RE Today review by Alison

Date: 26.04.2022

Review subject: RE

Phase: Primary

Reviewer: Alison, Head of year

Urban Academy 639 pupils (oversubscribed) in Lincolnshire
Ofsted rating: Good
FSM: 9.1%

Review rating:

Average rating across all RE Today reviews: 4.0/5

It’s a good supplement but not essential

How well does it match the curriculum?

Reasonably: It’s good enough for the money, but needs some additional resources

Some great ideas; good to see its contributions are by real teachers, still in schools today.

How well does it support your school’s inclusion/diversity/equal opportunities policy?

Well: The content is inclusive and sensitively presented

Seems to focus on church schools; perhaps could have input aimed at secular schools also.

How well does it support differentiation for the full range of the classes you use it with?

Reasonably: Needs to focus more on those less able. All our kids are not thinking as maturely/able as expected as Covid has taken a year off them.

Specifically aimed too high; kids need it all simplified as catch up is slow but not able to make them work double. They are pushed in Maths & Lit but can’t take this pressure in other subjects like RE.

How well does it engage and motivate pupils?

Well: Pupils generally enjoy using it and tend to welcome doing so

They love learning about other faiths

How well does it support planning?

Reasonably: Mostly we can use it without an unreasonable amount of effort or additional resource requirement

It’s a gap filler/extra bits as we use another scheme

How well does it support home use / independent learning?

Badly: It’s not really suitable for home use or independent learning

Prefer to simplify & use own for parents

How would you rate it for value for money compared to similar resources?

Reasonably: It represents about the same value for money as similar resources I’ve seen

It’s fine; I like it as not gimmicky.

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