Religious Education - Durdan's Park Primary School

Our aims in teaching Religious Education

At Durdans Park, we believe that Religious Education (RE) is a powerful and essential part of a child’s education. It plays a vital role in preparing our pupils to become thoughtful, reflective, and respectful citizens who can thrive in an increasingly diverse, interconnected, and ever-changing world. Our RE curriculum is designed not only to meet but to exceed the expectations of the National Curriculum and locally agreed syllabus, providing a foundation for lifelong understanding, curiosity, and moral development.

Our ambitious and inclusive curriculum enables children to explore a wide spectrum of religious and non-religious worldviews, recognising the richness of beliefs and practices that shape people’s lives both within our school community and across the globe. Through carefully planned and sequenced learning, pupils are encouraged to ask big questions, consider multiple perspectives, and deepen their understanding of key concepts such as belief, identity, belonging, community, morality, and purpose.

RE at Durdans Park is about more than the acquisition of knowledge—it is about personal transformation and growth. As children explore values, beliefs, sacred texts, moral teachings, rituals, and festivals, they develop the language, emotional intelligence, and ethical frameworks necessary to navigate a pluralistic society with compassion and integrity. This learning contributes meaningfully to the development of their own sense of identity, helping them to understand who they are, what they believe, and how they relate to others.

Throughout their RE journey, pupils are empowered to reflect on profound moral and philosophical questions—such as “What is right and wrong?”, “What happens when we die?”, and “How should we treat others?”—in a safe and respectful environment. These opportunities promote empathy, resilience, and respectful disagreement, while equipping pupils with the confidence to engage in discussions that challenge assumptions and promote understanding.

By valuing diversity, encouraging critical thinking, and nurturing respectful dialogue, RE at Lady Margaret Primary School supports not only academic achievement but the spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development of every child. It helps pupils to grow into open-minded, compassionate and principled young people, ready to contribute positively to their communities and to the wider world.

How religious Education is taught at Durdans Park Primary School

EYFS – Exploration and Belonging

In the Early Years, Religious Education is woven into the wider EYFS framework, supporting children’s personal, social and emotional development.

We aim to:

• Create inclusive environments where children feel safe to express their thoughts, beliefs and questions.

• Use books and storytelling to introduce children to special times, people, and places in their own lives and across different belief systems.

• Encourage talk and dialogue using early religious vocabulary (e.g. “celebrate,” “special,” “kind,” “holy”).

• Develop curiosity and empathy through discussion and reflection on children’s experiences of celebrations, visits, and traditions.

• Lay the foundation for British values by exploring fairness, kindness, respect, and celebrating difference.
Children begin to understand that everyone has unique beliefs and experiences and are encouraged to express their own ideas through speaking, listening, art, and role-play.

Key Stage 1 – Awareness and Understanding

In KS1, pupils begin to build more structured knowledge of religious and non-religious worldviews through stories, celebrations, artefacts, and experiences. Our curriculum:

• Promotes British values by teaching children about fairness, respect, and how different communities live and celebrate together.

• Develops Oracy through the retelling of religious stories, using sentence stems to explain their understanding (e.g. “I think this is important because…”).

• Uses carefully chosen books and sacred texts to stimulate curiosity, moral thinking, and discussion.

• Encourages children to ask questions, explore different perspectives, and recognise shared values across belief systems.

• Introduces children to a wider range of vocabulary, helping them speak confidently and respectfully about religion.

Key Stage 2 – Depth and Dialogue

By KS2, children are increasingly able to think critically, compare belief systems, and reflect on deeper moral and philosophical questions. Our RE curriculum enables children to:

• Engage with complex issues such as justice, suffering, and peace, encouraging respectful dialogue and debate.

• Deepen understanding of how religion influences personal identity, ethical choices, and cultural traditions.

• Continue to explore British values through case studies, stories, and lived experiences, discussing issues like tolerance, liberty, and mutual respect.

• Use books, sacred texts, and real-life examples to explore traditions, symbols, and rituals with increasing depth.

• Develop advanced oracy skills through formal debates, group discussions, presentations, and written reflections.

• Visit places of worship and listen to speakers from different faiths, using these experiences as springboards for thoughtful questioning and respectful analysis.

By using structured talk strategies and vocabulary scaffolds, children become confident in expressing and justifying their viewpoints while listening to others with compassion and interest.

By the end of Year 6, we expect pupils to

By the end of their time at Durdans Park, our pupils will:

Understand the core beliefs and practices of a range of world religions and non-religious worldviews.
Be able to use precise vocabulary and confident oracy to engage in respectful discussions about faith, morality, and identity.
Demonstrate values of tolerance, empathy, and respect, informed by British values and a strong moral framework.
Reflect on their own experiences and those of others through storytelling, debate, and text-based learning.

Right to withdraw from RE

Parents/carers have the right to choose whether to withdraw their child from RE without influence from the school, although a school should ensure parents or carers are informed of this right and are aware of the educational objectives and content of the RE syllabus. If students are withdrawn from RE, schools have a duty to supervise them, though not to provide additional teaching or to incur extra cost; suitable work relating to the child’s religious education should be provided by the parents/carers.

If a parent chooses to withdraw their child from RE, they need to:

• Inform the school of their request for their child(ren) to be withdrawn from RE and/or ‘religious assembly’ and whether they intend partial or total withdrawal for their child(ren)

• This should be either in person or in writing to the Headteacher; verbal communication (e.g. on the telephone, through the student or a note in a student’s books) is not an adequate method.