At Preston Candover CE Primary, Religious Education (RE) lies at the heart of our Christian vision and values. It helps children explore life’s big questions, develop respect for others, and understand how world-views shape the way people choose to live, believe and think.

We follow our locally agreed syllabus, which for Hampshire is currently Living Difference IV (link). This is supported by Understanding Christianity. RE in our school places a large focus on Christianity, while also teaching Judaism, Hinduism, Islam and other worldviews. Through stories, art, reflection and discussion, pupils are encouraged to think deeply, share their ideas, and celebrate diversity.

This year, we are very pleased to be a pilot school participating in the Christianity as a Global World Faith project.

RE supports our vision for children to build each other up and encourage each other, ensuring all in our school community flourish and live the best lives they can for themselves and for others.

Intent

Religious Education at Preston Candover CE Primary is central to our identity as a Church of England school. It enables pupils to explore big questions about life, faith, and meaning, and to understand the beliefs and values that influence people in our local and global communities.

Through our teaching of RE, pupils learn about Christianity as a living faith as well as other principal world religions. Our balanced RE curriculum encourages children to reflect on their own beliefs, develop respect for others, and make responsible and compassionate choices in their lives. RE contributes to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development and helps them flourish as individuals who can live well together in a diverse world.

Implementation

In our school, our RE curriculum is planned over a two-year rolling programme as we have vertically grouped classes. Units and concepts are carefully mapped out across the school to ensure breadth and progression.

At Preston Candover CE Primary School, Christian traditions are studied proportionately more than any other single religious tradition.

As a Church of England school, we use the 'Understanding Christianity' resource to deepen our children's understanding of Christianity within Religious Education. This allows pupils to explore the significant theological concepts within Christianity as part of their wider religious, theological and cultural literacy. 

The Big Frieze- Understanding Christianity

In addition to the teaching of Christianity, within each phase, children also have a 'focus religion', alongside Christianity. These are as follows:

Years 1 and 2 - Judaism

Years 3 and 4 - Hindu traditions

Year 5 and 6 - Islam

Religious Education in our school starts from Early Years where even our youngest pupils enjoy listening to stories from different religions, visitors, visits and using artefacts and role play to bring concepts to life.

         

Visits, including to the local church, visitors and resource boxes are used to further enrich the curriculum and inspire learning for life within RE. This provides our children the opportunity to hear from people with different viewpoints and ask and answer questions.

                    

Throughout their time at our school, pupils will have opportunities to learn about a range of world views, to include the 6 core religions of the world and humanism. We celebrate Inter-Faith Week and World Religion Day annually to raise the profile of RE further and provide opportunities for our pupils to focus on other world views outside their focus religions.

Library Display 

World Religion Day 2026

 

Year 5/6 Sacred Texts and Good Life Guides

Within the RE curriculum, we have identified four 'golden thread' concepts that ensure continuity across the key stages. These themes are interwoven into the planning for every year group and ensure children continually build upon and deepen their understanding of these key ideas as they progress through the school.

 They are: community, belonging, special and love.

 

RE units at our school follow a cycle of enquiry which generally begins at Communicate or Inquire. This way we can ensure our pupils develop a deeper understanding of the concept being taught.

Staff receive regular training through the Diocese of Winchester and local authority RE networks which are attended by the subject lead. Staff meetings are used regularly to provide opportunities to share updates, monitor RE and support staff knowledge of RE.

RE and SEND

At our school, RE is for everyone. Lessons are designed to be inclusive and accessible, promoting respect and understanding of different beliefs and cultures. Children with SEND access the same rich discussions and experiences as their peers, with adapted materials to match their learning needs. We ensure all pupils can express their ideas in different ways – through talk, creative responses or sensory activities. This inclusive approach allows every child to succeed and develop confidence in exploring faith and meaning. Teachers adapt resources to meet the needs of all learners, ensuring that children with SEND are supported through scaffolded tasks, visual prompts and additional adult guidance.

Time for Religious Education

We follow the time recommendations as detailed in the Living Difference syllabus. They are as follows:

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS): Approximately 36 hours per year

Key Stage 1 (KS1): 36 hours per year

Key Stage 2 (KS1): 45 hours per year

*Withdrawal from RE

Parents have the right to withdraw their children from parts or all of the RE curriculum.  It is no longer the case that parents have to explain this decision to school. However, we would like to work with families to ensure a clear agreement is in place as to which parts of the RE curriculum a child is being withdrawn from. 

Impact

We utilise a range of approaches to monitor the impact of RE teaching and learning in our school. This includes, for example, learning walks, speaking to the children and work sampling. From this, we can be confident that RE in our school achieves our intent and also meets our high expectations.

" RE lessons are really fun because we get to take part in lots of different types of activities, including team activities, and they are very interesting " - Year 3 pupil

" RE is really inspiring because it makes me want to learn more and it is so interesting"- Year 4 pupil

" RE makes me think about what I think and what I choose to believe" Year 5 pupil

"RE in our school is inclusive because we all get to share our opinions. It's reflective and intriguing. It helps me to understand my beliefs and reflect on myself " Year 6 pupil

Please use the links below to explore our RE curriculum further: