Through our carefully planned RE curriculum, we aim to guide the children to become religiously literate young people who have the knowledge, understanding and skills to think spiritually and theologically, and who are aware of the demands of religious commitment in our everyday lives.

In line with the Diocese of Lancaster support for planning; our EYFS, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 classes will deliver their Religious Education curriculum based on the delivery of the new RED.  This will be supported by the 'Magister' Catholic Education Publication. All pupils will be invited to encounter Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as the living person at the heart of their study in a way that respects their individual religious identity.

The purpose of Religious Education (R.E.) at St. Mary’s Catholic  School is to nurture the Catholic faith in our children. By helping them to live the faith, we hope to encourage our children to come to know and understand God’s revelation which is fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. This permeates the school and develops a better relationship with God and with each other.

R.E promotes pupils’ cultural, mental, emotional, spiritual and physical development and prepares children for the opportunities and responsibilities that are to come. 

Aims

·     To provide staff and children with the knowledge, understanding and awareness of the Catholic faith and its beliefs.

·     To enable staff and children to communicate with God through prayer and scripture.

·     To enable staff and children to develop their spirituality.

·     To help staff and children to explore and express their sense of awe and wonder at the world God has created.

·     To encourage staff and children to respect those holding different beliefs.

·     To help staff and children grow in awareness of themselves and to develop a positive attitude to their own emotions, life, and learning.

·     To enable staff and children to grow in their awareness of others and to develop relationships in a secure and supportive environment.

·     To become aware of issues involving justice and the rights of the individual.

 R.E is a core subject and 10% of curriculum time is devoted to it. This time does not include time spent in prayer and liturgy.

Our 'Doors of Hope' to mark the Jubilee Year of Hope

Our Religious Education curriculum is based on the new RED.  The objective of the curriculum is to 'develop religiously literate and engaged young people, with the knowledge, understanding and skills to reflect spiritually, think ethically and theologically, and recognise the demands of religious commitment in everyday life'.   

There are six components to the curriculum, that are known as branches which follow the pattern of the Liturgical Year. Each branch has a core theme and is taught through the process of four lenses: Hear, Believe, Celebrate and Live. The names of these four lenses reflect the language of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The study of other religions and worldviews is taught through the lenses of dialogue and encounter.

The branches are: 

Branch 1: Creation and Covenant

Branch 2: Prophecy and promise

Branch 3: Galilee to Jerusalem

Branch 4: Desert to Garden

Branch 5: To the ends of the Earth

Branch 6: Dialogue and Encounter

It is a spiral structure enabling pupil’s understanding to deepen throughout their school journey.

Our children explore and experience these 'branches' through three different 'ways of knowing' these skills are:

Understand

Discern

Respond

We believe that all aspects of R.E should be woven into the fabric of school life. We recognise that everyone at St. Mary’s Catholic School (staff, children and parents) are on their own personal journey of faith.

Equal Opportunities

We believe that all children are entitled to equal access to the R.E Curriculum.

Children with learning disabilities and gifted and talented children should be allowed to express themselves according to their ability, for example by using art to record ideas and thoughts where writing skills are less developed. All work should be valued. We should be aware of children’s various cultural, social, and ethnic backgrounds and be sensitive in our approach and the use of materials.

Other Faiths

The Church and therefore the school, acknowledges the importance of gaining an understanding of the cultural and religious traditions of other World Religions. These are taught through the RED curriculum.

 

RE with some of our smallest children...

In RE the Reception children, have listened to lots of scripture and songs all about God’s World, and we have heard how he made it good. Together we created some collaborative artwork to show all the wonderful things God made. We know that we should care for God’s world, and we discussed lots of ways we can do this.

      

As an integral part of our RE curriculum, we also work closely with our local Parish to prepare liturgies and we value the partnership between home, school and parish and the wider community.

We strive to make our lessons and experiences in RE as memorable and enjoyable as possible for our pupils - the children tell us that they love their RE lessons, and this is evident in every classroom and around our school.

    

      

Father Philip taught the Year 2 children about Baptism and the signs and symbols that are part of this sacrament.

The sign of the cross

Learning to make the sign of the cross, showing reverence and respect.