Welcome to our RE page. Here, you will find assemblies and activity packs to share at home. Mission Together and CAFOD provide wonderful resources for reflection.
The assemblies contain scripture references and ideas for songs to sing and learn.
Religious Education at St.Mary’s
‘precious in His eyes’
Through Religious Education, children study the Catholic tradition and come to an appropriate knowledge and understanding of the different religious dimensions of life. They are given the opportunity to examine their own religious attitudes and to respect the convictions of others. We teach respect for other religions, traditions and cultures and we enjoy learning about other religions and visiting places of worship. Our aim is for children to love God, themselves and each other, thus shaping their lives in the most positive, caring and fruitful way.
The curriculum planning wheels are used throughout the school and supported by materials from CAFOD, “The Way, The Truth and The Life” and “Caritas in Action” to ensure we meet the needs of our children. All classes follow the Religious Education Curriculum Directory. Time spent on this area of the curriculum varies from 2 to 2.5 hours per week. Children plan for and lead their own class prayer and liturgy and engage in a variety of fundraising initiatives through the year. We use Fratelli Tutti and Laudauto Si to examine our actions and care for our common home as co creators with God and stewards of creation.
Each child takes part in a daily act of worship (5 – 15 minutes) and formal prayers are used to open and close the school day sessions. Sacramental Preparation for Reconcilliation, Holy Communion and Confirmation is undertaken by the catechists of St.Thomas’ Parish.
Religious Education is further enhanced and given expression through the liturgical life of the church by attendance and active participation in the Mass and the sacraments through the observance of religious services and festivals. At the beginning of each new term the whole school attend Mass with the parish.
The Catholic faith perspective is not an added extra, which we teach and offer to the children, it is integrated into the whole life of the school and into all the aspects of the curriculum.
The Intent of our Religious Education Curriculum
We strive for the values in the Gospel, particularly in The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12), where Jesus gives us the values to develop our human person and deepen our relationship with God. We live faith in all aspects of school life and we nurture childrens’ spiritual development through Christ’s teachings.
Our Religious Education curriculum aims to:
- Present comprehension content based on the knowledge and understanding of the Catholic faith;
- Enable children to deepen their religious and theological understanding and be able to communicate effectively;
- Develop an authentic vision of the church’s moral and social teaching;
- Raise children’s awareness of the faith and traditions of other religious communities to bring out respect and understanding;
- Develop children’s ability to relate their Catholic faith to daily life;
- Enable children to relate the knowledge they have gained from Religious Education to other subjects;
- Bring clarity to the relationship between faith and life, and between faith and culture.
The Implementation of our Religious Education Curriculum
At the centre of our whole school curriculum is Christ. He is present in all we do and He is our role model for our actions and words.
We use the Bishop’s Conference Directory topics: Revelation, The Church, Celebration and Life in Christ as a basis for all our planning, which are also outlined in the Diocesan RE wheels which every teacher incorporates in to their plans. The Directory provides ‘valuable guidance for the RE curriculum to ensure that our teaching and learning truly reflects the vision and breadth of the teaching of the Church’. This revised Directory was published so that religious educators can continue to meet the needs of the pupils of today.
Other world faiths and important Liturgical celebrations are interwoven throughout the year as children are encouraged to question and reflect on their own lives and the religious lives of others. We work with our small school cluster to arrange and attend visits and to unite in our faith and formation journey.
To ensure the children can be assessed accurately teachers ensure that the expectations of the Assessment Standards are integrated into the whole planning process. This will inform the teaching and ensure that expected standards are aspired to.
Have a look at the assessment standards to see the progression and stages of development:
The Impact of our Religious Education Curriculum
Religious Education as an integral part of learning and formation. An indicator of success will be the amount of pleasure and knowledge gained by the children from the study of RE and a deepening of their personal knowledge, understanding and response to Christ through their service of others. Our curriculum maps in all year groups begin with big thinking and ethical questions and the extraordinary ending aims to involve children in service and social justice actions and we use religious art in art lessons to further develop our love of RE and develop our relationship and love of God.
We have a high percentage of children undertaking sacramental preparation and children enjoy masses and praying together. Children are competent and confident when leading prayer and liturgy and they are keen to engage their families in prayer and community activities. The parish and school work closely together. Have a look at our celebrations and community events.