Primary RE
Linda Whitworth

Key Contact

Linda Whitworth
NASBTT Associate Consultant
Primary Religious Education

Email: primaryre@nasbtt.org.uk

Latest News

New Religion and Worldviews material from the REC is now live

On 2nd May the Religious Education Council (REC) launched its  Developing a Religion and Worldviews Approach  in Religious Education handbook and toolkit. This is the second part of the REC…

Schools Week: Ofsted criticises ‘limited and poor quality’ RE lessons

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…

Subject 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

If you are leading Religious Education in a primary school, please access this link and fill in this year’s NATRE survey. It provides important information about the state of Religious Education in primary schools and helps advocate with key stakeholders, including DFE and Ofsted.

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

General:

Ofsted: Six ways to improve religious education teaching| Tes

Ofsted-and-the-broad-balanced-curriculum.pptx (live.com)

Layout 1 (commissiononre.org.uk)

10 steps to increase the presence of RE in your school – Teachers Talk (natre.org.uk)

A National Plan for RE - CoRE summary final with headers.pdf (natre.org.uk)

Ofsted Primary and Secondary Reports Autumn 2019 221119 final final.pdf (natre.org.uk)

2013 Review of Religious Education in England.pdf (natre.org.uk)

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.

Curriculum:

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

Planning, teaching and learning:

Free Self-Study Courses | Teach:RE (teachre.co.uk)

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. A revised version will be published in Spring 2024.

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 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

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