Religious Education Statement

‘With joyful hearts, we love, learn and praise as the family of God’

Intent

As a Catholic school, we are all called to be disciples of Christ and stewards of creation. Through our Mission statement we aim to encourage children to answer God’s call to come to know Jesus through their experiences and interactions. The aim of our carefully tailored curriculum is for the children to grow in their own spirituality and faith, through their love for God and one another, their learning about and from God and their praise of God and his creation. This should always be done with joy filled hearts.

Through their experiences in school, we aim to nurture an understanding that the children are part of a global community united through the values of the Gospel. With the Gospels and ‘Laudato Si’ as our inspiration, the children develop an understanding of their role in caring for our common home and caring for one another. We aim to provide an environment where the children will learn about the mission of Christ through careful study and emersion in scripture, which is rooted in experience. Through our curriculum, the children learn how Christ showed tolerance, compassion, justice, love and forgiveness to those most in need and are encouraged to think and ultimately act this out in their own lives.

We develop children’s understanding and knowledge of other faiths and cultures, respecting and appreciating alternative viewpoints. We recognise the social, moral, spiritual and cultural diversity of our communities, and encourage curiosity tolerance and respect, inspiring pupils to understand how life in Britain and the wider world is changing around them.

We aim to develop the children in…

• Joyfully placing scripture at the heart of their worship and prayer
• Engaging and responding to the challenge of the modern world in the context of the Gospel
• Thinking critically about their role as followers of Christ
• Developing their knowledge and understanding of their faith

Implementation

Please click here to see the Long Term Plan for this year.

Religious Education is at the centre of everything we do as a Catholic school and permeates through every aspect of the curriculum and school life. We ensure that a minimum of 10% of Curriculum time is allocated for RE teaching across all key stages. The requirements of the RE curriculum are met through the scheme ‘The Way the Truth and The Life’ which  in turn meets the requirements of the Religious Education Curriculum Directory set out by the Bishop’s Conference of England Wales. All requirements at Sacred Heart are met at a standard that equals or is better than those of Literacy at all key stages and Foundation stage.

Through the high standard and exceptional teaching of RE, pupils are inspired to become critical thinkers and to reflect deeply upon their own faith journey. They are challenged through the topics taught, to think about how they put the teachings of the church and Jesus into practise in their own daily lives. The children are encouraged to continually think about their own spirituality and teachers plan opportunities for children to explore this through discussion, lesson, prayer and weekly Collective Worship. A high priority is given to the formation of pupils in their understanding of, involvement in and service to building the Kingdom of God and taking care of our common home.

Each phase uses the RE level descriptors from the Bishops’ conference to assess the attainment of the children and their progress is tracked on a termly basis. Teachers also highlight ‘I can statements’ which reflect the children’s learning across a unit. The children complete an assessed piece of work which is moderated by staff across the school termly to ensure judgements are well evidenced and verified. Children are assessed not only on the content of their assessment piece but on their individual, group and oral work through each topic. This enables both class teachers and the subject leader to monitor coverage and identify progress made throughout the pupils’ time at school.

Each unit begins with a ‘check in’ task to assess the children’s prior knowledge and at the end of each unit of work a ‘check out’ task is completed to measure progress through the topic. This is used as a monitoring and assessment tool by teachers and a self-assessment tool by pupils.

Impact

As a result of these strategies, children at Sacred Heart:

• Are well prepared for the next stage of their education as confident and enthusiastic learners.
• Produce good quality work which they are proud of.
• Achieve consistently well in all areas of Religious Education and make exceptional progress.
• Are happy, well rounded individuals who have developed a deep-rooted relationship with God and understanding of their Catholic faith.
• Are ambassadors for Christ who are ready to go out into the world and proclaim the values of the Gospel confidently, building the Kingdom of God through compassion, justice, love and forgiveness in their relationship with others.
• Understand that they are part of the family of God and know how they can play their part in this Global family united by Christ.