RE
RE Curriculum
Intent
Religious Education is central to the curriculum at St Joseph’s and is at the heart of the philosophy of Catholic Education. The primary purpose of Catholic Religious Education is to come to know and understand God’s revelation, which is fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. In addition, it teaches about our faith in the context of a school that proclaims the Gospel and invites the individual to respond to the message of Christ.
Religious Education is concerned not only with intellectual knowledge but also includes emotional and affective learning. At St Joseph’s, we will develop the pupils’ moral formation, Religious Education, personal and social responsibility and other civic virtues, which are important contributions to the development of the Common Good. In addition, we aim to embed a relationship of love between child and God and between the child and other people in a community. Religious Education fosters this relationship through daily prayer, collective acts of worship and celebrations of liturgy. As a Catholic school, we feel it is important that children learn how to co-operate with others, respect others and forgive others. Scripture, teachings of the Church and the teachers’ witness and example are how these are taught. We work closely with our parishes to prepare liturgies and sacraments, and we value the partnership between home, school and parish and the wider community. Through the teaching of RE, we also develop pupils’ reading skills.
10% of curriculum time is devoted to the teaching of Religious Education, which is separate from times of prayer and collective worship. The pupils receive 2.5 hours a week of taught RE in Foundation 2 to Year 6 and 1.5 hours for our Foundation 1 Class,.
At St Joseph’s, we use several work schemes to meet the requirements of the Bishop’s Conference and the Curriculum Directory for Religious Education, which sets forth the expectations for what should be covered by Religious Education teaching in Catholic Schools in England and Wales. Children are assessed in RE through our use of the Diocese of Westminster’s Agreed Understandings of the Levels of Attainment for Religious Education.
The Aims of Religious Education
- To present engagingly a comprehensive content that is the basis of knowledge and understanding of the Catholic faith.
- To enable pupils continually to deepen their religious and theological understanding and be able to communicate this effectively.
- To present an authentic vision of the Church’s moral and social teaching so that pupils can critique the underlying trends in contemporary culture and society.
- To raise pupils’ awareness of other religious communities’ faith and traditions to respect and understand them.
- To develop the critical faculties of pupils so that they can relate their Catholic faith to daily life.
- To stimulate pupils’ imagination and provoke a desire for personal meaning as revealed in the truth of the Catholic faith.
- To enable pupils to relate the knowledge gained through Religious Education to their understanding of other subjects in the curriculum.
- To bring clarity to the relationship between faith and life and between faith and culture.
RE Curriculum Implementation
We are a Catholic school and proud of that fact. The Catholicity of the school underpins what we do every day. With the help of God and the diocese, this also directs us to implement an RE curriculum whereby the Catholic faith permeates everything we do. We ensure that families are supported in bringing their children up in the Catholic faith, and we provide a well-rounded Catholic education.
For RE, we follow: ‘The way, the truth and the life’ scheme of work as a scaffold for planning and coverage.
We aim to develop children’s love and enjoyment of RE. Children should become knowledgeable about their faith and deepen their understanding of how Scripture, Church teachings and traditions, shape their lives today.
As a Catholic school, Religious Education and the values of the Gospel remains at the core of everything we do – making Christ known to all, serving the local Church and community and assisting parents as the primary educators of their children. Our children are proud of their faith and are respectful and knowledgeable about the faith of others in our school, our community, and Great Britain. The study of other religions is an integral part of our RE curriculum. We are an inclusive school and ensure every child is valued.
Our curriculum programme of study is ambitious, challenging, and creative. We always endeavour to plan for outstanding knowledge, understanding, progress and attainment.
Prayer and Collective Worship
At St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, the children are taught traditional Catholic prayers in each year groups. These prayers can be used at home to support parents in developing their children’s knowledge of prayer and to continue to develop their children’s understanding of what the words mean to us as Christians today.
The aims of Collective Worship, therefore, are to provide the opportunity for pupils and staff and, on occasion, the wider school community to:
- Contemplate something of the mystery of God.
- Reflect upon spiritual/ moral issues.
- Explore their own beliefs.
- Respond to and celebrate life.
- Experience a sense of belonging.
- Develop a common ethos and shared values.
- Enrich religious experience.
- Grow in liturgical understanding and development.
- Reinforce prayers which are part of Catholic tradition.
- Take time to ‘wonder at’, ‘come to terms with’ and ‘give worth to.’
Collective Acts of Worship are to be completed each day. These include –GWRM- Gather, word, response, mission, Whole school act of worship, meditation, traditional prayer and Spontaneous prayer.
We have three set prayers a day- morning, lunch and end of day prayer, which the children lead.
These prayers are taught throughout these years:
| Year Group | Prayer |
| Foundation1 | Sung meditation start of the day prayer Sung meditation end of the day prayer |
| Foundation 2 | Our Father Song Alleluia |
| Year 1 | Hail Mary Lord have Mercy, Christ have Mercy |
| Year 2 | Glory Be Prayers of Intercession (Bidding prayers) |
| Year 3 | Act of Contrition I confess |
| Year 4 | Magnificat Lamb of God |
| Year 5 | Angelus Holy, Holy |
| Year 6 | The Creed Eternal rest and stations of the cross |
Prayer and Worship Progression