Religious Education (RE)

Intent

We are a Catholic school with the Catholic Faith at the centre of our lives.  We recognise and value every individual as special and unique, made in the image and likeness of God.

RE at St. Joseph’s respects and promotes each child’s capacity for wonder, awe, reverence and spirituality. Our RE curriculum leads our children to a greater understanding of their faith and how to live it out in their everyday lives; children are taught about God’s love; they learn about their Christian responsibilities through Catholic Social Teaching; children are provided with experiences of church, Catholic and Christian traditions, as well as being taught about people and traditions from other faith backgrounds and worldviews. Through RE, our children learn about their place within the home, school and parish community along with the opportunities and responsibilities that they bring. Central to our ethos are the opportunities for prayer and worship which lie at the heart of our faith. We will promote and encourage these at every level, together with the skills and attitudes necessary to live out the Christian message in the modern world.

Implementation

R.E. is afforded at least 10% of teaching time in accordance with the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in England and Wales. As a school we are currently transitioning to the new Religious Education Directory.  Currently, EYFS and Year 1 follow the RED; other year groups currently use the old scheme of work ‘Come and See’ until we purchase a new scheme of work for the new RED.  This will be rolled out after INSET training during this academic year.

Impact

As a result of our teaching and learning, our children become knowledgeable, thoughtful and responsive to Scripture, Christian teaching, Catholic traditions and other faiths as well as experiencing and participating actively in worship and liturgy of various kinds. The RED enables progression through a spiral curriculum where skills are clearly developed year on year. When children’s work is marked, teachers highlight the ‘success criteria’ on the lesson strip to show the extent to which the LO has been met. Staff use this information when recording attainment of each pupil in each topic as well as when reporting to the RE Co-ordinator. Termly ‘Book Looks’ by HLT and RE Co-ordinator monitor coverage, progression, assessment and marking, and presentation of work – this is fed back to teachers by the Headteacher. Parents engage in the RE curriculum and Catholic life of our school through opportunities provided across the academic year, sharing in their child’s work and successes when exercise books go home once each month for ‘First Friday Family Learning’.