Religious Education
As a learning community, we place Religious Education at the centre of the curriculum and all we do here here at St Mary's and all policy development stems from here. With Christ at the centre of everything we do, we foster a culture of respect, tolerance, love, forgiveness, mercy and peace. By following a programme of study called 'Come and See' alongside other resources we encourage children to live their lives following in Jesus’ footsteps.
'Come and See’ fulfills all the requirements of the revised RE Curriculum Directory and has been recommended by the Diocese of Salford. It is a structured programme and each year the pupils study numerous topics usually in 4 week blocks, these are studied through 3 phases: Explore, Reveal and Respond.
Alongside studying Christianity the children are also taught about other faiths in order to prepare them for living in a multi-cultural and diverse world. In addition to the world religions unit for each year group, we hold an annual 'Friendship' week. During this week we have a whole school focus on one of the major world religions, these include; Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism and Buddhism. We celebrate our diversity, teaching the British values and the Gospel values throughout our curriculum. The local authority and the community recogise how welcoming St Mary's are of all faiths; we actively encourage children of all faiths to attend our school.
We provide the opportunity for prayer and collective worship to take place on a daily basis. This takes place as a whole school community, in key stages or in year groups. We value the importance of developing individual spirituality as well as praising God in worship. This enables our school community to develop their growing and maturing relationship with God. Staff encourage pupils and each other to reflect and contemplate on their thoughts, feelings and beliefs. We plan for creative opportunities for children to engage in different experiences of worship through artefacts, stories, resources, music, art, drama and speakers/visitors to engage pupils’ interest.
For Information about prayer and worship and topics/objectives covered across all year groups, please see the documents and policies below.
Our Curriculum Intent for Religious Education:
At St Mary’s, we believe that it is vital for all our pupils to learn from and about religion, so that they can understand the world around them. Through Religious Education, pupils develop their knowledge of the world faiths, in particular the Catholic Faith and their understanding and awareness of the beliefs, values and traditions of other individuals, societies, communities and cultures. We encourage our pupils to ask questions about the world and to reflect on their own beliefs, values and experiences. Our Religious Education curriculum permeated the entire curriculum here at St Mary's and is a core subject at our school. We believe that through the exploration of religion, pupils develop their sense of self and are encouraged to develop their own beliefs as these will shape their life and behaviour. Pupils will develop the ability to make reasoned and informed judgements about religious and moral issues and enhance their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Religious Education is taught throughout the school in such a way as to reflect the overall aims, values, and philosophy of the school. As a Catholic school we promote the Gospel Values and encourage pupils to see these as human values or principles that are universal to all: honesty, compassion, respect, forgiveness, dignity, tolerance and peace. Through our curriculum, we promote respect and prepare pupils to respond to challenges as adults whilst upholding their own beliefs so that they can make a positive contribution to the community in which they live.
Some of the beautiful RE and Worship we have done so far this year, can be seen in the RE & Worship at St Mary's file below.
