At Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, we want every child to be happy and enthusiastic learners of Religious Education, and to be eager to achieve their very best in order to fulfil their God-given talents. We firmly believe that the recipe for success is high quality first-wave teaching in Religious Education, which is central to the life of our happy, caring school.
We are a Catholic school and we are committed to the Catholic Faith, recognising and valuing every individual as special and unique in the image and likeness of God. Religious Education at Sacred Heart respects and promotes each child’s innate capacity for wonder, awe, reverence and spirituality. Within our Religious Education curriculum, children are taught about God’s love; they learn about 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. Through Religious Education our children learn about their unique place within the home, school and parish community.
Intent – What are we trying to achieve?
Our main aim is that children leave Sacred Heart RC School with a wide range of happy and rich memories in R.E. formed through interesting and exciting experiences driven through an engaging and comprehensive curriculum which is the basis of knowledge and understanding of the Catholic faith, enabling them to develop a living and personal faith in Jesus Christ and allowing them to know and love God.
R.E is the foundation of the entire education process and permeates all areas of the curriculum and school life.
- Children will meet the Diocesan Standards for Primary Religious Education. Which will be taught by highly qualified staff who will engage children’s intellect, heart and imagination, inspiring enthusiasm and interest in R.E.
- Children will develop an awareness of God’s presence in their lives of others, developing the spiritual life of each child through prayer and reflection.
- Children will develop a well-formed conscience allowing them to make sound moral judgments in the light of personal commitment to God.
- Parents, family members, friends of whatever faith and parishioners will attend Masses and religious celebrations within the school and pupils will participate in parish activities outside of school times, promoting good links with the Parish of Sacred Heart.
- Children, and their parents will develop the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the Sacraments. R.E. will play a central role in the school’s work on spiritual, moral, vocational, social and cultural education.
- Children will be prepared for life in a multi faith society by fostering respect for and understanding of rich cultural diversity.
- A programme of family life education, which conforms to the teaching of the Catholic Church and follows Diocesan guidelines, will be provided.
- R.E is a core subject of the curriculum and all children will study R.E. for a minimum of ten percent of the academic timetable.
- Opportunities will exist for children of all ages to experience learning beyond the classroom. This will allow them to enrich their knowledge by, for example, visiting different places of worship, local parish church, St George’s Cathedral etc., including other faiths.
- Children will develop a deep understanding of the R.E. unit they are studying. They will increasingly use their prior knowledge to develop into religiously literate young people.
Implementation – How do we translate our vision into practice?
At Sacred Heart RC Primary School, we follow the ‘Come and See’ Religious Education Programme. This programme is followed throughout the school from Nursery to Year 6.
This Programme Provides
- Opportunities for celebration, prayer and reflection in implicit and explicit ways.
- Children with the language of religious experience – a ‘literacy’ in religious activities, places, stories, symbols and rituals, people and objects.
- A ‘systematic presentation of Christian event, message and way of life’ in ways appropriate to the age and stage of development of the child.
- That for its implementation and production it requires the adults involved to understand the underlying theological as well as educational principles.
- Appropriate materials about other faiths.
- Academic respectability as in other curricular areas – utilising appropriate stages from the National Curriculum.
The programme explores the religious dimensions of questions about life, dignity and purpose within the Catholic tradition. Links are made with the children’s own experience and with universal experience. It will raise questions and provide material for reflection by the children on their own experiences. It will enable them to explore the beliefs, values and way of life of the Catholic tradition and where appropriate other faith traditions.
Overview of Content
‘Come and See’ is taught through a series of 9 topics exploring:
- Community of faith – Church
- Celebration in ritual – Sacraments
- Way of life – Christian Living
- Other faith traditions are also explored through discreet topics.
The process for delivering the topics in ‘Come and See’ has three stages – Explore, Reveal and Respond which enable the pupils with the development of knowledge, understanding, skills and the fostering of attitudes.
10% of teaching time is dedicated to the teaching of RE.
The Process
Search – Explore (1 week) This is the introduction to the topic where the children’s life experience is explored, the questions it raises are wondered at, shared, investigated and their significance reflected on.
Revelation – Reveal (usually 2 weeks) This is the heart of the programme where knowledge and understanding of the Catholic faith is revealed through the Word, in Scripture, Tradition, doctrine, prayers, rites and Christian living.
Response – Respond (1 week) This is where the learning is assimilated, celebrated and responded to in daily life. This reflective work is collated in the class Respond scrapbooks which travel up through the school with each class.
OTHER FAITHS and RELIGIONS Judaism is usually studied in the Autumn term, however this can vary due to the needs of the school. The other religion to be studied is either Hinduism, Islam or Sikhism – the religion focus is carefully selected with consideration given to the most relevant and appropriate in light of each class and current local, national or world-wide events.
Impact
- Children are happy learners within R.E. They experience a wide-ranging number of learning challenges in RE and know appropriate responses to them.
- Through R.E. children deepen their appreciation of their faith and fulfil their God-given talents.
- Visits within R.E. have enriched the lives of the children and they are able to discuss how the experience impacted their knowledge and understanding.
- Children of all abilities and backgrounds achieve well in R.E., reflected in outstanding progress that reveals a clear learning journey. They talk enthusiastically about their learning in R.E. and are eager to further their learning in the next stages of their education.
- There is a proven track record of success in assessments that reflects the impact of deep learning.
- Clear outcomes focus and guide all R.E. development plans and drive improvement.
- Fundamental British Values are evident in R.E. and children understand how R.E. can celebrate difference.
- Children will understand the Catholic virtues which will be focussed on each half term and how these relate to their personal life and to British Values.
- The children will grow to know and love God, develop their moral and spiritual nature and deepen their faith.
- Children will live their faith in an active and positive way, always aware of the presence and love of Christ guiding them.
- Children will develop their relationship with God and become religiously literate.
- Through religious practice, the church’s traditions of prayer and worship will be upheld.
- Faith plays a central role in the lives of the children and the decisions they make.
- Children are confident, resilient and actively engaged in the wider society.
- The school environment will reflect and celebrate our Catholic faith.
- Children will be able to define, describe and discuss areas of R.E. They will confidently use skills such as retelling, describing, comparing, giving reasons, explaining the meaning of biblical stories and considering the impact of beliefs.
- Children will be able to reflect and consider important questions about R.E.
Through wider reading in R.E, children will know about a wide variety of Saints, how we can learn from their example, and historical religious events and figures. They will be able to make links between Jesus’ life and teaching and link it to their own lives, making links between different forms of Christian action, such as in rituals and charitable acts.