Advent – waiting in hopeful expectation
Y6 have filled their Advent calendar with prayers, acts of service and devotions. We will patiently take turns each day as we wait in hope during this season.
30We will strive for friendliness not loneliness to work together as one body.
1 Corinthians12: 27-28
At St Clare’s Catholic Primary School, Religious Education is at the heart of our curriculum and underpins our mission: “We love, we learn and we grow together.” We follow the recommended programmes of study from the Archdiocese of Liverpool – ‘To Know You More Clearly’ (EYFS to Year 4) and ‘Come and See’ (Years 5 and 6) – to ensure our children grow in faith, understanding and spiritual development.
The purpose of Religious Education at St Clare’s is to nurture the Catholic faith in every child. We aim to help children come to know God, recognise His presence in others, and develop a personal relationship with Him through prayer, scripture, worship and service.
We strive to create a loving and respectful school environment, where every child is encouraged to be honest, forgiving, tolerant and just. Everyone—children, staff and families—are recognised as being on their own unique faith journey.
Children of all faiths and none are warmly welcomed at St Clare’s. We value the richness of our multicultural community and promote respect and participation in prayer and liturgy as part of living out our Catholic ethos.
To fulfil our aims and objectives, we deliver a broad and balanced Religious Education curriculum within a stimulating and nurturing environment. We recognise and celebrate the unique qualities of each child and encourage freedom of expression and spiritual growth.
Our teaching is rooted in the Religious Education Curriculum Directory for Catholic Schools (2012 and 2025), and our goal is to form religiously literate and engaged young people who are able to reflect spiritually, think ethically and theologically, and understand the demands of religious commitment in everyday life.
Since September 2023, we have been implementing the new To Know You More Clearly programme in line with the new Religious Education Directory (RED). While currently optional, this programme becomes mandatory for all year groups from September 2026. We are proud to be part of the Archdiocese’s phased roll-out:
The programme is based around six branches—one per half term:
Each branch follows a clear structure:
At the end of each branch, children are supported to:
In Years 5 and 6, we follow the well-established Come and See programme. Each term, children explore three topics which align with a whole-school theme. The programme also includes the study of other faiths and religious traditions, helping to foster respect, tolerance and understanding.
At the end of each topic, classes lead Celebration of the Word, giving children the opportunity to share their learning and faith experiences with their peers, families, and the wider school community.
Central to school life at St Clare’s is our commitment to prayer, worship and the living out of Gospel values. These elements are woven into daily routines and celebrated through assemblies, class liturgies, feast days, and sacramental preparation.
We ensure that all children feel valued, cared for, and supported in their faith journey. Opportunities for spiritual reflection are built into the curriculum, and all members of the school community are encouraged to deepen their personal commitment and respect that of others.
We believe that Religious Education is a partnership between home, school, and parish. Our termly RE newsletters provide families with updates on what is being taught and offer ideas on how you can support your child’s spiritual development at home.
For more information about when topics are covered, please refer to our Yearly RE Overview and RE Policy, both available on this website.
If you have any questions about Religious Education at St Clare’s or would like to learn more about how to support your child, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Y6 have filled their Advent calendar with prayers, acts of service and devotions. We will patiently take turns each day as we wait in hope during this season.
30Today Y6 explored how to live in fellowship with one another. They created paper doll chains and discussed what it means to live and work together following Jesus’ example.
33Today we looked at artwork from many different countries showing when Jesus was born. We spoke about what we liked about each and then moved onto a P4C activity to make our votes. The winning artwork was Egypt and is now up on our class display.
25Y6 really enjoyed celebrating everything they have achieved this jubilee year. We remembered our pilgrimages of hope; wore our house colours to reflect the jubilee badge and created bunting and postcards. We even finished the day off with yummy cupcakes!
56Today we marked the end of the church’s Jubilee Year with a day of celebration and reflection. We started the day reviewing what we had done all year to promote the Jubilee’s message of Hope. The whole school was decorated with balloons and streamers in the Jubilee colours and we all wrote postcards with messages of Hope to share with our families. Our lovely cook even made cupcakes for us to take home. We ended the day with a Celebration of the Word, with our Faith ambassadors taking a leading role.What a day!
72In Y6 we learned that Sikh people are called to serve the planet by not wasting resources. We made links to the Catholic Social Teaching Value of stewardship of God’s creation. We put posters up around school to encourage members of our school community to not waste water, electricity and food.
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Year 5 led a thoughtful celebration of the word about Remembrance, sharing reflections, poems, and prayers to honour those who have served. We were also joined by our friend of the school, Pipe Major James Axon, who performed beautifully on the yard, creating a moving and memorable tribute for everyone
Y6 have been learning about Sikhism this week. They discovered that Sikh people do acts of service called Sewa. Y6 chose to do a litter pick, inspired by our eco councillors, to serve our school community. We reflected on how our act of service made us feel and the people we served through our actions.
99Today Y6 planned and delivered their own prayer and liturgy to celebrate their learning in our most recent RE topic.
101We leant that we join God’s family through the Sacrament of Baptism.

Our families did us proud during our harvest festival week this year. They donated items of food which have been collected by our local foodbank @ImagineIfTrust, supporting our local community
150As we complete our first branch of our new RE curriculum, we reflected on all we have learned about Abraham and his covenant with God.
147Year 5 took part in a wonderful Harvest trail across different areas of our school site.
159Year 5 have been learning that we all have a mission, no matter how big or small. They created a mission which they can carry out at school. One group’s mission was to help some year 3 children play tennis.
150Thank you Year 6 for taking Nursery on a wonderful Harvest trail around our school. It was a lovely morning, we enjoyed singings songs, listening to stories and planting bulbs along the way!
160Nursery class have been thinking about how we can look after God’s wonderful world. We went on a walk around the school grounds, taking time to admire the beauty of God’s creation.
159Y6 took Nursery on a wonderful Harvest trail around our school. We sang, said prayers and gave thanks to God for our Earth and its abundant gifts.
161Year 4 dramatised the story of Abraham at Mamre and how 3 strangers visited him. We used the photos to retell the story and how Abraham and Sarah were feeling.
148Year 4 studied the life and work of St John Henry Newman, we found out that he recognised that God had a mission for him and that we too had a mission. He wrote about this in ‘Hope in God – Creator’, we chose the parts that spoke to us and created our our chain.
149Today we welcomed our local PCSO to talk to us about the commitments of her job as part of our current RE topic.
148In Y6 we reflected on the reunification of the family in the Parable of The Prodigal Son. We used pipe cleaners to create figures to show the unconditional love between the father and son.
161On Wednesday, Year 4 visited our Parish church of St Clare’s. One of the parishioners, Cathy, showed us around and described the special areas of the church. She also showed us where the first 2 Sacraments of Baptism and First Holy Communion take place.
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We had a great turn out today for our parents consultation with all year groups represented. Many thanks to all were able to attend. If you need any more information, please don’t hesitate to ask or check out the parents information page on the website.
144Year 5 took part in a beautiful Prayer and Liturgy about hopes and dreams.
274As part of the Creation and Covenant branch, we studied the work of Hannah Dunnett, a Christian artist who uses simple images and words of scripture. We created our own versions and included our own blessings and pieces of scripture.
277In RE, Nursery explored the story of Creation using our special golden box. We started with darkness, then added light, sky, grass, and animals to show how God made the world. A lovely, hands-on way to bring the story to life!
169Today Y6 welcomed their parents and families to join us in worship. The theme was unconditional love. The children enjoyed planning and leading the worship and it was lovely to reflect together on what unconditional love from God means in our lives.
311In Y6 we have been learning about unconditional love. We read the parable of the Prodigal Son and used role play to further understand who showed unconditional love and why.
300Year 5 took part in a Prayer and liturgy, celebrating the Jubilee as we become pilgrims of hope.
354Today, Year 4 took a pilgrimage through our school, we took rubbing of bark and leaves we had collected as part of our Jubilee pledge day. We all wrote pledges, saying how we cook be Pilgrims of Hope in our school, using Catholic Social Teaching. We also created a 3-d representation of the Jubilee logo #Jubilee
372Today Y6 went on a nature walk to celebrate the jubilee year and their hopes for God’s world in the future. They collected items from the school grounds and created their own version of the jubilee badge.
383Today Y6 went on a pilgrimage around the school grounds. Whilst on their pilgrimage, they thought about different ways they could let their light shine. Back in class they created a wonderful video about what it means to shine in school, at home and in the wider community.
404Year 4 revisted the school mission today, we read how Matthew spoke about letting you light shine for the world and talked about what it meant. We then wrote acrostic poems based on our core values of Faith, Aspire and Respect. We then draw candles and wrote how we could let our light shine at school and at home.
335Recently, the whole school took part in the Big Lent Walk for CAFOD, raising money to buy glitter chickens for families in Kenya. These chickens are very hardy and don’t need much water so are ideal for the drought conditions experienced in Kenya. We will know how much we’ve collected shortly.
465Today we welcomed Jackie from CAFOD to teach us all about the Jubilee year. We learned about pilgrimages and about working together for the good of everybody.
474Y6 reflected on the theme of solidarity this week during their assembly. They listened to the story of Shristi the Sun Bear and shared with the rest of the school the ways we stand together to help our global neighbours.
480Today we had a visit from Jackie from CAFOD. She came to tell us all about this year’s Big Lent Walk fundraising event – buying ‘glitter chickens’ for villages in Kenya and to hold workshops for years 2 and 4, learning about the Jubile Year of Hope.
475Y6 helped each other to look up and find different books and chapters in the Bible. We can now find our favourite passages with ease!
454In R.E Nursery have been learning about the wisemen visiting Jesus. During continuous provision the children decorated their own crowns.
495Year 5 led today’s Advent prayer and liturgy, celebrating the 2nd Sunday of Advent – Peace.
484Year 5 led a beautiful remembrance prayer and liturgy. This included a visit from friend of St Clare’s, Pipe Major James Axon who performed a wonderful lament (Flowers of the Forest).
487After a long summer break, our prayer garden was in need of a little care. Y6 spent some time clearing the leaves and litter to make this a lovely space to sit and reflect.
511Year 5 carried out a wonderful black history prayer and liturgy. The children read extremely. Well done year 5.
477In Nursery we are learning about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our friend and looks after us. We took streamers and bubbles outside to demonstrate the Holy Spirit is a feeling, like the wind, we can’t see it, but we know it is there.
136We had a visit from Jackie form the CAFOD education team, she introduced us to the animals that represent each of the Catholic Social Teaching values.
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