Our Curriculum:

At Bedford Primary School, we recognise that the curriculum we deliver is the toolkit we send our children out into the world with. It reflects our context, core values and the kind of citizens we want them to be. We have to be ambitious for them and prepare them for a rapidly changing digital world.

"RE gets to the heart of what it means to be human, to live and to be part of this amazing and wonderful planet."

Louise Hutton and Dawn Cox

The skills of a great Religious Education student:

Throughout the subject of Religious Education, our pupils will also demonstrate additional traits from our Bedford Learner Profile including creative thinking, good communication and the ability to overcome personal barriers. They will listen to and respect the views of others, understand the importance of equality and be responsible members of the community. Finally, they will recognise what healthy and positive friendships and relationships look like.

Our vision for Religious Education:

At Bedford, we are passionate about Religious Education lessons giving children the opportunity to think for themselves, share their own viewpoint, belief or argument and give a reason for this view.  Our aim is to move beyond knowledge rich sessions and ensure that children are provided with the chance to make meaningful links and apply the learning from R.E. lessons to their own life and the world today.

Religious Education at Bedford:

At the end of Key Stage 1

• I can recall and name different beliefs and practices, including festivals, worship, rituals and ways of life, and find out about the meanings behind them.
• I can retell and suggest meanings to some religious and moral stories. I can explore and discuss sacred writings and sources of wisdom and recognising the communities from which they come.
• I can recognise some different symbols and actions which express a community’s way of life, appreciating some similarities between communities.
• I can tell you different ways of expressing identity and belonging.

• I notice and respond sensitively to some similarities between different religions and worldviews.
• I ask questions about belonging, meaning and truth and can express my own ideas and opinions in response.
• I can find out about and respond with ideas to examples of co-operation between people who are different.
• I can find out about questions of right and wrong and begin to express my own ideas and opinions.
• I can ask and respond to questions about what communities do, and why. I can identify what difference belonging to a community might mean.

At the end of Key Stage 2

• I can describe and make connections between different features of religious and non-religious worldviews, discovering more about
  celebrations, worship,pilgrimages and rituals which mark important points in life.
• I can describe and understand links between stories and other
  aspects of the communities, responding thoughtfully to a range of
  sources of wisdom, beliefs and teachings that arise from different communities.
• I can explore and describe a rangeof beliefs, symbols and actions to understand different ways of life and ways of expressing meaning.
• I can observe and understand varied examples of religious and non-religious worldviews and explain their meanings and significance to individuals and communities.
• I can understand the challenges of commitment to a community of faith or belief, suggesting why
  belonging may be valuable, both in the communities being studied and my own life.

• I can explore and show understanding of similarities and
  differences within and between different religious and non-religious worldviews.
• I can discuss and present my own and others’ views on challenging questions about belonging,meaning, purpose and truth, in different forms including (e.g.)reasoning, music, art and
  poetry.
• I can consider the ways in which diverse communities live together for the wellbeing of all, responding thoughtfully to
  ideas about community, valuesand respect.
• I can discuss my own and others’ ideas about what is right and wrong and what is just and fair, and express them  clearly in response.