RE

Long Term Plan

Religious Education at St Joseph’s follows the Nottingham Diocese programme of “Come and See”.

Come and See is an invitation to exploration and promise of life for everyone. Come and See offers the opportunity to search, to explore, to discover, and to respond; this is part of what it is to be human.

Come and See aims to raise questions and provide materials for children to reflect on their own experience. For all children the programme will raise questions of meaning and purpose and enable children to think critically, providing materials for reflecting on their own experience.

It will help them to explore the beliefs and values and the way of life of the Catholic traditions, and of other faith traditions, developing good attitudes and dispositions so that children are instilled with a ‘love of learning’ and a desire to go on learning.

Children will be offered a sense of self-worth through experience of belonging to the caring community of our very special school.

Each class covers 3 topics, each term which link to a whole school theme. In additional to this, the children learn about other faiths and religions throughout the year.

Class Rejoice Assemblies at the end of each topic are used as an opportunity for the children to share their learning in Come and See with the rest of the school and their families.

At St Joseph’s RE is taught through the Come and see programme. This overview shows what we teach and when. For a more detailed overview click on the tabs opposite to see the whole year overview for each year group and each term in detail.

Curriculum Intent

At St Joseph’s, Religious Education is central to the life of our school.  We aim to educate our children and guide them in becoming religiously literate young people, through respecting and promoting each child’s innate capacity for wonder, awe, reverence and spirituality.

We recognise and value every individual as special and unique made in the image and likeness of God. Through our RE curriculum, our children learn how Christ showed tolerance, compassion, justice, love and forgiveness to those most in need and are encouraged to think and ultimately act this out in their own lives by living out our mission statement through valuing all in the name of Jesus the Christ.

Our children are provided with experiences of church, Catholic and Christian traditions, as well as developing children’s understanding and knowledge of other faiths and cultures, respecting and appreciating alternative viewpoints.

We recognise the social, moral, spiritual and cultural diversity of our communities, and encourage curiosity tolerance and respect, inspiring pupils to understand how life in Britain and the wider world is changing around them and through their experiences in school, we aim to nurture an understanding that the children are part of a global community united through the values of the Gospel.

Through Religious Education our children learn about their unique place within the home, school and parish community.

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’s respects and promotes each child’s innate capacity for wonder, awe, reverence and spirituality. Our Religious Education curriculum leads our children to aspire not to have more, but to be more; children are taught about God’s love; they learn about their Christian responsibilities; children 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. Through Religious Education our children learn about their unique place within the home, school and parish community.

Curriculum Implementation

At St Joseph’s we follow the ‘Come and See’ Religious Education Programme in line with guidance from the Nottingham Archdiocese. This programme is followed throughout school from Nursery through to Year 6.

This programme provides:

  • opportunities for celebration, prayer and reflection in implicit and explicit ways.

  • children with the language of religious experience – a ‘literacy’ in religious activities, places, stories, symbols and rituals, people and objects.

  • a ‘systematic presentation of Christian event, message and way of life’ in ways appropriate to the age and stage of development of the child.

  • that for its implementation and production it requires the adults involved to understand the underlying theological as well as educational principles.

  • appropriate materials about other faiths.

  • academic respectability as in other curricular areas – utilising appropriate stages from the National Curriculum.

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 will raise questions and provide material for reflection by the children on their own experiences. It will enable them to explore the beliefs, values and way of life of the Catholic tradition and where appropriate other faith traditions.

OVERVIEW OF CONTENT

‘Come and See’ is taught through a series of 9 topics exploring:

Community of faith – Church

Celebration in ritual – Sacraments

Way of life – Christian Living

Other faith traditions are also explored through discreet topics.

The process for delivering the topics in ‘Come and See’ has three stages – Explore, Reveal and Respond which enable the pupils with the development of knowledge, understanding, skills and the fostering of attitudes.

10% of teaching time is dedicated to the teaching of RE.

The Process

Search – Explore (1 week) This is the introduction to the topic where the children’s life experience is explored, the questions it raises are wondered at, shared, investigated and their significance reflected on.

Revelation – Reveal (usually 2 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.

Response – Respond (1 week) This is where the learning is assimilated, celebrated and responded to in daily life. This reflective work is collated in the class Respond scrapbooks which travel up through the school with each class.

OTHER FAITHS and RELIGIONS Judaism is usually studied in the Advent term, however this can vary due to the needs of the school. The other religion to be studied is either Hinduism, Islam or Sikhism – the religion focus is carefully selected with consideration given to the most relevant and appropriate in light of each class and current local, national or world-wide events.

Key vocabulary for RE

The Church

Sacraments

Other Faiths