Religion and world views
Someries Infant School and Early Childhood Education Centre’s curriculum is based on a Religion and World Views approach. This approach focuses on religion and world views as personal and diverse. It aims to reflect the changing nature of religion and world views in modern Britain and help children to understand that religion and world views are a lived experience for people and communities. As part of our curriculum approach, children become increasingly reflective about their own world view and how it is influenced.
What are world views?
Every person has their own world view, their way of looking at and explaining life and the world. This may be religious or non-religious, organised or personal.
Organised world views 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 world view. Humanism is an example of a non-religious organised world view. Although organised world views have an established set of beliefs, there will be variations in the way individuals interpret and practise these beliefs.
Personal world views are an individual’s view of life and the world. They take different ideas and beliefs from religion, experience and others’ world views and often change over time. A personal world view may be in line with an organised world view, may agree with some elements but diagree with others or may be a mix of many religious and non-religious world views.
What world views are covered?
Exploring concepts through an enquiry-based approach, children will investigate a variety of world views as part of our religion and world views curriculum, including but not limited to:
Christian
MUSLIM
Hindu
Sikh
Jewish
Buddhist
Humanist
Early Childhood Education
Pupils in nursery will learn how to answer the following Prime Learning Challenge questions throughout the year as part of their religion and world views lessons:
- What makes people special to me and others?
- What is Christmas to me and others?
- How do I and other people celebrate?
- What is Easter to me and others?
- What can I and other people learn from stories?
- What makes places special to me and others?
Pupils in reception will learn how to answer the following Prime Learning Challenge questions throughout the year as part of their religion and world views lessons:
- What makes people special?
- What is Christmas?
- Celebrations
- What is Easter?
- What can we learn from stories?
- What makes places special?
Early childhood education curriculum milestones
Developing the knowledge and skills I need to understand different religions and world views
The progress of pupils accessing our Early Childhood Education Centre is monitored using our unique curriculum milestone objectives to ensure they are suitably prepared with the foundational knowledge, skills and understanding they require to succeed in key stage one.
I notice differences between people.
I make connections between the features of my family and other families and I am able to explore and respond to different natural phenomena in my setting and on trips.
I can recognise and describe special times or events for family or friends and enjoy joining in with family customs and routines.
I know some of the things that make me unique, and can talk about some of the similarities and differences in relation to friends or family.
I am beginning to understand the effect my behaviour can have on the environment.
I can talk about members of my immediate family and community.
I am able to compare and contrast characters from stories, including figures from the past. I enjoy talking about past and present events in my own life and in the lives of family members whilst sharing My Life Story Book with my peers and teachers.
I can recognise that people have different beliefs and celebrate special times in different ways.
I talk about the lives of the people around me and my roles in society.
I know some similarities and differences between different religious and cultural communities in this country, drawing on my experiences and what has been read in class.
I can explore the natural world around me, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants.
Achieving these milestones throughout my early childhood education will support me in accessing my first steps in key stage one because they provide a foundation for me being able to:
- give examples of ways in which believers put their beliefs into practice
- give clear, simple accounts of what stories and other texts mean to believers
- give examples of how people use stories, texts and teachings to guide their beliefs and actions
- think, talk and ask questions about whether the ideas they have been studying have something to say to them
Key stage one
How children will build on the foundational knowledge, skills and understanding they developed throughout their Early Childhood Education
Pupils in year one will develop the following knowledge, skills and understanding through a series of enquiry-based questions, including:
How did the world begin?
Exploring a range of creation stories in imaginative ways, children present their own ideas about creators and creation using art and language. They consider how creation stories help some people to understand what god is like.
What do some people believe God looks like?
Looking at Islamic art, Hindu avatars and images of the Christmas story, children explore how different people understand God on Earth. They consider these representations when creating their own artwork and talk about why putting ideas about God into words and pictures is challenging.
What is God’s job?
Investigating the roles of God through stories and sacred texts, children look at the things God does and what this means to different people. Children imagine what they would do if they were God and retell stories from long ago using drama, props and art.
Why should we care for the world?
Building on their understanding of creation stories, children study religious stories about the relationship between humans and nature. They experience the Jewish festival of Tu BiShvat in the school grounds and use photographs to investigate how different people care for Earth.
How do we know that new babies are special?
Finding out about different ceremonies to welcome home a new baby through interviews, role play, videos and pictures. Children explore some of the symbolism in these ceremonies. They plan and take part in a ceremony to welcome a new cuddly toy to the class.
Why should we care for others?
Listening to stories from the Christian and Muslim worldviews and considering what these stories say about caring for others and how they impact people’s lives. Children recognise the different ways people can show they care, and use toy money and role platy to explore charitable giving.
Pupils in year two will develop the following knowledge, skills and understanding through a series of enquiry-based questions, including:
Why do we need to give thanks?
Using a range of sources including survey data, children learn the beliefs around using offerings to show gratitude. They get hands on with artefacts used during puja and write their own lyrics for a song of thanks.
What doe candles mean to people?
By investigating the many ways light is used in religious and worldview contexts, children explore different festivals through artwork and stories, focusing on candles. They use natural resources to create advent wreaths and explore different hanukiah to develop their understanding of the symbolism of candles during Hanukkah.
How do we know some people were chosen in early life?
Building on their learning about how people view God on Earth, children hear stories from different perspectives about significant religious people’s early life. They use drama and art to bring these stories to life and understand the symbolism within them.
What is a prophet?
Asking questions about the stories they read, children find out more about the prophets Noah, Jonah, Moses, Muhammud and Guru Nanak.They take on the role of others when using hot seating and talk about things that puzzle them.
How do some people talk to God?
Thinking about the importance of communication in relationships, children look at different ways people pray and why they think this is important. Exploring the objects that some people use during prayer and expressing their ideas about worship through art.
Where do some people talk to God?
Building on the learning about prayer and worship, children look at buildings within their local area and beyond. Through investigating they find out what the features of the buildings might show about people’s beliefs about God. Children design their own place of worship based on their learning.
