This section informs you of our Religious Education Curriculum please also see the section on Catholic Life of the School to inform you about our Catholic Ethos and Gift Chaplaincy to find out about collective worship.

Religious Education at St Teresa's 

Intent

The intent of our Religious Education Programme at St Teresa’s Catholic Primary School is that our teaching will offer rich opportunities within an engaging and comprehensive curriculum where our children will find joy, happiness and love in a life with Christ at its heart.  Our aim is to create an ethos of love, allowing all of our school community to grow in their personal relationship with God and with each other. We aim to deliver a secure, caring and inclusive community in which Gospel values permeate  every aspect of school life.  Our curriculum will offer our pupils a firm basis of knowledge and understanding of the Catholic faith which will enable them to forge a deep and living faith . Religious Education is the core of all learning in a Catholic school and is the foundation of the education process pervading all areas of the curriculum, school life and the wider community.  We aim for our pupils to be prepared for life in a multi- faith society fostering respect and an understanding of cultural diversity. We also aim to prepare the children for citizenship in such a diverse society and enable them to develop sensitivity to, and respect for others. We hope to equip the children with the knowledge, skills and understanding relating to fundamental British values, allowing each child to make a positive contribution to society. We believe that our children should always be “ready, respectful and safe” .

The outcome of Religious Education is for us to develop religiously literate young people who have 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.

We  hope that through our curriculum the children will develop the skills to make connections, engage, respond, evaluate, discuss, analyse , reflect and develop as life long learners. .  We want our children to ask questions, to be eager to learn about the world around them and reflect upon their beliefs, values and experiences . We  want to nurture in our children “ a love of God and a love of life itself.”

Throughout their time at our school we aim to develop strong relationships built on respect and consideration between school, parents, Parish and the wider community. We promote and encourage faith to be a significant part in every person’s life by  working together in partnership, with home, school and Parish, following the values of the Gospel as a guide to living life to the full, and providing opportunities for pupils to make links with the local and wider community, all working for the ‘common good’ and becoming stewards of creation.

We also endeavour to teach the children to follow the example of Saint Teresa our school Saint who believed we should strive to “live in love” following Jesus’ example. We try to instil in the children opportunities to show good deeds through kind words ; that small things matter and can make a great difference  in all our lives.   We should “Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love”. (Saint Teresa of Lieseux )

Implementation

The aim of our Religious Education programme is to explore the religious dimension of questions about life, dignity and purpose with the pupil's own experiences and with universal experience. Links are also made with the experience of other faith traditions. The programme is therefore both 'objective' and 'subjective'.

For all children the programme will raise questions and provide materials for reflecting on their own experience. It will help them to explore the beliefs, values and way of life of the Catholic tradition and of other faith traditions.

The programme does not presume that children come from committed Catholic families. For those from committed Catholic families, it will deepen and enrich their understanding and living of their faith.

Impact

Assessment

Assessment is regarded as an integral part of teaching and learning and is a continuous process. We strive to make our assessment purposeful, allowing us to match the correct level of work to the needs of our pupils, thus benefitting the pupils and ensuring progress.  We continually assess and record progress.  Information for assessment is gathered in various ways ; by talking to children, asking questions, observing and setting specific tasks. We follow the standards documentation for the National Age standards for RE.  We also use a Come and See Knowledge Organiser as entry and exit tasks to ascertain knowledge.