The RE curriculum is built around three main strands consisting of  ‘Believing’ which focuses on Religious beliefs, the teachings, sources and questions about meaning, purpose and truth. Expressing is the second strand which considers Religious forms of expressing and questions about identity and diversity. The final strand living is based around how people live out their beliefs through practices, ways of life and the values and commitments linked to them.

Year 3 and Year 4 develop the ability to ‘Connect’ learning which has already been studied in EYFS through the ‘Discovering’ aspect about different religions and the ‘Exploring’ a range of religions during Key stage 1.

In Autumn 1 children begin with the strand ‘living’ by investigating the question ‘What does it mean to be a Christian in Britain today?’ Enhanced by the QRE unit The Church. this links back to the question from Year 1 ‘What does it mean to belong to a faith community?’ and also from Foundation, ‘Where do I belong?’

Autumn 2 focuses on the QRE unit of Christmas, God is with us, develops the childrens’ knowledge of Christmas already studied in previous years.

In Spring 1 the strand is believing with the question, ‘What do different people believe about God?’ with a focus on Christianity, Hindus or Muslims. This links to the questions of ‘Who is a Christian and what do they believe?’ which is studied in Year 1 and ‘Who is a Muslim and what do they believe?’ Also, ‘Who is Jewish and what do they believe?’ from the Year 2 scheme of work.        

The question posed in Spring 2 is part of the expressing strand and asks ‘Why are festivals important to Religious communities?’ This is developed further by the study of Easter which again builds in the learning from Years 1 and 2 about Easter.

Summer 1 raises the question ‘Why do people pray?’ From the strand, expressing, which then develops into the study of Prayer taken from the QRE units.

In Summer 2 the believing strand is revisited through the question, ‘Why is the bible so important for Christians today?’ This builds on the questions ‘What can we learn from sacred books?’ Year 1 and ‘Which stories are special and why?’ EYFS. The QRE Unit of ‘The Bible’ is also studied to develop understanding.