Catholic Life
"We are fellow workers with God"
Corinthians Chapter 3 Verse 9
Intent
We are a Catholic school and at Ursuline, we are committed to the Catholic faith, recognising and valuing every individual as special and unique in the image and likeness of God.
At Ursuline, we believe that RE is the core of the curriculum. We provide our children with a Religious Education that encourages understanding of themselves, others and the world around us; provides opportunities for children to ask questions and enables children to learn about the Catholic faith. It is planned carefully to demonstrate progression throughout the school.
We aim for our Religious Education lessons and experiences to create the opportunity for not only learning about the Catholic faith, but to inspire awe, wonder, reverence and spirituality in a creative way.
Children learn about God’s love and explore their Christian responsibilities so they can discover their unique place within their home, school and parish community. We aim to teach children about and explore Catholic and Christian traditions, alongside traditions from other faith backgrounds so they can develop an understanding and respect for all people and the world around us.
Our intent, through our RE curriculum, is for children at Ursuline to develop their understanding of themselves and their relationship with God and others and also to become religiously literate during their time with us.
Implementation
At Ursuline, we follow the Come & See programme of study from Reception to Year 6. Following RECD requirements, 10% of the curriculum timetable is dedicated to delivering Religious Education to our children. RE is taught individually but plays a central role in all areas of school life.
The units in Come and See are developmental, building on previous knowledge and experience and taking into account the children’s age and stage of development and understanding. Come and See is taught through a series of 9 themes which look at the Church and its teachings, the Sacraments and at Christian Living. Each year group covers this theme through a different topic and two other faith traditions (Judaism and Islam) are taught through discreet topics.
Come and See sets out each topic through the headings of Explore, Reveal and Respond. These take four weeks to complete and are broken down as follows:
Explore (ONE week)
The topic is introduced in this first week and the children’s life experience is explored, the question(s) it raises are wondered at, shared, investigated and their significance reflected upon.
Reveal (TWO weeks)
This is the heart of the programme where knowledge and understanding of the Catholic faith is revealed through the Word, in Scripture, Tradition, doctrine, prayers, rites and Christian living.
Respond (ONE week)
In this week, the learning is assimilated, celebrated and responded to in daily life. This reflective work is collated in the class ‘learning journals’ which will travel up the school with each class.
Come and See also provides opportunities for celebration, prayer and reflection in implicit and explicit ways. The programme explores the religious dimensions of questions about life, dignity and purpose within the Catholic tradition. Links are made with the children’s own experience and with universal experience. It raises questions and provides opportunities for reflection on children’s personal experiences. It enables them to explore the beliefs, values and way of life of the Catholic tradition and, where appropriate, other faith traditions. It provides children with the language of religious experience – a ‘literacy’ in religious activities, places, stories, symbols and rituals, people and objects. It also provides a ‘systematic presentation of Christian event, message and way of life’ in ways appropriate to the age and stage of development of the child.
Children are highly engaged in RE lessons through the use of a variety of sources such as religious stories, scripture, religious artwork, songs, music, dance and religious signs and symbols.
RE is taught through different approaches including whole class teaching, group activities and individual work. Children are given opportunities to work individually as well as cooperatively and collaboratively, developing their own knowledge and expertise as well as sharing experiences with others.
Where possible, we use visits and invite visitors to school in order to enhance the RE curriculum.
Impact
The impact of our Religious Education curriculum is measured through a variety of different strategies.
We have a robust, whole school monitoring system for RE and the impact of our curriculum on the progress and attainment of children in RE is measured through ongoing teacher assessment in lessons, lesson observations and regular book looks.
In addition to these, assessment in RE shows the impact of our RE curriculum. Ongoing assessment of each topic against the End of Year Standards, in addition to formal assessment tasks, are used to identify areas of strength, areas for focus or support and to inform planning. Assessment is moderated internally and also externally at termly, local RE cluster meetings.
Importantly, the impact of the RE curriculum is also shown through our children and their deepening appreciation of their faith and God-given talents. Children can talk openly about their faith and the role they play in the community and wider Catholic Church. Children at Ursuline will live out their faith in an active and positive way, always aware of the presence and love of Christ guiding them.