Religious Education

The Curriculum for Religious Education

Our Religious Education (RE) curriculum is based on the Essex Agreed Syllabus and the Statement of Entitlement for RE published by the Church of England's Education Office. The curriculum is designed to help children to learn about a range of world faiths and world views with majority of curricular time allocated to RE is devoted to Christianity as a global religion. Children receive two RE lessons per week.

At Ardleigh St Mary’s CofE Primary Academy, we use the NATRE resources to deliver a rich, balanced and carefully sequenced RE curriculum. These materials link closely with the key Christian concepts from Understanding Christianity—including God, Creation, Fall, People of God, Incarnation, Gospel and Salvation. To ensure children leave with a secure and meaningful understanding of these seven core concepts, we have built in an additional unit that allows pupils to revisit them in greater depth. This helps them see how the Bible’s big story fits together and why these concepts continue to shape Christian belief and practice today. 

Our curriculum also introduces children to the beliefs and practices of Judaism, Islam and Hindu Dharma. We have chosen to explore Judaism and Islam in particular depth because of their shared roots with Christianity as Abrahamic faiths. All three hold a belief in one God and trace their story back to Abraham. In a world where differences are often emphasised, we want our children to appreciate the deep similarities that connect these global religions. This supports their ability to understand others with empathy, respect and curiosity.

Through enquiry-based learning and the three disciplinary lenses (Theology, Philosophy and Human/Social Sciences), pupils explore big questions, learn how beliefs shape people’s lives, and think deeply about faith and worldviews. By the end of Year 6, our aim is that all children can talk confidently about Christian belief, understand key similarities and differences between world faiths, and express their own ideas thoughtfully.

This approach not only strengthens pupils’ religious literacy but also reflects our vision of nurturing the seeds of success—helping every child grow in wisdom, compassion and understanding so they are ready to live well with others in a diverse and ever-changing world.

Curricular aims

The aims of our RE curriculum are  :

• to stimulate and develop children’s curiosity and knowledge of religion so that they can hold informed conversations about religious ideas such beliefs, practices, faith, worship, prayer, creation, God, the meaning of life and the relevance of religion on society and peoples’ lives.

• build children's knowledge of religious ideas through inquiry, debate, asking questions, making connections, exploring artefacts, discussing sources of beliefs and examining religious texts so that they can talk about the similarities between the major world faiths including Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Hinduism.

• develop an in-depth knowledge of Christianity as a diverse global living faith, through the themes of God and creation, the fall, the people of God, incarnation, Gospel, salvation and the Kingdom of God and make links with other faiths. 

• explore their own religious, spiritual and philosophical ways of living, believing and thinking. 

Theological lens

Examining religious ideas through the theological lens requires pupils to think like theologians and ask why people believe what they do. This involves examining the source of these beliefs such as scripture and how they are interpreted and have changed overtime. Theology enables pupils to look at where beliefs and world views come from, how they have changed over time, how they are applied differently in different contexts and how they relate to each other. 

Human and social science lens

Looking through the human and social science lens focuses on the influence of religion and how people live their lives and express their faith and world views. Pupils investigate the ways in which religions and worldviews have shaped and continue to shape societies around the world.  They also examine similarities across faiths and examine if people from different religions worship and pray in the same way. This strand explores the diverse ways in which people practise their beliefs and considers the major world faiths including Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Hinduism.

Philosophical lens

Looking through a philosophical lens focuses on asking and exploring the big questions theology and human and social science pose. Philosophical questions raise questions around morality, the fundamental nature of knowledge, existence, creation and the universe and how we know what we know, or believe what we believe. It is the process of reasoning that lies at the heart of philosophy. It is less about coming up with answers to difficult questions and more about the process of how we try to answer them and using dialogue, logic, discussion and debate. 

Curricular Map

You can see a curricular map for RE below.