Religious Education
The RE Curriculum is delivered through the Catholic Primary Religious Education Programme ‘Come and See’ (2012 updated 2017).
‘Come and See’ is an invitation to exploration and a promise of life for everyone. The invitation is open to all. In response to the question; ‘where do you live?’ which was asked by the disciples, Jesus invited them to; ‘Come and See.’ (John 1:39) The disciples went with Jesus ‘and spent the rest of that day with him.’
At the heart of programme, there are three basic human questions and the three Christian beliefs that are the Church’s response in faith.
- Where do I come from? Life – Creation
- Who am I? Dignity – Incarnation
- Why am I here? Purpose – Redemption
In Come and See these big questions are considered in the light of the Scriptures and Tradition of the Church, as expressed in the documents of the Second Vatican Council and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Come and See is developed through three themes based on the above documents of the Second Vatican Council, which are gradually explored each time at greater depths. They are Church, Sacrament and Christian living.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church addresses the human search for meaning, God’s initiative in Revelation who comes to meet us and our response of faith. This pattern guides the structure of the programme and informs the process of each topic, opened up through; Explore, Reveal and Respond.
EXPLORE (1 week)
The teacher helps the children to begin to look at and focus on the experience within their own lives – concerning themselves, their relationships and their world. In this way the children are led to a deeper understanding, clearer vision and the discovery of significance and value of the experiential events of everyday life.
REVEAL (2 Week)
Reveal is the heart of the process. The teacher and the children together discover the Christian understanding of the mystery of the Trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They explore the mystery of human life as revealed in the person, life and gospel of Jesus Christ Christians. It will involve learning about Scripture, the teaching of the Church, prayers, rites, psalms, hymns and other expressions of Christian faith and the lives of outstanding Christians.
RESPOND (1 Week)
Remember is the first part of this section. The children will respond by remembering and celebrating all that they have learnt. Rejoice is the second part of the section. There will be the opportunity to plan and take part in a celebration. Renew is the final part and the teacher helps each child to make an individual response, to hold on to and make their own, what they have understood of the topic.
MULTIFAITH PROGRAMME
As part of the ‘Come and See’ R.E. programme all children will study for two weeks of the year, Judaism and one other World Religion. This enables the children to have an understanding of what life is like for a child of another faith by the time they leave us.
We live in a wonderful, rich and diverse world and it is important that we teach our children to respect and understand all faiths. Although we are a Catholic school, we teach our children about other world faiths as set out in the Come and See programme so that they can play an active part in creating the “fraternal world” described by Pope Francis.
What God wants is fraternity among us," he said, which is why "we must not be frightened by difference. God has allowed this." But it is right to be worried when people are not working toward a more fraternal world.
In addition to the learning as part of the RE curriculum, we mark other world faith celebrations in collective worship or assembly. Our school calendar includes these celebrations so we are always mindful of the need for diversity and understanding.
In April 2022 our Year 5 RE Followers taught the school about Ramadan in Collective Worship. We have families in our school community who are observing Ramadan and so they were able to discuss their experiences with their class and during Collective Worship.
On Friday 29th April, Mrs Mahmood led a whole school assembly on Eid ul Fitr. She taught the school how Muslim families celebrate Eid and about the Muslim faith. We hope our Muslim families enjoy ending their fast and have a wonderful time celebrating with their families. A huge thank you to Mrs Mahmood for coming to school to help our children understand and respect this important celebration.
Thank you to Mrs Mahmood and happy Eid ul Fitr
Celebrating Diwali 2022 - we were treated to a special assembly led by two children from our Reception Class. We learned about the meaning of Diwali and why it is known as the 'festival of light'. It was lovely to see how members of our school community celebrated Diwali. We were treated to pictures and videos of their celebrations and even a dancing demonstration! Thank you to the children in Reception class who helped us understand more about this wonderful festival.
Diwali Assembly