Religious education develops children’s knowledge and understanding of the religions and beliefs which form part of contemporary society. Grace Cooks' approach to this subject includes engagement, reflection, response and evaluation of what children are learning, both personal and critical. Respect for others is also a principle theme of Brooklands’ culture.

At Grace Cook, Christianity is taught in every year group helping our children to develop their learning in a progressive way, building on their knowledge and skills year-on-year. In addition to Christianity, we also teach our children about Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism and actively encourage them to learn from religion in its wider context.

What is Jigsaw RE?

Jigsaw RE is a comprehensive Scheme of Learning for Religious Education for the primary school, ages 3- 12. Written by RE specialist teachers in the Jigsaw Team and trialled by 100 schools, the weekly lesson plans with all the resources needed to deliver them, and integral assessment process make Jigsaw RE the first of its kind and the vehicle to transform statutory RE in the primary school. It adopts an enquiry-based Worldviews approach to teaching and learning with much flexibility and choice of which religion/worldview to include alongside recommended teaching approaches in line with current recommendations. This means Jigsaw RE is compatible with, and a huge help to implementing locally agreed syllabi across the UK. Our complimentary mapping documents transparently share how we see Jigsaw RE supporting each agreed syllabus and identify any further planning required if necessary. Jigsaw RE is also a portal model which means everything is available online – with resources and assessments which can be downloaded if needed. This also means the programme can be refreshed and updated without affecting the user.

EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) have 6 enquiries in each year group (ages 3-4 and 4-5).

These introduce a range of religions within enquiries such as ‘What makes people special?’ (4-5) or ‘What makes places special to me and others?’. (3-4) Each of the 3 age-phases spanning Key Stages 1 and 2 (ages 5 5-11/12) has enquiries on all of the following worldviews:

• Buddhism • Humanism • Islam • Judaism • Sanatana Dharma (formerly referred to as Hinduism) • Sikhi (formerly referred to as Sikhism) and • Christianity, which includes enquiries for every year group