Primary RE
Katie Gooch Colour profile picture 1

Key Contact

Katie Gooch
NASBTT Associate Consultant
Primary Religious Education
Email: info@nasbtt.org.uk

Resources

Please find a range of resources and key information below. The suggestions are taken from trust worthy sources, enabling you to gain a good understanding of current and ongoing developments, as well as considering challenges concerning RE.

Expectations, teaching and interpretation of RE can significantly vary from school to school and it is important to understand where to find up to date, relevant information and resources.

The resources shared are appropriate for a wide variety of educational professionals from teachers, through to subject leaders and mentors.

For ease of reference, access and reading - where possible, resources have been organised into three key areas;

  • General
  • Curriculum
  • Planning, teaching and learning

NATRE Primary Survey

What is the current state of RE provision in our primary schools? Find out the results of the NATRE bi-annual primary survey.

Subject Associations

Main Subject Association

NATRE

NATRE membership offers a range of benefits including a termly curriculum book containing a wide variety of teaching resources and ideas, as well as the magazine RE Today and the journal Professional Reflection. 

NATRE also support free local groups and hubs.

Find your region and follow the links to join local networks:

Additional Subject Associations:

Home | areiac

Home | NASACRE

 AULRE – The network for learning, teaching and research in religion and education

Useful Websites
Recommended Reading

General:

REC – Religion and Worldviews Approach Toolkit for Teachers

REC – National Content Standard – For RE in England – 1st Edition 2023

Journal of Beliefs and Values – Reimagining the accidentally local in English RE – Paul Smalley

Nine ways to support a new primary teacher beginner teacher in RE / Religion and Worldviews

This article was first published in RE Today. Summer 2022, Vol.39:3 pp46-47. It has been made available by kind permission of RE Today

Diamond 9

A Diamond 9 exercise is suggested here as a starting point for beginner teachers. Each beginner teacher brings their own knowledge and understandings to RE, so it could be helpful to cut out and discuss which of these 9 are their priorities at their stage of training. In the classic Diamond 9 exercise you place the most important card at the top, the next most important 2 underneath and the next important 3 underneath that. The exercise is finished by 2 in a row and then 1, making a diamond shape. Your discussions will enable you to identify which order these need to be in for each student, and extra information on each card is found in the article.

REC – “New era” for Religious Education as panel recommends subject added to National Curriculum for the first time

Ruth Fannagan - Placing RE in the NC: good news for the Subject?  “New era” for Religious Education as panel recommends subject added to National Curriculum for the first time

REC - Future of Religious Education threatened by decision to remove teacher trainee bursary

Curriculum:

Speed read: Ofsted’s guide to a ‘high-quality’ RE curriculum (schoolsweek.co.uk)

REC – Developing and Religion and Worldviews Approach to RE in England – A Handbook for Curriculum Writers.

Planning, teaching and learning:

Practical Support for leading RE in Primary schools

The Religious Education Council has published a Draft Handbook and Revised National Statement of Entitlement. This is designed for those who are reviewing RE curricula and is currently a draft as the project is entering its second phase. It gives guidance on the CORE recommendations about moving towards Religion and Worldviews as the new approach to RE. 

RE:ONLINE – Subject Knowledge enhancement resources

Lincoln Diocese – What does it mean to get better at ways of knowing in RE? - Gillian Georgiou and Olivia Seymore

RE Today – What do we really mean by personal knowledge – Martha Shaw and Katie Freeman

Chartered College – Impact Journal – What does ‘scholarly’ RE look like in the primary classroom? Developing disciplinary ‘ways of knowing’ in a coherent primary religion and worldviews curriculum – Katie Gooch

Book - Bloomsbury Curriculum Basics: Teaching Primary RE - By Naila Missous (25% off using the code NAILA25)

Video
Webinar recordings and resources

TEMZ Event - Primary Humanities - Sustainability in the Spotlight with Humanities 20:20

Session overview:

This session will focus on sustainability education and some of the different ways it can be integrated into the existing primary curriculum.  Drawing on a mixture of theory and research, the session will feature teaching ideas and a range of practical activities. It is aimed at subject leads, mentors and teachers who are interested in sustainability education in primary schools. The role of the humanities in the current environmental crisis will be a key theme and there will be emphasis on the importance of a positive response.

Expected learning outcomes:

Participants will gain a greater understanding of:

  • What sustainability means
  • How different subjects can all contribute to sustainability education
  • The importance of the humanities to a broad and balanced approach
  • Positive approaches to teaching about environmental problems and solutions at both local and global level

Facilitator information:

  • The session be led by Dr. Stephen Scoffham, Visiting Reader in Sustainability and Education at Canterbury Christ Church University and author of the acclaimed new book Sustainability Education: A Classroom Guide.

Other contributors are:

  • Dr. Tony Eaude is an experienced independent researcher working with primary teachers and teacher educators. Previously a headteacher, Tony has published extensively, especially on young children’s learning and development and the implications for teachers.
  • Dr. Linda Whitworth is the NASBTT Subject Specialist Associate Consultant for Primary Religious Education. She is a Visiting Lecturer in Education at Middlesex University and a co-editor of Professional Reflection for the NATRE journal RE Today.

All three facilitators are members of Humanities 20:20, an organisation which focuses on the contribution Humanities subjects make to Primary education. They believe that the Humanities matter profoundly as it is primarily through them that children learn about the world and its people and become responsible citizens.

Recording and Resources:

Watch the recording here:

View the resources here: 

Ofsted Subject Reports

Ofsted Subject report series: religious education - April 2024

17th April 2024: Schools Week: Ofsted criticises ‘limited and poor quality’ RE lessons - 5 key findings from Ofsted's religious education subject report 

Two important updates for Primary Religious Education

There has been one important report and one new recommendation for improving Religious Education out during Autumn 2023.

The report is from HM Chief Inspector of Education. Many of you will be aware of it as an Ofsted report in broader primary school terms. It is a very challenging report for Primary Religious  Education or Religion and Worldviews, to use the new name many schools are using. As well as the report being available on the Ofsted website, the Religious Education Council have published a summary of the RE concerns raised by the report which can be found on their website. I urge you to discuss this with your RE lead and SLT in school so that you can ensure your provision is appropriate and adequate.

The recommendation is about a new project called the National Content Standard. This is a new project to create a national standard to encourage schools to improve their RE provision so that pupils receive high-quality teaching  and there is progression within a school’s syllabus. Because RE is not in the National Curriculum there is slippage in a considerable number of schools concerning the time allocation and quality of their RE. (See the Ofsted report.) An over-arching National Content Standard which calls for high quality RE whatever syllabus the school is following could provide a much needed guide and prompt to improve provision. More about the new National Content standard, including its first iteration which is out for discussion, can be found at the REC website and a comment on the publication can be found on REOnline

Additional Information

Curriculum and Assessment Review Final Report

 In November 2025 the DfE published the Curriculum and Assessment Review Final Report (led and written by Becky Francis)

 DfE Review – What’s Being Suggested for RE?

  • RE to join the National Curriculum (eventually): The plan is for Religious Education to become a formal part of the National Curriculum in the future, rather than being locally agreed as it is now.
  • Two-step process to get there:
    1. A group of experts from the RE community will work together to build on the existing National Content Standard and create a draft national RE curriculum.
    2. If the sector can agree on this draft, the government will run a formal consultation on the detailed content.
  • Update outdated guidance: The Department for Education will look at changes to the law around RE and, in the meantime, review and refresh the current non-statutory guidance (last updated in 2010).
  • Consensus is key: The government’s next steps depend heavily on the RE community reaching broad agreement on what the curriculum should look like.

These recommendations have been broadly welcomed by the national RE community, with the recognition that there is a long way to go to reach consensus.

Further reading

CAR Final Report – Published November 2025

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