Religious Education at Tetsworth Primary School

At Tetsworth Primary School, our innovative and comprehensive RE curriculum, which enables children to develop an understanding of their own and others worldviews. Through the Jigsaw RE programme we play a vital role in children’s personal, social and spiritual development. We aim to foster the growth of empathy and respect as the children learn more about the world around them. As a mixed-aged school, we deliver RE through a stage-not-age approach, ensuring that all pupils access learning at the right level for their development so that every pupil can access ambitious content and achieve success. We want every pupil to appreciate how beliefs shape life and behaviour and to support them to learn from and about religion so they can understand the world around them.

Our Religious Education is delivered through Jigsaw RE, which ensures full curriculum coverage and ensures we cover the local Oxfordshire syllabus which provides clear progression of knowledge and skills, building children’s understanding. Teaching is carefully planned and structured to support our mixed age learning environment, ensuring pupils learn together through themes and enquiry questions. Teachers adapt their teaching using support or challenge which provides allow all learners to achieve within the enquiry activity. The aim is to deepen children’s critical thinking skills through greater subject knowledge, spark curiosity, investigation and also to allow their own spiritual development. Each enquiry question is explored through a four step process, engagement, investigation, evaluation and expression which enables the children to make connections and think critically.

The impact of the RE curriculum at Tetsworth primary school is evident, in the enthusiasm, knowledge, and critical thinking our pupils demonstrate, children make links and refer to previous learning to support new understanding. They develop critical thinking, personal beliefs and values, along with greater understanding of other cultures, fostering respect and tolerance for diverse worldviews.

Our pupils:

• Use critical thinking to respond to the claims of different worldviews, developing the ability to form reasoned arguments.

• Develop their own beliefs, values, and identities through reflection on their own lives and the lives of others.

• Have an increased tolerance and respect: By learning about different faiths and cultures, students gain a better understanding of people from diverse backgrounds, which fosters respect and tolerance.

• Have a strong spiritual, moral, social, and cultural understanding, preparing them to be members of a diverse and complex world.

Through the Jigsaw PSHE programme and our stage-not-age approach, we ensure that all pupils — regardless of age, background, or ability — develop the knowledge and skills to thrive personally and socially. Pupils leave Tetsworth Primary School as confident, caring, and responsible individuals, prepared for the challenges and opportunities of modern life.