Religious Education
School Vision: ‘Staff at Exwick Heights Primary School encourage everyone to give of their best, to be independent and lifelong learners, and to be proud of their own and others’ achievements.
RE at Exwick Heights plays a key part in fulfilling this vision. All of our children are taught a broad, stimulating and challenging curriculum that is enhanced by teachers’ high expectations and prepares them with the necessary skills for learning through the rest of their life.
Principal Aim of RE
The principal aim of religious education at Exwick Heights is to explore what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live, so that pupils can gain the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to handle questions raised by religion and belief, reflecting on their own ideas and ways of living.
We communicate this aim with our pupils using a more child-friendly version:
RE explores big questions about life, to find out what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live. RE helps us to make sense of religion and belief, reflecting on our own ideas and ways of living.
RE Curriculum
At Exwick Heights we use the Devon and Torbay Agreed Syllabus. The overview below shows the units of study for each year group. Within their time at Exwick Heights, we aim to give children a grounded understanding of Christianity and religious and non-religious worldviews. The teaching and learning approach is based on encouraging pupils to making sense of beliefs, understand the impact of these beliefs on peoples’ lives and then make connections between their own lives and ways of understanding the world. The units of study are arranged systematically so pupils will revisit past learning and build on this as well as considering a ‘Big Question’ in the thematic unit at the end of each academic year.
Exwick Heights RE Overview
Examples of Childrens' Learning
Please take a look at some of the examples of the children’s work below. At Exwick Heights, we aim to deliver an inspiring curriculum that engages children in learning about different religious and non-religious views. The teachers plan tasks which offer variety to the children and capture their interest.
Spirited Arts Competition
Quotes from some pupils about what they enjoy about RE and its importance as part of the curriculum.
‘I enjoy RE because it is very fun and it helps you to learn about lots of religions.’
‘The fact is that RE is about getting on with others’ cultures and you can experience why they take certain options.’
‘I enjoy learning about different gods – it is interesting how some religions have one god and some have loads. I like learning about religions I have never even heard about.’
‘RE is about learning about different religions and people so I know why they might be doing something different to me. There is a girl who is fasting in my class and now I understand why she is not eating.’
‘It is important so you know about what different people are doing, why they might eat different food and why they might visit special places.’
