Intent

Our Religious Education (RE) curriculum is designed to enable children to:

• Gain and deepen their knowledge and understanding of both religious and non-religious worldviews. This includes acquiring substantive and disciplinary subject knowledge across a variety of traditions and perspectives.
• Explore how beliefs, teachings, practices, values, and traditions—both religious and non-religious—shape individuals, communities, societies, and cultures locally and globally, while comparing and contrasting the diversity within these lived experiences.
• Develop the ability to make thoughtful, informed judgments on religious and moral issues, drawing on beliefs, teachings, practices, sources of authority, and ways of living associated with the major religions represented in the UK.
• Foster positive attitudes of respect and tolerance toward people of different faiths and beliefs.
• Enhance their spiritual, moral, social, and cultural growth by:
• Considering the “big questions” raised by human experience and reflecting on how various traditions respond.
• Responding to these questions with reference to religious beliefs, teachings, practices, values, and traditions, while connecting them to their own understanding and experiences.
• Reflecting on their personal beliefs, values, and experiences in light of their study of religious and other traditions.

Implementation

Disciplinary Knowledge

As an academy, we are committed to embedding strong disciplinary knowledge in RE throughout our curriculum. Our approach is structured around three key disciplines: philosophy, theology, and sociology. To help introduce these disciplinary perspectives to our children, we use three characters adapted from the Diocese of Lincoln’s In Conversation about Assessment and RE (2023).

The images of these characters used on our website are © Lincoln Diocesan Board of Education 2023.

Disciplinary questions

Below is a selection of the questions displayed in each classroom, each linked to one of our three disciplinary characters. Every character is associated with a specific colour, which is reflected in the question bubbles and dual‑coding visuals. This helps pupils easily connect each question to its disciplinary area.

Children are encouraged to use these questions themselves during lessons to deepen their thinking and understanding. The questions are not organised by age or stage; many are suitable across the school, while some are more appropriate for Upper Key Stage 2 than for Key Stage 1.

Teachers are encouraged to weave these questions naturally into their RE lessons, and over time we will increasingly teach substantive knowledge through these disciplinary lenses.

Theo the Theologian

Theo is our theologian and guides children in developing the disciplinary skill of theology. He is curious about what people believe, where those beliefs originate, and how key concepts relate to one another. Theo helps pupils recognise that individuals within the same religious tradition may hold different beliefs or emphasise different ideas.

He also supports children in interpreting and understanding sources of authority—such as religious texts, prayers, the Shahadah, or various gospel accounts. Through this, pupils learn that people can interpret the same source in a variety of ways.

Sophie the Philosopher

Sophie is our philosopher, and she encourages children to develop the disciplinary skill of philosophy. She is interested in how people think, how they make sense of the world, and why they reason in particular ways. Sophie asks questions about what we know and how we know it, giving children opportunities to examine their own thoughts, values, and opinions. This helps them build critical thinking skills by asking, “Why do I think that?” and connecting their ideas to their own personal knowledge.

For example, Sophie might invite pupils to consider whether they think something is ‘good’ or moral, and then guide them to explore the reasons behind their view. Is it shaped by their upbringing, their parents, their environment, or a religious worldview?

These critical thinking skills can then be applied when children encounter the beliefs, opinions, and worldviews of others, supporting our commitment to the British Values of tolerance and mutual respect.

Livvy the Sociologist

Livvy is our sociologist, and she encourages children to develop the disciplinary skill of sociology. She is interested in how people live and how their beliefs might shape the ways they choose to live. Pupils are supported to recognise that this will vary even among people who share the same worldview, and they are encouraged to compare and contrast similarities and differences within a single tradition.

Livvy also helps children analyse and compare different contexts. What is considered appropriate or meaningful for one community in one place may not be the same elsewhere, and these contextual differences influence how people live out their beliefs. This approach helps prevent overly generalised or simplistic ideas about groups—such as thinking that all Christians or all Muslims live or believe in the same way—and instead enables pupils to appreciate the richness and diversity of lived worldviews.

Implementation

Every child at St John’s Church of England Academy is informally assessed at the end of each unit of work. This helps us ensure that pupils have understood and engaged with the curriculum content, supporting continuity, progression, and achievement across all year groups.

Assessment draws on the work children complete during lessons, as well as their end‑of‑unit reflection task, where they respond to that unit’s “Big Question.” These judgements inform end‑of‑year reports and help teachers plan next steps and set meaningful targets for progress.

Our multi-disciplinary, discussion‑based and practical approach to RE ensures that all children can access high‑quality learning, regardless of additional needs. Appropriate scaffolds are provided where necessary, and barriers linked to writing are removed so that every pupil can engage meaningfully with the subject. This enables all children to make strong progress in RE, with the expectation that the vast majority will be working at the “expected” standard by the end of the year.

Our RE curriculum enables children to understand the spiritual journeys of people whose worldviews may differ from their own, shaped by a range of contexts and cultures. It also supports both children and adults in recognising and valuing their own spirituality, while helping pupils flourish academically through high‑quality RE teaching.

Children are guided to become global citizens who have the knowledge and skills to meet people with different worldviews, show understanding and respect for diverse practices, remain curious, and engage confidently in conversations about a wide range of beliefs and ways of living.