action taken.
SEND and PP students are highlighted clearly on the ClassCharts seating plan and annotated to ensure helpful strategies are used to help our learners. Passports and EHCP information are available in the teacher folder and used alongside our schemes of work to include appropriate support resources and activities.
