Religious Education Curriculum

As a Catholic school, we dedicate 10% of our curriculum time to Religious Education (RE). This is separate from opportunities for prayer and liturgy, which take place in addition to the taught curriculum. 

We follow the Religious Education Directory (RED) Model Curriculum, To Know You More Clearly – June 2023. The RED meets the expectations set out by the Bishops’ Conference for Catholic schools in England and Wales. Pupils’ learning in RE is assessed against the expected end-of-age-phase outcomes outlined in Section 2.3 of the RED. This ensures that lessons are appropriately challenging, engaging, and enjoyable, just like any other subject in the curriculum.

The RED offers a transformative approach to Religious Education, designed to nurture pupils’ spiritual growth and deepen their understanding of Catholic beliefs and values. Rather than following a purely academic approach, the curriculum encourages children to explore their faith with curiosity, reflection, and personal engagement. Through imaginative and interactive lessons, reflective activities, and active participation, pupils are given the opportunity to encounter their faith in meaningful ways and develop a lasting relationship with God.

Scripture lies at the heart of every aspect of the RE curriculum, serving as the foundation for building knowledge, understanding, practical skills, empathy, and a sense of awe and wonder.

In addition, the RED includes teaching about other world religions, helping pupils to develop respect and appreciation for different beliefs, practices, and traditions. This equips them to be responsible, thoughtful, and constructive members of the diverse, multi-faith society in which they live.

Religious Education Whole School Overview

Curriculum 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.

The six branches are:

- Creation and Covenant (Autumn 1) - Encounter the God who creates and calls all people with a focus on the accounts of Creation.

- Prophecy and Promise (Autumn 2) - Explore the expectant waiting for the Messiah through the Advent season.

- Galilee to Jerusalem (Spring 1) - Experience the ministry of Jesus and the Word of God. They will learn through parables, encounters, miracles and teachings.

- Desert to Garden (Spring 2) - Study the season of Lent and its culmination in the events of Holy Week.

- To the Ends of the Earth (Summer 1) - Study the events that flowed from the Resurrection and Ascension in the coming of the Holy Spirit and the work of the apostles and early Church.

- Dialogue and Encounter (Summer 2) - Learn how Christians work together with people of different religious backgrounds, building an understand that all people work towards a common good and should respect all humanity.

Ways of Knowing

The Ways of Knowing set out the skills our children develop as they progress through their Religious Education curriculum journey. The three Ways of Knowing are understand, discern and respond.

We want our children to understand – to have a deep understanding of the meaning of sacred texts, religious beliefs, sacred rites, and the lives of individuals and communities who are shaped by these texts, beliefs and rites. 

We want our children to discern – to judge wisely the significance and implications of texts, beliefs, rites, and ways of life. In this way they can arrive at justified conclusions about what is true, what is good and what is beautiful. 

We want our children to respond – to reflect personally and with integrity on what they have learnt and to consider the implications for action these may have their own lives and the world in which they live. 

Knowledge Lens

There are 6 knowledge lenses. Knowledge lenses set out the object of study/learning for our children and indicate what should be known by the end of each age-phase. The age phases are EYFS, age 5-7; age 7-9 and age 9-11.

The RED uses four lenses for the study of Catholicism (hear, believe, celebrate, and live). The names of these four lenses reflect the language of the Catechism itself which states that the mystery of faith which we hear and receive requires us to ‘believe in it’, to ‘celebrate it’ and to ‘live from it’ (CCC 2558)”.

Two additional lenses (dialogue and encounter) indicate what should be known by the end of each age-phase for the study of other religions and worldviews.

Hear: this lens focuses on what we hear i.e. the Word of God. We study the human capacity for God, Divine Revelation (God’s plan of loving goodness realised in Christ for the benefit of all) and its transmission, Sacred Scripture, and the human response to God’s invitation.

Believe: this lens focuses on what we believe, the Church’s own profession of faith in the Creed. We study the mystery of the Trinity; Jesus, the Word incarnate; the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church; The Blessed Virgin Mary and the communion of saints; and Salvation and life eternal

Celebrate: this lens focuses on how we celebrate our faith: the Paschal mystery of Christ. For this lens, we study prayer; liturgy and sacrament; sacraments of initiation; the Eucharist; sacraments of healing; and other liturgies and sacramentals.

Live: this lens focuses on the impact of faith on Christians and the ways in which the disciples of Christ are called to live in the world. We study the Dignity of the Human Person, Freedom, conscience, and virtue; Law, grace, and sin, Catholic Social Teaching and Faith and Life

Dialogue: this lens focuses on the relationship between Catholicism and other Christian traditions along with Catholicism and other religions and worldviews. It is called ‘Dialogue’ as this is the only authentic way of living faithfully in a world that accepts difference.   

Encounter: this lens encourages our children to engage in the study of other faiths, religions and worldviews. It focusses is on the importance of loving our neighbours and respecting other cultures and learning how to live peacefully with difference and for the common good of all humanity.