Our Lady Queen of Heaven Catholic Primary School
Religious Education
Religious Education at Our Lady Queen of Heaven
At Our Lady Queen of Heaven, Religious Education is at the centre of all we do and is our core subject for our school.
We follow the new Religious Education Directory (RED) curriculum ‘To Know You More Clearly’. The RED is a programme of study with a model curriculum that seeks to present the teaching of religious education in a sequential and progressive form to ensure progression and skills. We intend to deliver a religious education that covers all aspects of Catholic education and introduces children to other faiths. Our curriculum follows the six-branch model of the RED Model Curriculum, structured to align with the Liturgical Year, and explores beliefs and sources through ‘knowledge lenses’:
HEAR – The Word – The Bible and teaching documents of the church
BELIEVE – What do Catholics believe?
CELEBRATE – How do our beliefs shape our prayer, liturgy and sacraments?
LIVE – The impact of faith on life: ethics, philosophy, art and culture.
In addition, we recognise the responsibility of living in a multi-faith and multicultural society and aim to introduce children to other world faiths and practices with an attitude of mutual respect and tolerance through the ‘knowledge lenses’ of DIALOGUE and ENCOUNTER.
Alongside the RE lessons, children also participate in daily Prayer and Liturgy opportunities. This is accessed through whole school, key stage and class platforms. Children are encouraged to participate fully in their worship and are given appropriate levels of support to plan for and evaluate Liturgies through the school.
Alongside the RE lessons and Prayer and Liturgy, children are engaged with the Catholic Life of the school. Christian values and living are shared and celebrated through the use of various reward systems (in class, house points, RE stickers, Merit certificates, WOW postcards home, etc.) and children engage with living out the Gospel values through a variety of charity work. Children are also aware of the need to look after the world as God’s creation and gift to His people, and are able to recognise and talk about the ways we look after our school environment and each other through Catholic Social Teaching.
Throughout the year, pupils are part of a wide range of activities and events that offer breadth and depth to understanding Catholic Christian living.
Religious Education is at the centre of all we do, at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Catholic Primary School. Through our Mission Statement:
Mission Statement
We place Jesus at the centre of everything we do and say, listening to Him with our hearts. We spread love everywhere we go, valuing and caring for each other. We strive to be the best learners we can, using and celebrating our God given gifts. Religious Education therefore, is at the heart of all that we do and is "core of the core curriculum"
Pope St John Paul II
For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and Holy is his name.
Luke 1: 49
Our Aim of RE
As a Catholic school, with RE at our core, our aim is to “help parents, priests and teachers to hand on the Deposit of Faith in its fullness to a new generation of young people so that they may come to understand the richness of the Catholic faith, and thereby be drawn into a deeper communion with Christ in his Church.”
We believe, that placing RE at the core of the curriculum in our Catholic schools helps us to fulfil our mission to educate the whole person. Religiously literate children and young people are able to engage in a fully informed critique of all knowledge, “leading, for example, to an understanding of the relationship between science and religion or history, and between theology, sport and the human body.”
Religious Education Directory
Christ is very much at the heart of the new curriculum and all children are invited to know Him more deeply and are encouraged to do so through a range of activities in their RE lesson that include using Literacy skills, art, drama and outdoor learning. During the final branch, each year group will have an opportunity to learn about a range of other Faiths and are encouraged to gain first-hand experiences, ask questions and share their own knowledge and understanding.
The Full Religious Education Directory is available for download.
PSHE (Physical, Social, Health, Education)
Within the curriculum, learners’ physical, social, health and educational needs are addressed across the range of subjects taught. At Our Lady Queen of Heaven, learners are reflective about their own beliefs or religions and use their understanding to inform their perspective on life and their interest in and respect for different people’s faiths, feelings and values. Learners continuously discuss and develop their awareness and understanding of reasoned views about moral and ethical issues and appreciate the viewpoints of those around them.
Celebrations are key within the school community and learners are keen to involve themselves in national celebrations, raising awareness and monies for charities helping them to contribute positively to life in school, the local community and, on occasions, the global community. Learners understand and appreciate the wide range of cultural influences that have shaped their own heritage and that of the school community around them. There is a willingness from all learners to participate in and respond positively to artistic, sporting and cultural opportunities that are offered.
Relationships And Sex Education
The focus in primary school should be on teaching the fundamental building blocks and characteristics of positive relationships, with particular reference to friendships, family relationships, and relationships with friendship is, what family means and who the people are who can support them. From the beginning of primary school, building on early education, pupils should be taught how to take turns, how to treat each other with kindness, consideration and respect, the importance of honesty and truthfulness, permission seeking and giving, and the concept of personal privacy. Establishing personal space and boundaries, showing respect and understanding the differences between appropriate and inappropriate or unsafe physical, and other, contact – these are the forerunners of teaching about consent, which takes place at secondary."(54&55)
Department of Education 2019
Any teaching about love and sexual relationships in a Catholic school must be rooted in the Catholic Church’s teaching about what it is to be truly human in Christ, what it means to live well in relationship with others and be presented within a positive framework of Christian virtue.
The learning needs to reflect each stage of the development of the person. Since a Catholic school is committed to the education of the whole person, teaching on relationships and sexuality needs to be reflected in each relevant part of the curriculum. Whilst, for example, some aspects of RSE will be more appropriately explored in science lessons and some more appropriately explored in RE lessons, each should be informed by the other. Each discipline should speak with consistency about the meaning of human love and the virtues that are enshrined in the Church’s teaching on human love.
A well-planned programme will not just ensure that there is correspondence between phases and across disciplines but will ensure that parents are fully involved in the planning and evaluation of the teaching of relationships and sexuality.
A Model Catholic RSE Curriculum, Catholic Education Service
At Our Lady Queen of Heaven, Relationships and Sex Education is taught through a whole school policy and the programme ‘Ten:Ten Life to the Full’ and ‘Journey in Love’, as recommended by the Diocese. Where possible, it is integrated into other areas of the curriculum such as religious education, science and SMSC. It is always taught within the context of the church’s teaching on sexual relationships. Parents are given the opportunity to discuss what their child will be learning so that they can support their child’s work at home. Any questions that children ask are answered sensitively and in a caring manner. Lessons and resources are always chosen to suit to the age of the children.