Curriculum RE
In June 2023, we were inspected by the diocese of Lancaster under the new Catholic School's Inspectorate. With pride, we can report that we were graded as an Outstanding Catholic School. Enjoy reading the report here:
stmaryandstandrewsbarton119444june2023
At St Mary & St Andrew’s Catholic Primary School we believe that Religious Education is at the heart of our curriculum as we strive to proclaim and live the Gospel values. We see our role as supporting parents in leading their children to a greater understanding of who God is and to celebrating, with deeper faith and more understanding, the liturgy of the Church. We believe that religious education provides children with opportunities to recognise, affirm and celebrate the gifts and talents they and others have been given.
In proclaiming the Gospel message, we endeavour to share the Gospel spirit of love in all that we do and say by providing a warm family atmosphere reflecting the fact that all children need to feel ‘safe, happy, respected and inspired’.
Our six key school values - based on Gospel values - are present in all we think, do and say. Each half term, we focus on one strand and help our children understand their meaning and how to apply these values in their own lives:
Be appreciative
Be forgiving
Be loving
Be generous
Be honest
Be bold
The intent of our RE curriculum
Religious Education is the subject from which all other subjects can grow and be taught - it is the core of our core curriculum and is vital in the human development of our children.
Our Religious Education curriculum aims to:
- Grow our children's knowledge of the Catholic faith;
- Develop an understanding of the church’s moral and social teaching;
- Raise children’s awareness of the faith and traditions of other religious communities to bring out respect and understanding;
- Develop and celebrate children’s ability to relate their Catholic faith to daily life;
- Enable children to relate the knowledge they have gained from Religious Education to other subjects;
- Bring clarity to the relationship between faith and life, and between faith and culture.
- For children to know and understand the seasons of the church within the liturgical year
- To deepen in understanding of the power and gifts of the Sacraments
The implementation of our RE curriculum
Teachers teach RE well. They dedicate a minimum of 10% teaching time to our core subject.
Various supporting materials are used to ensure our children have fulfilling and engaging lessons where they can begin to know more about our faith and that of others. Following the Religious Education Directory, lessons are supplemented by the approved programme, 'Come and See'. In addition to this, Cafod, Mark 10 Mission and ACN materials are used to help our children think deeply, answer and develop effective questions and questioning skills. Other world faiths and important Liturgical celebrations are interwoven throughout the year as children are encouraged to question and reflect on their own lives and the religious lives of others. Class teachers plan for each topic ensuring that all children have the opportunity to master key skills and to think deeply and to question.
Lessons are sequenced to build on prior learning, revisit key themes and explore scripture in more details. Our lessons fit witin topics to ensure depth of study appropriate to the child's age range.
As part of our delivery of RE, we are well supported by Parish Priests and Nuns who complement our lessons with visits each week. Canon Adrian and Sister Sheinrose attend lessons each week, across different classes, which bolsters CPD for our staff and subject knowledge for our children. We are proud to work with them.
Impact
Children's learning is monitored on a regular basis to check progress and attainment. We encourage all pupils to take responsibility for their own learning.
Assessment for learning is a strength of our school; teachers know the pupils well from their answers to questions, responses in books and contributions to lessons. Next steps are planned to address the needs of all the children.
Children take great pride in their RE books and share their achievements
through class and whole school collective worship.
The subject leader meets with teachers to discuss pupil outcomes, track progress and attainment.
We were very fortunate to have CAFOD volunteers come to work with us in January, here's what they said about our children:
Dear Sarah,
Thank you so much for welcoming us into your school last week.
I know I speak for both my colleague and I when I say we found the children delightful! They engaged readily with the theme of the workshops in KS2 and discussion in groups was impressive! The KS1 children seemed to enter fully into the theme of the 3 Little Pigs, enjoy it and see how it related to the conditions in Bangladesh with the cyclones.
Enjoy reading about the children's learning
https://cafod.org.uk/Pray/Catholic-social-teaching
Curriculum Overview
Current Whole School RE overview 2022-23
Let's do this together
It's really important that our families have the opportunity to support our curriculum RE and the Catholic life of our school.
Here are some supporting materials you can use at home with your child, and don't forget to come and ask us about how you can help - we have lots of resources and materials in school that can help you.
https://cafod.org.uk/Education/For-families
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BHIDZVyYCk
Look at us learning
