Religious Education: Scheme of Work for Primary Schools
Key Stage: 2
Title of Unit: Leaders and Texts (Core Unit 3)
Religions: Christianity and Islam
About the Unit In this unit pupils learn about the life and teachings of Jesus and Muhammad and they develop their understanding of why
these leaders are important for religious believers. It also enables them to consider people in authority in their own lives and the qualities that
make a good leader.
Prior Learning
It is helpful if pupils have:
 studied other key figures in religions
Expectations:
At the end of this unit
most pupils will: know about the life of Jesus and Muhammad and describe key events in their lives; explain the principal beliefs and
teachings of the religious figure; understand why Jesus and Muhammad are important to religious believers; know and understand that they are
both models for religious believers to follow; discuss the qualities of a good leader and identify people in their own life who are good leaders.
some pupils will not have made so much progress and will: describe some of the key events from the figure’s life; know some principal
beliefs and teachings of the religious figure; know that Jesus and Muhammad are important to religious believers; be able to identify people in
their own lives who are good leaders.
some pupils will have progressed further and will: know in detail the life story of Jesus and Muhammad; explain the key beliefs Christians
and Muslims hold about Jesus and Muhammad.
Topic Title: Leaders and Texts
Key Stage 2
Engaging with fundamental questions
Exploring religious beliefs, teachings and
practices
Expressing personal responses
What makes a good leader?
Why are religious leaders or founders
important for religious people?
What experience have you had of good
leadership?
Why are holy books important?
Discuss who or what has an influence
upon your life?
Why are leaders important?
How can religious teachings help society become
more moral?
What are some of the most important
teachings for Christians?
What are some of the most important
teachings for Muslims?
How have the teachings of religious
leaders, past and/or present been put
into practice?
How do these teachings affect the actions of
a religious person?
How can religious teachings be helpful to
society?
Aspects of the Range Covered
Origin and purpose of life
Natural world and living things
Human Identity
Meaning &purpose of life
Belonging

Authority & Influence
Relationships & responsibilities
Journey of life
Non material/ spiritual
Knowledge & experience of non-material/ spiritual

Key Stage: 2
Learning Objectives
Title of Unit: Leaders and texts (Core Unit 3)
Key Question
To identify people who have
authority over others
Religions: Christianity and Islam
Learning Activities
Assessment
Set group activity. Analyse how the group functioned. Who took
leadership? Can they identify the natural leaders? Discuss
authority and leadership. Discuss leadership skills.
Identify people of authority in their own community. Discuss
their qualities.
To identify qualities of good
leadership
What makes a
good leader?
Group work: What makes a good leader? List the qualities.
Rank the qualities using a diamond nine template.
Create a poster or advert for a community leader identifying
qualities required. Discuss the results.
Create a poster advert for
a leader in the community
and the qualities that are
required.
To explore about what the Bible
tells us about Jesus and his
teachings
Why are holy
books important?
Discuss: What do you know about the Bible? (best-selling book;
main source of information about Jesus)
Why is the Bible important for Christians?
To learn about aspects of the
life of Jesus and why he is
important for Christians
Why is Jesus
important for
Christians?
Identify any religious leaders they are familiar with.
What are some of
most important
teachings for
Christians?
Pupils to describe what they believe Jesus looked like and his
characteristics. Look at different images of Jesus in art.
Make a timeline of Jesus’ life adding key events as they are
taught.
Place mat activity: what do know about Jesus?
Classification activity - Consider the two accounts of Jesus’ birth
found in Matthew and Luke. Using Christmas cards sort the
cards according to the two accounts. Discuss any similarities
and differences.
Discuss: how do we know that Jesus was special from the little
we know of his early life e.g. birth story, lost in the Temple?
Read the account of Jesus’ baptism. Collect pictures of
baptisms of children and adults and from different Christian
communities. Discuss similarities and differences.
Discuss the temptations of Jesus. Can you recall a time when
you were tempted? How hard would it be not to be tempted?
Consider the theme of friendship. What makes a good friend?
Create a poster advertising this theme. Did Jesus have good
friends? Research information about the disciples of Jesus. How
did they help Jesus with his work?
Design a poster or
information sheet with key
words that sum up beliefs
about Jesus from
 Jesus’ friends
 Jesus’ enemies
 Jesus himself
 Your own views
You can include your own
picture or images created
of Jesus, You can also
include quotes from the
Bible.
Consider examples of healing and nature miracles. Can
miracles happen today? Discuss.
Consider examples of parables. Identify the main features and
compose modern parables and explain the meaning as Jesus
might.
Drama activity / freeze frame / tableau – re-enacting a parable.
Role play or hot seat characters that came into contact with
Jesus. Present their work with ‘Jesus was…. I know this
because….
Stilling exercise of an event in the life of Jesus. Write an
account of their experience.
Research information about Jesus using a variety of sources,
including ICT. Build up a profile of Jesus from this research.
Read stories about the life and teachings of Jesus. Write about
one of their favourite stories about Jesus. State why they have
chosen this story?
Ask the pupils what they know about prayer. Are they familiar
with any prayers e.g. school prayers, end of day prayers, grace
before meals etc. Look carefully at the Lord’s prayer and
discuss its meaning.
Examine a map of Palestine. Write a sentence about each of
the following places to say what important events in Jesus’ life
took place there: Bethlehem, Nazareth, River Jordan,
Jerusalem.
Read about the last week of Jesus’ life. Write a diary extract or
a newspaper report on an event that occurred during this last
week.
Jesus was ready to die for what he believed in. Is anything
worth dying for? Write down your views on this question.
Invite a local Christian to talk about what following Jesus means
to them. Pupils to prepare questions.
To learn about aspects of the
life of Muhammad and why he
is important for Muslims





Birth
Early life
Revelation( receiving of the
Qur’an)
Hijrah
Night of Power
Why is
Muhammad
important for
Muslims?
Storytelling activity – Life of Muhammad. Pupils to sequence
pictures and to recall information after listening to the story.
Research information about Muhammad using a variety of
sources, including ICT.
What are some of
the most important Build up a profile of Muhammad’s life and work using feedback
teachings for
from research activity.
Muslims?
Make a timeline / fortune line showing key events in the life of
Muhammad. Discuss how Muhammad would be feeling during
some of the main turning points in his life.
Write a diary entry for one of the key events in the life of
Muhammad (either as Muhammad or one of his followers).
Include descriptions of the event and feelings experienced.
Watch a video about the life of Muhammad.
Role-play an event in the life of Muhammad.
To learn about the teachings of
Muhammad
 Equality
 Care of others
 Care of the environment
 Care of animals
Hot seat characters that came into contact with Muhammad.
Discuss some of Muhammad’s teachings e.g.
Muhammad’s example of demonstrating his belief in equality by
releasing his slaves.
Muhammad’s kindness towards animals e.g. story of The Crying
Camel.
Muhammad’s belief that humans are caretakers of the
environment e.g. story of Muhammad washing.
Care of others e.g. Zakat.
Pupils to discuss the relevance of these to modern day.
Write a diary entry for one
of the key events in the
life of Muhammad (either
as Muhammad or one of
his followers). Include
descriptions of the event
and feelings experienced.
Write a poem or design a poster on one of Muhammad`s
teachings.
To explore the Qur’an
 Language
 Handling
 Teachings
Why are holy
books important?
Demonstrate the way that the Qur’an is to be handled and
stored. Show posters or pictures of Muslims reading the Qur`an
and evaluate its importance for Muslims.
The Qur’an tells Muslims to obey and look after their parents.
Discuss ways in which they can help their parents.
Role-play a conflict situation with parents with two possible
endings. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the
outcome to the situation.
Recap of unit: Discuss: Why are leaders / founders important for
religious people?
Key Words
Christianity
Jesus
Temptation
Parable
Islam
Muhammad
Allah
Makkah
Bible
Crucifixion
Qur`an
Hijrah
Medina
Disciple
Resurrection
Baptism
Miracle
Revelation
Zakat
Khadijah
Resources
Pictures and posters
CD ROMs
Website addresses
Reference books
Story books
Video
Bible
Islamic artefacts: Qur`an
Qur`an stand
Head covering
Washing facilities