Religious Education Teaching at St. Francis’

Religious Education is taught in accordance with the Levels of Attainment in Religious Education in Catholic Schools and Colleges, directed by the Bishops’ Conference Department for Catholic Education and Formation. The learning is twofold:

• Attainment Target 1(AT1) : Learning about Religion - knowledge and understanding
• Attainment Target 2(AT 2) : Learning from Religion - reflection on meaning with children working to further fulfil and deepen their knowledge
• Attainment Target 3 (AT3) : KS2 only - Children evaluating their learning

There are four areas of study outlined in the Curriculum Directory: Revelation, Church, Celebration and Life in Christ. The ‘Come and See’ programme is used, as recommended by our Diocese. Our Whole School Overview can be found here.

The RE Policy can be found here.

The ‘Come and See’ programme is taught from EYFS through to Year 6 and is progressive. Within this, two other world faiths are taught: Judaism (strengthens the children’s understanding about Jesus being brought up within the Jewish faith), and Islam (allows our children to learn about another faith in order to widen their knowledge). Studying other faiths allows children to “think and speak respectfully of other religions and their followers, and to learn”(Pope Francis, 08,2013).

The pattern of learning through each key stage is guided by the structure of the programme and informs the process of each topic, opened up through Explore, Reveal and then Respond. As the learning is progressive, each year the children have the opportunity to build on their previous learning of the development of the three themes, namely:

1. Church (community of faith)
2. Sacraments (celebration in ritual)
3. Christian living (way of life)

Each year group firstly learns through Explore, which 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 upon. Next is Reveal. This is the heart of the programme where knowledge of the Catholic faith is revealed and children can link their learning through the Word, in Scripture, Tradition, doctrine, prayers, rites and Christian living.  Lastly, in Respond, the children are able to bring their learning together, to assimilate and then celebrate and respond to what they have learnt, and reflect upon and consider the Christian message in all its richness, in that experience of learning.