As our children progress through our Key Stage 2 R.E. topics, they will develop key skills that are directly relevant to R.E. and will build on skills developed in Key Stage 1. These will be at different levels depending on the child’s age and ability and on the topic being studied.

Progression in R.E. depends upon the development of the following generic learning skills applied to R.E. These skills should be used in developing a range of activities for pupils to demonstrate their capabilities in R.E. They ensure that teachers will move pupils on from knowledge accumulation and work that is merely descriptive to higher level thinking and more sophisticated skills.

The key R.E. skills are as follows:

• Reflection – this includes reflecting on feelings, relationships, experience, ultimate questions, beliefs and practices.
• Empathy – this includes considering the thoughts, feelings, experiences, attitudes, beliefs and values of others, developing the ability to identify feelings such as love, wonder, forgiveness and sorrow and seeing the world through the eyes of others, and seeing issues from their point of view.
• Investigation – this includes asking relevant questions, knowing how to gather information from a variety of sources and knowing what may constitute evidence for justifying beliefs in religion.
• Interpretation – this includes drawing meaning from artefacts, works of art, music, poetry and symbolism, interpreting religious language and suggesting meanings of religious texts.
• Evaluation – this includes debating issues of religious significance with reference to evidence and argument.
• Analysis – this includes distinguishing between opinion and fact and distinguishing between the features of different religions.
• Synthesis – this includes linking significant features of religion together in a coherent pattern and connecting different aspects of life into a meaningful whole.
• Application – this includes making the association between religion and individual, community, national and international life.
• Expression – this includes explaining concepts, rituals and practices and expressing religious views, and responding to religious questions through a variety of media.

Key Vocabulary

There will be words and phrases that recur throughout the RE curriculum and it is important that the children know what they mean and how they can be used. These words and phrases include:

Religion, God, deity, theology, monotheism, polytheism, atheism, symbol, agnosticism, belief, faith, place of worship, holy, scripture, text, tolerance, forgiveness, guidance, behaviour, respect, stories, truth, rules sacrifice, commitment, principles, community, service, vocation, follower, role model, festival, trust, thankful, values, commitment, respect, identity, similarities, differences, belong, sacred, family, celebration, special, nature, prayer, meditation, stories, reincarnation, reconciliation, teaching, Gospel, salvation, pilgrimage, belief, life after death.

There will also be topic-specific vocabulary that will arise during each block of lessons.

R.E. in Key Stage 2 is organised using the Derbyshire Agreed Curriculum as guidance. 

Assessment

Each topic is ended with a ‘What Have I Remembered’ test aimed at assessing the children’s retained knowledge.