St Mary's Religious Education Rationale
Religious Education is at the core of our curriculum, allowing us to develop children's religious literacy, knowledge and understanding of their faith. We follow the 'Come and See' RE scheme of work, which is based on the truth revealed by God about ourselves, our life together and our ultimate destiny with God.
‘Come and See’ invites pupils to explore the religious aspects of life, dignity and purpose within the Catholic tradition. Pupils reflect on personal experiences and links are made with the Catholic faith as well as other faith traditions.
A variety of teaching methods and resources are used, including stories from the Bible, songs and hymns, role play, creative activities, videos and discussion.
The pupils study three themes each term and from Nursery through to Year 6.
The themes are:
- Advent term: Our church - Family, Baptism and Confirmation - Belonging, Advent and Christmas - Loving.
- Lent term: Local church - Community, Eucharist - Relating, Lent and Easter - Giving.
- Pentecost term: Pentecost - Serving, Reconciliation - Inter-relating, Universal church - World.
All of the topics are taught to reflect the children's own experiences in life and our teachers then extend the learning further through reflection and purposeful activities. We look at scripture that supports the topic and unpick the meaning and how we can use this Scripture to enhance our lives and help us to use our hands to do God’s work.
Our lesson design when teaching a topic include the following aspects:
Explore lessons include opportunities to make clear links between the Catholic faith and modern day life.
Reveal lessons focus on using a significant figure or/and scripture to have a greater understanding of a theme
Class liturgies conclude each unit using what you have learnt to make your paraliturgy bespoke.
Assessment Children complete a short assessment question to show their understanding of the topic.
All Religious Education lessons include the following aspects:
- Learning challenges and steps to success
- An opportunity to revisit prior learning
- An opportunity to practise using new vocabulary
- Teacher instruction is explicit and children are given the opportunity to work collaboratively.
- An opportunity to review scripture and use its meaning in our daily lives
Catholic Social Teaching
At St Mary’s we take great pride in delivering Catholic Social Teaching to ensure that our pupils know how to live out our faith in the world. Our Caritas curriculum is formed by the wisdom of Church leaders and personalised to challenge our pupils’ daily experiences. We are developing our children’s moral compass so that they can grow to be future leaders who will go forth and make positive contributions to society.
Agents of Change
Through our Agents of Change programme, we aim to guide, encourage and inspire our children to look to role models in modern history. We teach children to question the ‘how’ and ‘why to understand these leaders’ motives; the purpose and drive behind their choices to positively impact the world around them. Our hope is that through exposure to such individuals, we can mould the next generation of Agents of Change within our very own classrooms. Through this practice, we can ensure that our children challenge the status quo and grow into adults that can change the world.
Caritas in Action
The children at St Mary's are taught SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Education) through their learning and with the support of the Caritas in Action document. It is fundamental that all children are to be spiritually, morally, socially and culturally educated. The Caritas in Action document has been produced by the Salford Diocese as a response to Catholic Social Teaching, which calls us all as Catholics to work for the common good, help build a just society, uphold the dignity of human life and work for justice and the dignity of all our brothers and sisters, especially those in the greatest need. Caritas in Action provides a unique and engaging set of teaching and learning opportunities for seven themes of Catholic Social Teaching. Over a one year cycle, every child in every year group will study each of the seven themes.
Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Curriculum
Please download the documents below to find out more about the SMSC curriculum taught at St Mary's school by year group.
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SMSC Curriculum Mapping - NURSERY | [pdf 407KB] |
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SMSC Curriculum Mapping - RECEPTION | [pdf 401KB] |
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SMSC Curriculum Mapping - YEAR 1 | [pdf 406KB] |
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SMSC Curriculum Mapping - YEAR 2 | [pdf 406KB] |
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SMSC Curriculum Mapping - YEAR 3 | [pdf 408KB] |
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SMSC Curriculum Mapping - YEAR 4 | [pdf 409KB] |
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SMSC Curriculum Mapping - YEAR 5 | [pdf 410KB] |
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SMSC Curriculum Mapping - YEAR 6 | [pdf 414KB] |
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Our RE Lessons
Take a look...
Religious Education Resources
Please use the links below to access our learning resources.