Our Intentions for RE 

RE Intent

• RE teaching at Wirksworth Junior School aims to immerse children into key faiths which are: Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Humanists. We also make links with Judaism.
• We want children to be curious about and reflect on other faiths. Be respectful of views and opinions of others, within the diverse communities that we live in.
• Our teaching of RE will allow children to build up understanding and tolerance of people from different faiths and beliefs.

Implementation

• All children will have access to an hour of RE lessons per week.
• As a school, we use the New Derbyshire Syllabus to form our long term and short-term plans.
• Lessons are planned and progress each week, building on prior skills and knowledge.
• Medium term plans, long term plans and progression maps are used to help teachers feel secure with their subject knowledge.
• Assessments are carried out through self-assessment and teacher assessment at the end of each unit of work. This data helps the teacher to know how confident children are within the subject.

** Please note: You do have the right to withdraw your child from all or part of RE curriculum, however if you do wish to make this request we do ask you work alongside the school to identify the reasons and concerns you may help so we can ensure your child is not missing out on learning about the diversity of the country and world. **

In June 2025, we visited St.Mary’s Church to meet Bishop Malcolm of Repton. He told us about the Lord’s Prayer, and we got to ask him a few questions about his role as bishop and what his aspirations were for the future. The children were also given a gift of a bookmark and a piece of string, which they will bring home in their bags tonight. The string is to create a knot, like a friendship, which they can tie around their wrist to remind them they have people who care about them.

This was a great way to discuss our aspirations and what we would like to be when we grow up.

The photos above show our regular visits to the Open Centre in Derby. These opportunities for pupils help them to learn about mutual respect and the individual liberty of other faiths and beliefs. Our collective worship focuses on the core British Values and our school values. In past months we have visits form the Salvation Army, a Druid and the vicar from our local church St. Marys.  The children have the opportunity to ask questions to them about their beliefs to help them form their own thoughts about the world around them.

From September 2026, we will be following the Derby and Derbyshire agreed RE syllabus 2025 to 2030.  We are currently following the agreed syllabus from 2020-2025, and to see how this links into our Guerrilla Curriculum, please follow the link.