RE Curriculum Statement

Intent

At St. Ethelbert’s, our Religious Education respects and promotes each child’s innate capacity for wonder, awe, reverence and spirituality. Our Religious Education curriculum leads our children to take inspiration from the Gospel teachings and to aspire not to have more, but to be more; children are taught about God’s love; they learn about their Christian responsibilities; children 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.

Our principal aim is that children leave St Ethelbert’s with a wide range of happy and rich memories in RE formed through interesting and exciting experiences driven through an engaging and comprehensive curriculum which is the basis of knowledge and understanding of the Catholic faith, enabling them to develop a living and personal faith in Jesus Christ and allowing them to know and love God.

Through the high standard of teaching in 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 practice 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. Pupils have a good understanding of their involvement in, and service to, building the Kingdom of God and taking care of our common home.

Opportunities will exist for children of all ages to experience learning beyond the classroom. This will allow them to enrich their knowledge by, for example, visiting different places of worship, our parish church on site, St Augustine’s Shrine and Canterbury Cathedral.

Implementation

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. All requirements at St Ethelbert’s are met at a standard that equals or is better than those of English at all key stages and Foundation stage.

We follow the scripture-based scheme of learning ‘The Way, The Truth, The Light’ based on the Religious Education Curriculum Directory for Catholic schools. It is creatively taught across the school drawing on all other areas of the curriculum and offers an effective, systematic and rigorous approach to teaching and learning. Children will meet the Diocesan Standards for Primary Religious Education, which will be taught by highly qualified staff who will engage children’s intellect, heart and imagination, inspiring enthusiasm and interest in RE.

In RE, children will develop the skills to make links and connections, engage and respond, analyse and evaluate using sources of evidence. Children will develop a deep understanding of the RE unit they are studying. They will increasingly use their prior knowledge to develop into religiously literate young people. The topics covered by each year group are as detailed on the curriculum overview. RE istaught individually but plays a central role in all areas of school life.

Children will be highly engaged in RE lessons through the use of a variety of sources such as religious stories, scripture, religious artwork, songs, music, dance and religious signs and symbols. Pupils will participate in Mass, Feast days, Holy days and Collective Worship which will involve religious actions and worship including the celebration of the sacraments. The curriculum hours in RE are nonnegotiable and will be followed by all staff in the school. Fixed timetables will be set before the academic year and monitored by the Senior Leadership Team of the school.

Impact

Each phase uses the RE level descriptors 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.

As a result of these strategies, children at St Ethelbert’s:

• 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 good 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.