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"Religious education is never simply one subject among many, but the foundation of the entire educational process. The beliefs and values studied in Catholic religious education inspire and draw together every aspect of the life of a Catholic school."
(Statement from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, May 2000)
Religious education in Catholic schools aims to promote:
At Holy Cross we aim to deliver a broad and engaging Religious Education, enriched in the Catholic Ethos of the school community. To support the delivery of our RE curriculum we use the support materials of God Matters.
Intent statement:
RE: To work in partnership with parents, families and the parish to appreciate the way that religious beliefs shape our lives and our behaviour, to make reasoned and informed judgements, and to help children to acquire and develop knowledge and understanding of the Catholic Faith and other Faiths.
Full Intent:
At Holy Cross Catholic Primary School, we recognise that every child is unique and special, created in the image and likeness of God. Through our RE Curriculum, we aim to inspire awe, wonder, reverence and spirituality within every child. As children are taught about God’s love they discover their Christian responsibilities and how they should pray and care for others.
Teaching should give pupils the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the Catholic faith and its traditions. It should deepen the child’s understanding of God through the experience of prayer and develop and encourage a personal response to God and the recognition of an awareness of a moral responsibility, through the development of conscience. Pupils will learn about other faiths to increase their knowledge, respect and understanding of everyone in our society. Skills taught will cover reflection, empathy, investigation, interpretation, evaluation, analysis, synthesis and expression.
Religious Education is central to the life of our school and permeates throughout the whole curriculum, developing our cross-curricular approach. The Curriculum Directory for Catholic Schools informs our chosen topics, which are sequential and include progression of skills. Children will understand how the Gospel values relate to their own lives and how they can live as moral citizens in our world today. Through the relationship the school has with the Clifton Diocese, the children have experiences of the church, Catholic traditions and how to live out the Beatitudes. There will be opportunities beyond the classroom for real life learning and for pupils to visit different places of worship as well as having opportunities to engage in spiritual reflections and retreats.
RE is taught individually but plays a central role in all areas of school life. Children in most year groups follow the RE Curriculum using the updated version of the ‘God Matters’ scheme of work. Every class follows the topics of Creation, Prayers, Saints and Feasts, Advent, Christmas, Revelation, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost and Sacraments with the EYFS and Year 3 following the new RED Diocesan scheme of work.
We also incorporate Catholic Social Teachings, in order to consolidate Pope Francis’ encyclical – Fratelli Tutti. It is important for our pupils to have an understanding of 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.
Children from years 1 to 6 are assessed at the end of every unit apart from Christmas and Other Faiths. Assessment will be based upon a child’s ability to learn about Religion (AT1) , a child’s ability to learn from Religion (AT2) and a child’s ability to analyse and evaluate (AT3 – KS2 only).
RE is a core subject and RE teaching makes up 10% of the Curriculum time. Within their classrooms, children experience a range of teaching methods and provision is made for prayer, celebration and Mission. This also links with other aspects of Celebration of the Word, which includes Masses and assemblies. Skills are built upon, year on year and sequenced appropriately throughout the school and lessons are planned using this document. Monitoring occurs regularly by the school chaplaincy team, Curriculum Lead and school governors.
Cultural capital will be developed through learning about important people and places in the Catholic faith, including diverse Saints and Clergy as well as significant people and places from other faiths.
Our principal aim is that children leave Holy Cross with a wide range of happy and rich memories in RE 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.
As of September 2023, Reception class and Year 3 have begun to pilot the new RED (Religious Education curriculum directory)
You can find planning for the new curriculum below. All other year groups will continue to use the adapted God Matters units until the new year group planning becomes available.
From September 2018,
In Term 6 our Religious Education topic is Sacraments. We will also spent this term learning about other faiths, particularly in relation to International week.
Please see the below document for outcomes in R.E. in the Clifton Diocese, based on the God Matters scheme of work.