What? 

A bundle pack containing guidance of what an Ofsted deep dive entails and how you can utilise a similar internal process in your own subject monitoring. It contains five comprehensive templates:

 

1. Religious Education (RE) Deep Dive and Subject Evaluation Audit (Primary) - over 100 deep dive questions about RE to ask stakeholders, including senior leaders, subject leaders, teachers and pupils. As religious education subject leader, you can utilise these to reflect on the current picture of RE in your school and explore specific areas, such as the different faiths in your chosen curriculum. Many RE subject leads find it useful to practise them with other leaders to build their own confidence in preparation for a Religious Education Ofsted deep dive. 

 

2. Religious Education (RE) and Religious Studies (RS) Deep Dive and Subject Evaluation Audit (Secondary) - KS3, KS4 and KS5 RS deep dive questions for secondary leaders and RE, RS or humanities department heads to consider. While there is crossover with the primary set of deep dive questions, this resource focuses on secondary RS and RE and includes questions about secondary-focused areas, such as the routes available for pupils who wish to take their enjoyment of RS into further education, employment or training.

 

3. RE Subject Knowledge Question Bank - content-specific questions for RE covering primary and secondary content, plus religion- and faith-specific subject knowledge questions in Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Bahá’í Faith, Humanism and Atheism. They’re ideal if you’re wanting to explore the finer details of staff members' knowledge in the general principles of RE teaching, as well as the subject knowledge needed to teach different religions, faiths and beliefs.

 

4. Deep Dive Process Overview - use this to structure your internal deep dive in RE, working through the process of identifying your perceived strengths and weaknesses, observation and questioning, and creating a plan of action. 

 

5. Deep Dive Evidence Exploration - a handy place to collate all your observation notes when conducting a deep dive, including observing RE lessons, asking pupils about their learning in RE and looking through workbooks and other evidence.

 

Whether you have an Ofsted inspection due or not, conducting an internal deep dive can help you to identify your subject’s strengths and weaknesses. Use it as a collaborative process that can support other staff members to develop and use your findings to report back to SLT, governors or trustees as part of your curriculum quality assurance. 

 

What sorts of deep dive questions will Ofsted ask in RE?

The answer to this will depend on your setting and what an observer sees in practice, but here are some examples of the questions covered in this RE Deep Dive pack:

 

• How does RE make a difference to your pupils?
• How do you ensure that teachers have access to appropriate and up-to-date resources for delivering RE?
• What strategies do you use to make RE content culturally sensitive and relevant?
• Tell me how your curriculum develops the specialised skills associated with the disciplines (E.g. using sources of authority, interpreting texts, developing reasoning, analysing data)?
• Can you give an example of a complex idea in RE and how it is taught and committed to long term memory?

 

There are many more in the bundle that RE subject or department leads can work through to ensure they know their subject's strengths and weaknesses. 

 

Who? 

RE subject leaders and humanities or RE / RS department leaders, especially those who are new to RE leadership or have taken up a role as second in RE. Anyone with responsibility over the Religious Education curriculum will feel supported when monitoring teaching and learning, or if preparing for an Ofsted deep dive in RE. Curriculum leaders, senior leaders, headteachers or anyone else with responsibility for teaching and learning will also find the pack beneficial, whether they use it to conduct a deep dive themselves or support their RE subject leader to prepare for an Ofsted inspection. The RE deep dive questions are particularly useful in reflecting on your setting's current practice.

 

How long? 

Start as soon as you download the pack, and use it as part of your monitoring and evaluation schedule or to build confidence about a deep dive in RE.

 

When? 

If you’re a new subject leader or you’ve never gone through a deep dive process (either internal or conducted by Ofsted) before, this pack will walk you through the steps of what this looks like in practice and what questions you could be asked in a RE deep dive. Even if you're a more experienced subject leader, it can be useful to revisit your RE curriculum's intent, implementation and impact as a form of monitoring and quality assurance, and this deep dive pack is perfect for that. Either way, you don’t have to wait to be due an Ofsted inspection to use the pack - it’s useful at any time to explore the strengths and weaknesses of your Religious Education curriculum.

Why? 

Knowing you may have to go through an Ofsted deep dive in RE can cause feelings of stress, anxiety and worry, especially if you’re thinking about what questions Ofsted will ask about RE and how you’ll answer. This pack supports that thinking process, especially if you work alongside other leaders to consider what makes great teaching and learning in RE and how your school does or doesn’t do this. 

 

However, it’s not just about preparing for an Ofsted inspection or doing things because Ofsted might want to see them - it’s about understanding the picture of your subject and knowing its strengths and weaknesses so you can get amazing outcomes for all of your pupils. It’s also important to know that even if you conduct an internal deep dive and find there are gaps, you can use this to formulate your next steps in an action plan, which will help to ensure improvement for all.

 

Key questions answered:

• What is a deep dive?

• What is the purpose of Ofsted’s deep dives into areas of your curriculum?

• What does an Ofsted deep dive look like?

• Why might I want to conduct my own internal deep dive?

• Who should I involve in an internal deep dive?