St Margaret Clitherow Catholic Primary School

Religious Education

This school sees Religious Education as the Core and Foundation of the entire educational process. Because of this, each child is valued for what he/she is rather than for what he/she can do and every child is given equal opportunity for development to the highest potential. Through Religious Education we communicate the beliefs and values which should inspire and unify every aspect of school life and the Curriculum. This gives St Margaret Clitherow its distinctive Nature as a Catholic School.  Children who become part of St Margaret Clitherow School are enabled to be in touch with God, to know his Church and to know the meaning of Discipleship. We believe that Religious Education is not a subject among many but the foundation of the entire education process. In addition to studying the Life and Teachings of Jesus, the children study a variety of World Faiths. This enables our children to understand more about the larger community outside home and school. We show the similarities rather than the differences. We have a duty to foster these similarities because God made all men and women to dwell on earth in harmony.  The 'Margaret Carswell Units of Work' are used throughout Key Stage Two. Drawing on its foundation documents, the Religious Education Curriculum Directory and the Bishop's Conference of England and Wales Levels of Attainment, In God's Name presents a Catholic world view through learning about the Traditions of the Church, Human Experience, Creation and Scripture, named as the sources of revelation in Dei Verbum. Emphasis is given to the Catholic Church’s Liturgical Year. Parents are kept informed about what the children are learning via our half termly newsletters.

In EYFS and Key Stage One, we are following the new RED, “To Know you more Clearly”. . The new RED will be compulsory in all Catholic schools in all classes by September 2026.

This new scheme seeks to present the teaching of religious education in a sequential and progressive form, rooted in the liturgical year. The framework has four structural elements:

Knowledge lenses which indicate what should be known by the end of each age phase. These are split into hear, believe, live and celebrate.
The ‘ways of knowing’ are the skills which develop as the children progress through their curriculum journey. These are split into understand, discern and respond.
Expected outcomes are set for each age phase and indicate what pupils are expected to know, remember and be able to do.
Curriculum branches are the way the programme of study presents its model curriculum. There are six half term branches which are the same in each year group:

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

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

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

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

Summer 1- To the ends of the Earth - 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.

We believe that the school alone cannot undertake a child’s religious education. Religious Education begins at home at Baptism; the parents are the child’s first teachers and support the child with his/her first religious experiences. The school works in partnership with parents and parish to enrich the lives of our children. Parents are kept informed about what the children are learning via our half termly newsletters. Parents are also informed of the Programmes to be used in the preparation for the Sacraments of First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion.

Religious Education is further enhanced and given expression through the liturgical life of the church by attendance and active participation in the Mass and the sacraments through the observance of religious services and festivals.

For more details please see the RE Policy and RE Handbook.