'Our Religious Education curriculum aims to be ‘the core of the core curriculum’

Pope John Paul II.

Intent

At our Catholic school, Religious Education is at the heart of our curriculum and our school community. We dedicate 10% of curriculum time to Religious Education, in addition to opportunities for prayer and celebration of the Word including assemblies, liturgies and class prayer. This means 2.5 hours a week of taught RE for pupils in Reception to Year 6 and 1.5 hours for our Nursery Pupils.

Our Religious Education Curriculum

We follow the Religious Education Directory (RED) Model Curriculum – To Know You More Clearly, introduced in June 2023. The RED meets the requirements of the Catholic Bishops' Conference and sets out the expectations for Religious Education in Catholic schools across England and Wales.

Children are assessed against age-phase expected outcomes, ensuring that learning is appropriately challenging, engaging and accessible for every child.

Our RE curriculum is designed to nurture children's spiritual growth and deepen their understanding of the Catholic faith, while encouraging curiosity, reflection and personal engagement.

Through creative and immersive lessons, prayer and reflection, discussion and active participation, children are given opportunities to explore their faith in meaningful and personal ways. We aim to develop not only knowledge and understanding, but also a lasting relationship with God.

The new RED is a transformative Religious Education programme designed to deepen students’ spiritual growth by nurturing a rich understanding of Catholic beliefs and values.

Scripture at the Heart of Learning

Scripture is at the heart of every Branch of our curriculum. It provides the foundation for developing children's knowledge and understanding, while also nurturing practical skills, empathy, awe and wonder.

Children are encouraged to reflect on Scripture and make connections between their learning, their faith and the world around them.

Learning About World Faiths

As part of the RED curriculum, children also learn about other world religions and religious traditions.

This helps pupils to develop a broader understanding and appreciation of faith, while learning to respect the beliefs, practices and observances of others. In doing so, we support children in becoming respectful, responsible and constructive members of our diverse, multicultural and multi-faith society.

 

Implementation

We ensure that a minimum of 10% of curriculum time is allocated for R.E. teaching through timetabling and monitoring of work and lessons. At St Mary's we use 'Lighting the Path' to implement the RED curriculum, supplementing with resources from 'The Westminster Way' and 'Day by Day' programmes. 

The Six Branches

The curriculum branches are the way this programme of study presents its model curriculum.

The model curriculum presents the expected outcomes in six curriculum branches that correspond to the six half terms of a school year. The curriculum is rooted in the narrative of salvation history and leads pupils on a journey in each year that gives a sequence to the learning. As the children revisit each branch in each year of school, they come to a deeper understanding of its significance for Catholic belief and practice, which allows them to make links between the four knowledge lenses within the context of the narrative of salvation history. 

• Branch 1: Creation and Covenant
• Branch 2: Prophecy and Promise
• Branch 3: From Galilee to Jerusalem
• Branch 4: From Desert to Garden
• Branch 5: To the ends of the Earth
• Branch 6: Dialogue and Encounter (includes other faiths and world-views)

^Impact