Religious Education

“In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 3:6

At St. Clare’s, our approach to teaching religious education is designed to help children grow in faith, build a relationship with God, and navigate their spiritual journeys. We recognize and value the diverse faiths and beliefs within our community, ensuring that all voices are heard and respected. Through our Catholic scheme of work, we foster an inclusive environment where every child’s beliefs are acknowledged, allowing them to explore and deepen their understanding of faith in a way that enriches our entire school community.

Intent

The foundation of our Religious Education Policy is based on our mission statement. We aim to foster, develop and sustain faith, hope and a love of God through a broad curriculum based on the gospel. We recognise that the curriculum, in its content and delivery, reflects the fact that Jesus Christ is the foundation of the whole educational enterprise.

As a Catholic school, St Clare’s aims to complement the Catholic home by cultivating the moral, intellectual, aesthetic and physical development of our children. We aim to foster a collaborative and co-operative environment which makes every member of our school feel welcome, valued and respected, regardless of race, creed, gender or disability.

Our teaching is not only evident in Religious lessons and in prayer and liturgy, but it underpins all we teach, across the curriculum.  It is evident every day in the classroom, in the attitudes and skills we attempt to foster in our children.  It permeates all areas of the curriculum.  We aim to develop, in a Catholic atmosphere, qualities of mind, body and spirit in order to prepare our children to face the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life.

We acknowledge that to create distinctive Catholic School requires the full commitment of all who belong to the school community to trust and respect each others views and feelings. All are valued and encouraged to make St Clare’s a stimulating, enjoyable and satisfying place in which to work.

We aim to:

• to respect and promote the child’s innate capacity for wonder, awe, reverence and imagination
• to enable our children to take the initial steps of their faith journey
• to increase the children’s knowledge and love of God
• to teach the Catholic faith and develop commitment towards that faith
• to encourage a loving and caring attitude towards family, friends, peers and teachers and all with whom they come into contact
• to celebrate through worship and liturgy in a way appropriate to their age
• to foster a respect for other religious and faith communities

Implementation

We use the ‘Come and See’ Catholic Primary Religious Education Programme which integrates the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Catholic Levels of Attainment and the new Religious Education Curriculum Directory. It is the programme prescribed by the Archdiocese of Liverpool and the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. We endeavour to be creative and use cooperative learning techniques to promote children’s progress.

In addition, Come and See allows us to promote key principles of Catholic Social Teaching and introduce a global aspect to our RE curriculum through the inclusion of CAFOD’s Universal Church topics. Teaching of other faiths is built into the programme, so our pupils have the opportunity to learn about other faith communities and their beliefs and practices. Years 1-6 will study Judaism for one week during the Autumn term, followed by a week learning about Sikhism in the Summer term.

Throughout the year provision is also made for Fr Aiden, our parish priest to attend school and celebrate with the children.  Class led assemblies also take place throughout the year.  The prayer life of the school is integrated into the Religious Education curriculum e.g. through class based collective worship opportunities. ‘Reflect’ time is part of the Come and See programme and allows pupils to plan their own collective worship sessions and reflect on their learning from the previous weeks.

Impact

Through the teaching of RE we will promote the child’s innate capacity for wonder, awe, reverence and imagination and through this we will enable them to take the initial steps of their faith journey.  The children’s knowledge and love of God will be developed.  By teaching the Catholic faith developing a commitment towards that faith we can encourage a loving and caring attitude towards family, friends, peer and teachers an all with whom they come into contact.  In an age appropriate way, we can celebrate through worship and liturgy.  Through the teaching of other faiths and religions we can enable the children to foster a respect for other religions and faith communities.

• RE Curriculum map

*For more information please see the ‘Religious Education and Catholic Life’ page in the ‘Key Information’ section on the home page. 

The RE (Come and See) curriculum

Key Elements of Come and See

Each topic is split into 3 sections-

Explore (1 week)

Children learn through shared experiences and make connections between their life experiences and their friends.

Reveal (2 weeks)

At the heart of the programme is the mystery of God’s self-revelation of love through Jesus Christ. Come and See gives pupils the opportunity to explore the mystery of faith through Scripture and Tradition. 

Respond (1 week)

Children remember and celebrate what they have learnt and apply their knowledge individually.

Children are taught in creative and engaging ways; role play, hot seating, drama, art, music and ICT reflection; the children learn and live through experiencing living faith.

St Clare, our Patron

Here is the wonderful letter we received from Asylum Link, thanking us for all our Harvest food donations.

Our Remembrance display