The curriculum is designed to:

• Be broad, balanced and progressively sequenced, enabling pupils to build on prior learning over time
• Reflect diversity within modern Britain and the wider world, preparing pupils for life in a multi-faith society
• Promote respect, tolerance and understanding, aligned with our school values and ethos
• Encourage pupils to engage with big questions about meaning, identity, belief and morality

The Cheshire RE Scheme of Work provides a robust structure that ensures coverage, progression and depth, while also allowing adaptation to meet the needs of pupils at Little Leigh. This makes the curriculum meaningful and relevant within our mixed-age school context, ensuring all pupils access an appropriately ambitious RE curriculum.

Key features include:

• Clear progression: Units are structured to revisit key concepts such as belief, worship, community and identity, enabling pupils to embed and deepen understanding over time.

• Adaptation for mixed-age classes:
  In our mixed-age classrooms, the Cheshire RE Scheme is used flexibly to ensure progression for all pupils. This is achieved through:

  • Two-year rolling programmes that ensure full curriculum coverage without repetition
  • Careful mapping of knowledge and vocabulary progression so that pupils revisit content at a deeper level rather than simply repeating learning
  • Differentiated questioning and outcomes, allowing younger pupils to access core knowledge while older pupils develop more complex understanding and reasoning
  • Layered tasks, where all pupils engage with the same enquiry question but at an appropriate level of challenge
  • Opportunities for peer discussion and collaborative learning, supporting knowledge retention and deeper thinking

  This approach ensures that all pupils, regardless of age or starting point, make strong progress in both substantive and disciplinary knowledge.

• Enquiry-driven approach: Each unit is framed around a key question, promoting curiosity, critical thinking and sustained engagement.

• Balanced curriculum: Teaching enables pupils to both:

  • Learn about religions (knowledge and understanding)
  • Learn from religions (personal reflection and evaluation)

• Explicit teaching of vocabulary: Subject-specific language is taught and revisited to support pupils in articulating their ideas with increasing accuracy and confidence.

• Adaptive teaching: Lessons are adapted to ensure accessibility for all learners, including those with SEND, while maintaining high expectations.

• Varied pedagogy: Teaching approaches include discussion, analysis of texts, use of artefacts, creative activities and opportunities for reflection, ensuring engagement and depth of learning.

• Assessment: Ongoing formative assessment is used to check understanding, inform teaching and ensure pupils make progress in both knowledge and disciplinary thinking. 

• Develop secure and connected knowledge of religions and worldviews
• Show increasingly sophisticated understanding of key concepts over time, including within mixed-age classes
• Are able to ask thoughtful questions, reflect critically and express informed viewpoints
• Demonstrate respect and understanding for different beliefs, contributing positively to school culture
• Are well-prepared for the next stage of education and life in a diverse society

Evidence of impact is seen through:

• Pupils’ work, which shows clear progression in knowledge, vocabulary and depth of thinking across mixed-age cohorts
• Classroom discussions, where pupils engage in reasoned and respectful dialogue at an age-appropriate level
• Pupil voice, demonstrating confidence, curiosity and engagement in RE

The Cheshire RE Scheme ensures that all pupils experience a curriculum that is ambitious, well-sequenced and impactful, with clear progression for all learners, including those in mixed-age classes.