Religious Education
Please view the Catholic Life section in the main menu of this website for detailed information
Please click here for the last RE Inspection report
Please click here for the RE Newsletters
Religious Education is the foundation and at the heart of all our teaching and learning, here at St Joseph’s. As such, it permeates all areas of the curriculum and influences every aspect of the Catholic life of the school. We provide our pupils with a comprehensive and systematic study of the mystery of God, of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, the teachings of his Church, the central beliefs that Catholics hold and the relationship between faith and life.
We follow the Westminster Diocesan requirements for all Catholic schools:
- Classroom Religious Education is resourced as a core subject and allocated at least 10% of teaching time.
- Whole school Religious Education provides for a lived faith experience through liturgies, acts of prayer and worship, assemblies and action for social justice.
- The classroom Religious Education curriculum is delivered in accordance with the general norms laid down by the Bishops’ Conference: Religious Education Curriculum Directory (3-19) (2012); Statement on Religious Education (2000) and Diocesan guidelines.
- Classroom Religious Education is assessed and progress monitored in accordance with the general norms laid down by the Bishops’ Conference. From the Summer 2019, we have been using the Diocesan ‘New Standards Framework’.
- Classroom Religious Education is inspected according to the current Diocesan Inspection Framework.
- Pupils are expected to learn about and respect the beliefs of others.
Religious Education Scheme
We aim to develop religiously literate and engaged young people who have the knowledge, understanding and skills, appropriate to their age and capacity, to reflect spiritually, and think ethically and theologically. The school uses ‘The Way, The Truth and The Life’ RE programme which is informed by the Religious Education Curriculum Directory for Catholic Schools and the ‘Catechism of the Catholic Church’.
Ideas for supporting RE learning at home are included in year group Home-Learning grids and shared during Parent Consultation meetings. Suggestions are also included in our RE and EYFS Newsletters.
We incorporate challenge for all pupils, in their Religious Education lessons, as is the case for all other subjects. We do this in order to set high expectations and to encourage deeper learning and reflection. Our aim is to help our pupils to develop appropriate skills and attitudes and to help them to develop an informed and full response to God’s call in their everyday lives.
The curriculum content is based on the four key themes from the Curriculum Directory:
Revelation; Story, Scripture, Memory and Tradition of the Church
Church; Community, Discipleship, Witness
Celebration; Sacrament, Ritual, Prayer, Worship, Liturgy
Life in Christ; Lifestyle, Morality, Values, Attitudes
THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION SCHEME - OVERVIEW
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 | |
| Nursery | God's Wonderful World | My Family | The Holy Family | Good Friends | New Life | Our Church Family |
| Reception | God's World | God's Family | Getting to Know Jesus | Sorrow and Joy | New Life | Our Church Family |
| Year 1 | God's Great Plan | Mary, our Mother | Families and Celebrations | Following Jesus | The Resurrection | Miracles |
| Year 2 | The Chosen People | The Mystery of God | The Good News | The Mass | Eastertide | The First Christians |
| Year 3 | The Christian Family | Mary, Mother of God | Sacrament of Reconciliation | Celebrating the Mass | Celebrating Easter and Pentecost | Being a Christian |
| Year 4 | The Bible | Trust in God | Jesus, the Teacher | Jesus, the Saviour | The Early Christians | The Church |
| Year 5 | Creation | God's Convenants | Inspirational People | Reconciliation | Life in the Risen Jesus | Other Faiths |
| Year 6 | The Kingdom of God | Justice | Exploring the Mass | Jesus, the Messiah | The Transforming Spirit | Called to Serve |
Prayer and Collective Worship
Children’s knowledge and understanding of their faith is deepened and strengthened through their participation in a variety of forms of prayer and acts of Collective Worship throughout the school day and during the school year. Collective Worship is based around the Catholic Church’s key teachings and directives, the Liturgical Calendar, key feasts and themes, and on areas of study from the Religious Education curriculum.
Other Faiths
At St Joseph’s we believe that learning about the religion and cultures of those who do not share the Catholic faith is one of the ways in which we, as Christians, embody the call by Jesus to ‘love our neighbour’. This learning is required by the Bishops, who state that the Catholic nature of our schools entails “a willingness… to try to understand better the religion of one’s neighbours, and to experience something of their religious life and culture.” (Catholic Bishops' Conference p3). Learning about different beliefs, traditions and cultures, prepares pupils for life in modern Britain and helps contribute towards the common good.
Parental involvement
We welcome and actively encourage the full participation of all of our families in the life of our school. Parents are valued as the first educators of faith, in the lives of their children. We endeavour to seek the views of our families about Religious Education at St Joseph’s. We do this through formal and informal discussions, meetings and via the RE Parent Questionnaire. We use their suggestions, wherever possible, to inform development and planning in Religious Education and in areas related to the Catholic Life of our school.
Parish involvement
The parish works in full partnership with the school, to support and enrich the education and formation of our children.
Fr Tim Edgar, our local Parish Priest and Sr Anthony, of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, support our school by providing opportunities for education about the Church and its teachings and by helping to facilitate liturgies and collective acts of prayer and worship. Fr Tim offers school Masses in the Parish Church and year group Masses in St Joseph’s Chapel. Sr Anthony supports the school by helping to facilitate staff training in areas of prayer and worship. She gives talks to classes on the Mass and religious vocation and leads a year 3 prayer group in the Chapel. In addition to this, Sr Anthony makes regular visits to the Nursery to takes children to the Chapel to pray. She helps our youngest pupils to learn about Jesus, by reading Bible stories to them about his life. Fr Tony Convery, from another linked parish visits pupils in the EYFS and KS1 to read stories and to strengthen bonds with his youngest parishioners.