What we aim to achieve through Religious Education
As a Catholic school, our aim is to provide a caring community in which each child has opportunities to deepen their understanding of the Catholic faith and learn and immerse themselves in the fundamentals of Christian belief and teaching.
Our view is that through this we can support the spiritual growth of all pupils regardless of their faith.
With respect to Religious Education, our aim is that the “learning from” element of every lesson, is the greatest gift that our curriculum can give.
As a faith school, we believe that a relationship with God can be developed through prayer and worship and we provide many opportunities across the day for this to happen. This includes things we celebrate in our classrooms, in the whole school and the within the wider community.
All staff, governors and children are encouraged to be part of our learning and faith community by joining our journey to “walk in the footsteps of Jesus, loving and serving together.”
In partnership with home and parish, we strive to accompany our pupils on this journey, be this or be this not, deeply rooted in the Christian faith.
Our philosophy however remains resolute in that we want all within our community to show love and kindness to one and other in their thoughts, words and actions.
How do we do this?
Our RE curriculum is designed to be:
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- Creative
- Inspiring
- Challenging
So that children have opportunities to develop as independent, resilient, confident and successful learners.
Through the “Learning from” element of every lesson, children are challenged to develop high aspirations and be guided through discussion and reflection to know how they can make a positive contribution to their class, school, community and wider society.
Religious Education is a core subject which is taught for 10% of school’s time tabled week.
To support us in the delivery of RE we follow the Catholic Education Service, Religious Education Directory “To know you more clearly” programme of study so that this meets the diocesan standards for primary Religious Education. We use the Clifton Diocese planning and resources for each topic theme.
We integrate elements of Catholic Social Teaching into our own progression of content and deeply root our school virtue themes into this yearly progression.
Our lessons provide opportunities for celebration, prayer and reflection. Children are taught about God’s love and their Christian responsibility.
There is a high focus on developing children’s moral, spiritual, social and cultural understanding through “Hearing” , “Believing”, “Celebrating” and “Living” through the knowledge and experiences they gain from our curriculum.
Our progressive journey through the curriculum gives children the language of religious experience through activities, stories, symbols, rituals and celebration. It promotes core Gospel values which underpin all aspects of school life.
The children are encouraged to make links with their own experiences and through this explore and explain their own beliefs and values.
We celebrate equality and diversity supporting the children’s social and cultural development, recognising every individual as special and unique in the image and likeness of God. Through this, children are encouraged to also be respectful of and understand the people and traditions linked to other faiths, cultures and backgrounds.