Religion and Worldviews Curriculum

Religious and Worldviews Curriculum Vision 

At Brooke School we are passionate about the teaching of Religion and Worldviews. We believe that our Religious and Worldview curriculum is an essential part of preparing our pupils for life in a diverse, multi-religious Britain. At Brooke School, we follow the Coventry and Warwickshire Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education 2024-2029.

RE is taught weekly as part of our broad and balanced curriculum. During their time at our school, our children learn about the six major world religions – Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism, as well as the beliefs and opinions of people with non-religious views. Exploring different worldviews helps our pupils to understand one another and to take their place within a diverse multi-religious society.

Brookes Religion and Worldviews scheme of work has been designed as a spiral curriculum with the following key principles in mind:

✓ Cyclical: In each unit, pupils develop disciplinary, substantive and personal knowledge building on these through the study of concepts and religious & non-religious worldviews.

✓ Increasing depth: Each time a concept, religion or worldview is revisited, it is covered with greater complexity and in varying contexts. Progression within units and between year groups includes:

• studying teachings, beliefs, practices and experiences in more detail.
• moving from local to national and then global contexts.
• making and explaining more, increasing subtle links.
• identifying and discussing diversity within and between religions and worldviews.
• grappling with increasingly complex and sometimes controversial ideas (including through our big questions).

✓ Prior knowledge: Upon returning to each concept, religion or worldview pupils use prior knowledge to build on previous foundations, rather than starting again.

Key Aims

The aims of our Religious and World View Curriculum at Brooke School is to enable pupils to:

1. Know about and understand a range of religions and worldviews, so that they can:

• Explore, describe, explain and analyse beliefs and practices, recognising the diversity which exists within and between communities and amongst individuals
• Explore, identify, investigate and respond to questions posed, and responses offered by some of the sources of wisdom found in religions and worldviews
• Appreciate and appraise the nature, significance and impact of different ways of life and ways of expressing meaning.

2. Express ideas and insights about the nature, significance and impact of religions and worldviews, so that they can:

• Explain reasonably their ideas about how beliefs, practices and forms of expression influence individuals and communities
• Express their personal reflections and critical responses to questions and teachings about identity, diversity, meaning and value, including ethical issues
• Appreciate and appraise varied dimensions of religion.

3. Gain and deploy the skills needed to engage seriously with religions and worldviews, so that they can:

• Find out about and investigate key concepts and questions of belonging, meaning, purpose and truth.
• Enquire into what enables different individuals and communities to live together respectfully for the wellbeing of all
• Articulate beliefs, values and commitments clearly in order to explain why they may be important in their own and other people’s lives.
   

We return to these threshold concepts throughout a child’s journey in our school, each time building on their prior knowledge, extending their confidence and understanding. The development of these key concepts is the cornerstone of our Religious and Worldviews teaching at Brooke.

Our RE curriculum strives to provide each child with cultural capital, giving them the skills and vital background knowledge required to be informed and thoughtful members of our community who understand and believe in British values.
 

Our Local Context

Coventry is a very diverse city, with a 65% chance that two random people in the city will have different religions compared with a 58% in the rest of England. Rugby is less religiously diverse that Coventry with ‘Christian’ (50.5%) and ‘No Religion’ (36.1%) being the overwhelming majority of answers to the question on religion in the 2021 census. The significant Hindu (3.3%) and Sikh (1.4) communities in Rugby are also obvious in the 2021 census data. This is why our curriculum and the SACRE pays more significant attention to Dharmic worldviews that previous syllabi have. In addition to this Rugby also has a substantial Islam (1.8%) community.

Key Vocabulary

Listening to what representatives have to say regarding the study of their traditions is vital in ensuring that they are represented appropriately. The table below represents the changes made from previous terms to current:

Worldviews

Every person has their own worldview, their way of looking at and explaining life and the world. This may be religious or non-religious, organised or personal.

Organised worldviews are an established philosophy, attitude or set of beliefs with a group of believers or followers and may include certain practices. Christianity is an example of a religious, organised worldview. Humanism is an example of a non-religious organised worldview. Although organised worldviews have an established set of beliefs, there will be variations in the way individuals interpret and practise these beliefs.

Personal/Individual worldviews are an individual’s view of life and the world. They take different ideas and beliefs from religion, experience, and others’ worldviews and often change over time. A personal worldview may be in line with an organised worldview, may agree with some elements but disagree with others or may be a mix of many religious and non-religious worldviews.