At St Mary’s, our intent for Religious Education is to support children to acquire and develop a deep knowledge and understanding of the Catholic faith. Religious Education is the core of the core at St Mary’s and is a thread running through everything we do.

St Mary’s is a caring community, where we support one another, explore the world through learning, challenge ourselves, discover and develop our talents, inspire each other and love one another. Alongside our Mission Statement, ‘Faith in Education’ and our core value ‘treat other people as we would like to be treated’ we teach our children to search, to explore, to discover, and to respond; this is part of what it is to be human. Our aim is to develop children’s love and enjoyment of RE. Children should become knowledgeable about their faith and deepen their understanding of how Scripture, Church teachings and traditions, shape their lives today.

Throughout their time at St Mary’s our children are taught to see themselves as members of a community – their class, their House, their school, their parish, their global family and finally, their role as a member of God’s family. They learn about their duties, rights and responsibility towards themselves and others. They also learn about Catholic Social Teachings and their contributions to the Common Good.

Our Religious Education curriculum leads our children to love one another, as God loves us. Children are taught about God’s love and their Christian responsibilities. Children are provided with experiences of church, Catholic and Christian traditions, as well as being taught to be respectful and understanding of people and traditions from other faith backgrounds.

As a Catholic school, Religious Education and the values of the Gospel remains at the core of everything we do - making Christ known to all, serving the local church and community and assisting parents as the primary educators of their children.

Implementation 

Our Religious Education curriculum is delivered through the Diocesan scheme of work called Come and See.

Come and See offers the opportunity to search, to explore, to discover, and to respond; this is part of what it is to be human.

• Children are invited to ‘Come and See’ the wonder of all that is within them and beyond them

• God offers the invitation to ‘Come and See’

• Teachers facilitate the opportunity for children to ‘Come and See’

The programme is taught through 3 main areas; Church, Sacrament and Christian Living. In these areas children will be taught about their family, their local community, the sacraments such as baptism and marriage as well as key events in the Christian Church such as Advent, Easter and Pentecost. Within each topic the children will follow 3 stages: Explore (discuss their initial responses), Reveal (learn, discuss and understand the topic) and Respond (reflect on and celebrate their learning). There are specific weeks during the year which allow the children to learn about other world faiths such as Islam and Judaism.  These weeks give our children the opportunity to explore various aspects of faiths other than their own.

Our religious curriculum is ambitious, challenging, and creative. We always endeavour to plan for outstanding knowledge, understanding, progress and attainment. Learning includes;

• review of prior knowledge.
• topic specific vocabulary to ensure understanding.
• high quality resources.
• creative and engaging tasks
• open-ended questioning to check for understanding and to move learning further.
• strong subject knowledge from teachers
• high aspirations and challenge
• timely and structured feedback to promote and secure learning and understanding

We also incorporate Catholic Social Teachings through CAFOD’s resources and Pope Francis’ Laudato Si.  It is important for our pupils to understand their rights and responsibilities both to themselves and the Common Good.  This will also allow them to develop a sense of identity, find their place in the world, and make positive contributions to society.  Children are encouraged to be resilient and develop the knowledge needed to keep themselves and others safe, make well-informed decisions using their learning as a moral compass, be respectful and tolerant, and uphold the British Values and the Values of the Gospel.

Substantive Knowledge in Religious Education enables pupils to learn about what people believe, about the faith they hold and how that helps them to make sense of the world. They will learn about the teachings of different religious traditions and the answers those traditions give to questions of meaning and purpose. They also will learn about the signs, symbols and traditions used to guide them in their understanding of faith, belief and practice. Pupils will also explore the ways our faith is celebrated and the Church’s Liturgical seasons. They will be able to explore different liturgies (including liturgical prayer, Mass and daily prayer) and the place of actions, words and symbols within them.

Pupils will learn about the ways in which religious belief shapes their lives and the way they see and interpret society and the world; they will learn to understand the religious and moral basis for certain belief systems.

Disciplinary knowledge in Religious Education allows children to reflect on beliefs and values; by talking, exploring, discussing, thinking, responding, and questioning. Pupils will be increasingly able to structure and articulate their thoughts. They will be able to listen attentively to others and come to understand and empathise with others’ views, beliefs, and values. They will develop the ability to engage critically with their own and others’ religious beliefs and world views.

Assessment & Monitoring

Throughout each unit of work, we use timely feedback to ensure children understand what they have done well and what are the ‘next steps’ in their learning. Feedback is an integral part of planning and teaching, so as to ensure all children make progress and are challenged to reach high aspirations. During each unit of work children are provided with a range of tasks which are used to evaluate their knowledge and understanding.  We moderate children’s work in school, with our local catholic schools and within our diocese to ensure expectations are clear across every year group and standards are consistently high.

Impact

Through the RE curriculum and the experiences our children are exposed as part of the Catholic Life of our school, children will

• be able to make connections between their own lives and the lives of those in our local community and in the wider world
• develop an understanding about other cultures and the importance and dignity of human life.
• develop a deep sense of responsibility for themselves, others and the world around them.
• understand a wide range of Scripture and have a deeper awareness of the Word of God
• be witnesses of their faith and understand their role as Christian people