BRINGING BIG IDEAS TO LIFE: MEDIUM TERM PLANNING
The bridge between the Big Idea and the substantive knowledge for pre-school children is the learning objective in the left-hand column of the table below.
The Practical Ideas right hand column draws largely on Gill Vaisey’s curriculum support documents (used with kind permission) and in particular her Religion and Worldviews and EYFS 2021 and Development Matters 2020 (England). Some further suggestions have been added also.
Schools should interpret the sections in relation to the religions / worldviews they have chosen to feature for this age-group. These decisions will reflect the national legal requirement and any local or denominational requirements.
Learning objectives, helpful resources and practical ideas for Ages 3-5
BI 1: CONTINUITY, CHANGE AND DIVERSITY: Age-Related Big Idea For Ages 3-5
Many people get their beliefs and traditions from religions / worldviews. Not everyone has the same beliefs and traditions.
Sample resources
This Big Idea lends itself well to use of local resources, such as making contact with representatives of religions / worldviews in the school or community. Arrange a personal visit or an online call with two of three of these. Your local SACRE may be able to advise on suitable speakers / visitors / visits.
TrueTube: ‘Charlie and Blue’ videos: www.truetube.co.uk/resource/charlie-and-blue-go-to-a-gurdwara/
Family photographs.
If you have, or can buy, Gill Vaisey’s publications, e.g., the Belonging and Believing series and the Puddles Lends A Paw book, soft toy characters and PLAN+3 activities, they will also be useful here.
Similarly, the University of Warwick series ‘Bridges to Religions’ (Heinemann) features children from different religious traditions taking part in celebrations from their family’s faith perspectives. The series dates from the 1990s, but is still useful. RE Today also has relevant lesson ideas in the Primary RE Books, e.g., ‘Sacred Places’ in the ‘RE Ideas’ series.
| Children will be learning: | Practical ideas |
| about people in their neighbourhood who belong to different religions / worldviews | Encourage the children to talk about any religious or non-religious members of the local community that they have heard of, e.g. teachers, leaders or members of particular religious or humanist groups, or youth or charity workers. |
| about places of worship in their neighbourhood | Take the children to visit a Christian church. Ask a Christian community member to accompany the children / host the visit so that they can talk about why the church and their faith is important to them. Visit other available local places of worship or community facilities which can be hosted in an age-appropriate way. Use simple textual resources (see above) to help children investigate why some people enjoy going to a place of worship, the variety of activities and events that happen in a place of worship, and how and why some people pray. Show one or two episodes of ‘Charlie and Blue’ (see Sample resources above) and use accompanying lesson ideas. |
| that there are similarities and differences between places of worship and between people of different religion / worldview groups | Ask children to bring in a family photograph. Make a display to show and celebrate the differences and similarities across families. Provide opportunity for the pupils to compare their own lives with those of other children in the class and with others featured in the resources above. Encourage them to look for similarities and differences across the children’s lives – their likes, activities, family members, pets, diet, celebrations, beliefs, practices, worship, artefacts and lifestyles. See if they can recall features of the places of worship they have been learning about and identify similarities and differences. |
| about traditions, including some in the UK and some in other countries, that come from religions / worldviews | Ask children to share family customs connected with festivals or other celebrations. Compare with stories of children celebrating festivals in one or two religions (see resources above). |
| about the sense of identity and belonging that people may feel when they are part of a group with shared beliefs and traditions. ++++++++++++++++++ | Explore a story about a child belonging to a particular religion / worldview and how they feel when they get involved in community activities (see resources above). |
TRANSFERABLE QUESTIONS
What is a religion? What is a worldview?