Religious Education
“In the life of faith of the Catholic school, Religious Education plays a vital part.”1 (Religious Education in Catholic Schools, Bishops’ Conference, 2000). At the heart of Catholic Education lies the Christian vision of the human person. This vision is explored and expressed in Religious Education; therefore Religious Education is the foundation of the entire education process. At St. Francis School, Religious Education is the core subject, at the heart of everything we do.
“The outcome will be to produce religiously literate young people with the knowledge, understanding and skills – appropriate to their age and capacity – to think spiritually, ethically and theologically, and who are aware of the demands of religious commitment in everyday life.” (Religious Education in Catholic Schools, Bishops’ Conference, 1996)
We expect what is taught in Religious Education to be reflected in the daily life and values experienced by our children in school and hopefully in their homes and the wider parish community.
According to the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, the Aims of Religious Education are to develop:
- Knowledge and understanding of the Catholic Faith and Life
- Knowledge and understanding of the response of faith to the ultimate questions about human life, its origin and purpose
- The skills required to engage in examination of and reflection upon religious beliefs and practice.
Its objectives are:
- To develop knowledge and understanding of the mystery of God, Jesus Christ, the Church and its central beliefs
- To develop awareness and appreciation of Catholic belief and its impact on personal and social behaviour and the relationships between faith and life and life and faith
- To encourage study, investigation and reflection by the pupils
- To develop appropriate skills e.g. the ability to listen and the ability to acquire knowledge
- To foster appropriate attitudes: e.g. respect for truth
Religious Education makes up at least 10% of our teaching time. We follow the ‘Lighting the Path’ scheme of work to support delivery of the RED. This forms the basis of our curriculum for Religious Education and this is supplemented with a variety of other resources. The Bible is of course a vital resource for our school life. We aim to deliver the objectives within our scheme of work in the most creative and engaging ways possible. This could include writing, reading, art, drama, debate and the use of ICT. Cross curricular approaches to Religious Education are encouraged e.g. R.E through literacy – using a religious topic for the basis of a Big Write; using religious work as a stimulus for art work; using ICT to research aspects of Religious Education.
Reflection is an important aspect of religious education, and we provide opportunities for this, even for our very youngest children.