Intent

At St Thomas' Catholic Primary School, the intent of Religious Education is to support children to acquire and develop a deep knowledge and understanding of their Catholic faith. This combined with the Gospel values, our school values (Aspirational, Christ Centred Togetherness- ACT)  and mission, enable children to ask and answer difficult questions. It is also linked with our school curriculum and is a thread running through everything we do here.

Our Mission Statement superbly demonstrates what we are – an aspirational, loving school where we celebrate our unity in Christ through our diversity , where we support one another, explore the world through learning, challenge ourselves, discover and develop our talents, inspire each other and love one another. Alongside our Mission Statement, we undertake to follow Pope Francis’ encyclical, Fratelli Tutti and Catholic Social Teaching to support our RE learning and the Catholic Life of our school.

Children are taught to think about themselves as a member of a community – their Class family, their School family, their Parish family, their country and the National family, their Global family and finally, their role as a member of God’s family. They learn about their duties, rights and responsibility towards themselves and others. They also learn about Catholic Social Teachings and their contributions to the Common Good. This in turn, enables them to put Pope Francis’ second encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, into practice.

Implementation

Our aim is 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. 

R.E is a core subject and as such is taught for two and a half hours a week. We follow 'The Way, The Truth and The Life'. 

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 faiths (and no faith) of others in our school, in our community, and in Great Britain. The study of other faiths is an integral part of our RE curriculum and in addition each year group studies one faith in depth during the year. We are an inclusive school and ensure every child’s voice is heard.

We always endeavour to plan for outstanding knowledge, understanding, progress and attainment.

Our assemblies support learning by being based around values, Catholic Social Teaching, feast days, incorporating many faiths and customs and other important world events.

The Quality of Education in Religious Education

•  We start all lessons with a review of prior knowledge.
• We present new learning in small steps.
• We scaffold learning to children’s needs. Therefore, we provide clear and detailed instructions and explanations.
• We use open-ended questioning to check for understanding and to move learning further.
• We ensure all learning is effectively modelled.
• We provide regular and timely feedback.
• We also use topic specific vocabulary to ensure understanding.
• We ensure all children have the opportunity to take ownership of their learning.

Assessment in Religious Education

• We use timely feedback to ensure children understand what they have done well and what are the ‘next steps’ in their learning.
• Feedback is an integral part of planning and teaching, so as to ensure all children make progress.
• We moderate children’s work in RE to ensure expectations are clear across every year group and standards are consistently high.

 Professional Development

• We ensure staff attend a variety of training delivered in-house by experienced staff as well as training provided by the Diocese (Education Commission).
• We monitor, evaluate and review RE as part of our robust Monitoring Cycle.

Our shared faith underpins everything we do and this can be experienced in a variety of ways both in and around school, as well as our connections with the local community and our local parish.

Our terms are closely linked with the Catholic Church’s Liturgial Year, with children learning about the main feasts and the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. In this way children are provided with the opportunity to learn more about scripture, Catholic rituals and traditions and Catholic teaching. Children also learn about Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter and Pentecost. 

We follow the Diocesan curriculum and use the Journey in Love resources to support teaching and learning in Relationship and Sex Education (RSE), thus ensuring we are delivering curriculum expectations in line with Catholic teaching.

The study of other faiths is an integral part of our RE curriculum and includes Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and the Orthodox Church. 

At St. Thomas'  we aim to respond to the needs of learners and their interests. 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.

Impact

Through the RE curriculum and the experiences our children are exposed as part of the Catholic Life of our school, children will be able to make connections between their own lives and the lives of those in our local community and in the wider world.  Children will also develop an understanding about other cultures and the importance and dignity of human life.

As part of our learning journey, we will always aim to be evaluative and regularly review our practice. We have a robust Monitoring Cycle that supports our school evaluation process. This includes ensuring that our provision for those who have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), or indeed those who are disadvantaged is well suited to their needs and enables then to experience a wide range of learning opportunities.

We believe the real impact of our curriculum comes through in the strength of character and determination of our pupils. Everyone comments highly on our children - inspectors, members of the public, receiving secondary schools etc. Their love for learning, curiosity, willingness to take chances and know more, and their deep sense of responsibility for themselves, others and the world around them. We are certain the world needs such young people who believe in God and in their own worth, who are able to walk out in joy and confidence into the future, both loving themselves and others. 

Assessment.

We use formative assessment not set tasks using 'The End of Year Progress Descriptors' from our Diocese, based on the CES 'Age Related Standards (3-19) in Religious Education'.