RE Curriculum

Religious Education

Intent Statement

We are a Catholic school and we are committed to the Catholic Faith, recognising and valuing every individual as special and unique in the image and likeness of God.

Religious Education at St Joseph and St Teresa’s respects and promotes each child’s innate capacity for wonder, awe, reverence and spirituality. Our Religious Education curriculum encourages our children to be taught about God’s love; they learn about their unique place within the home, school and parish community; they learn about their Christian responsibilities; are provided with experiences of Church, Catholic and Christian traditions as well as being taught to be respectful and understanding of people and traditions from other faith backgrounds.

Implementation Statement

Religious Education is taught according to the doctrine of the Catholic Church as required by Clifton Diocese. Teachers use a scheme called God Matters and lessons focus on both providing the children with a knowledge of the Catholic Faith and leading them to an understanding of the significance of religion in their lives. They are encouraged to give a variety of responses to what they have learned and to measure their own development as Christians by reflecting on their relationships with others and with God.

Closely linked to our teaching of RE is the way in which this is reflected in the Catholic life of the school. The children pray at regular intervals during the day: start of the morning, before lunch, after lunch and at the end of the day. Prayer and spirituality are at the heart of every day’s learning. Assemblies are another important part of the religious life of our community. As assembly, we pray together, sing hymns together and reflect on aspects of our Faith within the context of our own experiences.

We also regularly celebrate Mass together as a community – on certain feast days, and at the beginning or end of the term throughout the year at St Joseph and St Teresa’s Catholic Church in Wells. Father Tony also celebrates children’s liturgies or Masses with the classes.