R.E.

Aim

Our team at St Richard’s School acknowledges that Religious Education is a lifelong process and recognises that the primary years are significant in the lasting impact they have upon our children.

The aims of religious education in St Richard’s Catholic Primary School will include the following:

To create a safe, secure and stimulating learning environment.
To deepen knowledge and understanding of the Catholic faith through prayer and the Gospels.
Helping to foster pupil’s awareness that our Christian faith is not just a subject for learning, but a complete way of life.
To promote the spiritual and moral development of the children.
To lead the children to a living and active faith by helping them to become aware of God’s presence in their lives, to listen to Him and to respond to His invitation to enter into a personal relationship with Him through prayer.
To give the children the experience of a Christian caring and inclusive community where all members are valued.
To involve parents/carers in the spiritual development of their children.

Intent

At St. Richard’s we are committed to the Catholic Faith, recognising and valuing every individual as special and unique in the image and likeness of God. R.E. here respects and promotes each child’s innate capacity for awe, reverence, spirituality and wonder. Our R.E. curriculum fundamentally teaches our children about God’s love; they learn about their Christian responsibilities, 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 R.E. our children learn about their unique place within the home, school and parish community.

Implementation

To implement these aims and achieve our intent, we follow the scheme ‘Come and See’. This programme explores the many religious based questions about life, dignity and purpose within the Catholic tradition. Links are made with the children's own and universal experiences which help to enrich our curriculum further and to tailor it to the needs of our children at St. Richard’s. It raises questions and provides material for reflection by the children on their own experiences. It enables them to explore the beliefs, values and way of life of the Catholic tradition and where appropriate other faith traditions.

Impact

At St. Richard’s, the ‘Come and See’ scheme has been specifically chosen due to it being of high quality, well thought out and designed to show clear progression by building on previous knowledge & understanding that the children have gained in previous years. We measure the impact of our curriculum by:

Identifying the children’s ability to meet the Age Related Standards as outlined below.
Encouraging conversations and providing opportunities for our children to share their thoughts and feelings about our ‘big questions’.
Linking learning to our immediate environment where possible.
Pupils showing clear knowledge, understanding, compassion and respect for others within our community.