The following examples of units of work show the importance of appropriate task-setting, matching work to pupils' needs, and focusing on specific RE skills when challenging the most able. They are largely based on Christianity, simply because Christianity is a religion taught in all key stages in all agreed syllabuses, but they offer possibilities for work in all faiths.

Year 2: Visiting a Methodist chapel

Pupils visited a place of worship, a local Methodist chapel, and asked two members of the congregation questions about the building and its layout and furnishings as well as the use of the Bible by the congregation and the worship that takes place there. The teacher asked James, a gifted child, to write about what would happen if the church building was blown up, and didn't exist anymore.

Following a discussion, James wrote:
'I don't know what the people would do next. I don't think they would be happy. They would be sad. They would want to go to church again, so they might build another one. They might say to meet at another place, like the library, and they could do their Bible readings. They might stick together even though their church was burned up. I think they would go round the church and look in the ruins to see what they can find. If they found the Bibles they would keep them. They would be pleased.'

Teacher comment: 'I try to get James to speculate about things, because he's exceptionally good at logical self-expression, and uses his imagination. Often I don't worry about getting this written down, but in this case, he wrote well about it, showing a high level of understanding of what the two interviewees had said about the importance of the church to their community. All very concrete of course, but he is seven.'

James' achievement touches on level 4 in the QCA scale of non-statutory national expectations in RE: he shows understanding of some of the ways of belonging to religions, and what these involve.

Schemes of work