At St John the Baptist RC Primary School, the intent of Religious Education is to support children to acquire and develop a deep knowledge and understanding of their faith. This, combined with the Gospel values, and our school values and mission, enables children to thrive in this inclusive and safe environment. With this knowledge and understanding of the Catholic faith, along with respect for all faiths, children are able to leave St John the Baptist RC Primary and go out into the community as citizens with great tolerance and understanding of others. RE education is also linked with our wider school curriculum and is a thread running through everything we do at St John the Baptist RC Primary School.

Our Mission Statement superbly demonstrates what we are – one family in Christ, where we support one another and play happily together, explore the world through a love of learning, challenge ourselves and aim high, discover and develop our talents, help and inspire each other and love one another. It brings together the different faiths represented here; praying and loving one another, as Jesus taught us.

Children understand that their Spirituality is not something they can see; it is something they feel inside themselves. It is about awe and wonder, asking questions, inspiration and being aware of something ‘bigger’ outside of ourselves.

Alongside our Mission Statement, we follow Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si, to support our RE learning and the Catholic Life of our school. Children are concerned about their roles as stewards of God’s creation, both in their own behaviour and in raising awareness of the impact of our actions on our Common Home. This is key in their knowledge of the world that we live in, its future and the role they play within it.

Children are taught to think about themselves as a member of a community – their Class family, their House family, their School family, their Parish family, their country and the National family, their Global family and finally, their role as a member of God’s family. They learn about their duties, rights and responsibility towards themselves and others. They also learn about Catholic Social Teachings and their contributions to the Common Good. This in turn, enables them to put Pope Francis’ second encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, into practice.

Lessons are planned and taught to include a progression of skills and vocabulary, across the school, from Nursery to Year 6. Teaching is adapted to meet the needs of all learners, including children with SEND, and different strategies are embedded to ensure children build on prior knowledge and effective questioning is used to know what the children understand and have remembered.

At our school, there are 32+ languages spoken, different religions and cultures and many barriers to learning. However, our RE curriculum unites us all, regardless of our differences, as children of God. The skills and knowledge the children acquire are the skills and knowledge they will need to be successful, tolerant citizens who are leaders of inclusivity in the community, secure in their own faith and respectful of the faiths of others.

Our RE Subject Leader is Lisa Campbell.

The Come and See programme has been developed to respond to the needs of children today in their faith journey, to enable them to grow in their religious literacy and understanding in a way that is coherent with current educational principles. It is designed to support teachers in their delivery of religious education. It integrates the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Catholic Levels of Attainment and the new Religious Education Curriculum Directory..

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.

Children Come and See the wonder of all that is within them and beyond them. God offers the invitation to Come and See. Teachers facilitate the opportunity for children to Come and See.

At St John the Baptist Catholic Primary School, we teach our Catholic faith through the Come and See Catholic Religious Education Programme.

At the heart of the programme is the mystery of God’s self-revelation of love through Jesus Christ. Come and See gives the pupils the opportunity to explore the mystery of faith through Scripture and our Religious Tradition.

Central to the programme are these three questions:

• Where do I come from? Life – Creation
• Who am I? Dignity – Incarnation
• Why am I here? Purpose – Redemption

Come and See helps our pupils to explore the beliefs, values and way of life that our Catholic faith asks of us.

It supports the faith experience of all children because it starts with their real life experience and leads them to reflect upon the meaning of church, sacraments and the person Jesus in their lives.

Pupils are encouraged to develop their faith by regular prayer in class, Celebration of the Word, Reflection in lectio divina, celebration of Masses and other religious and liturgical celebrations throughout the year. They are also encouraged to reflect upon social and moral issues, which affect our immediate and global communities.

We believe that the aim of religious education is to contribute to the development of the children as individuals and valued members of society. Our principal task is to help children to know, understand and appreciate the spiritual and religious dimension of life as expressed in the Catholic faith tradition and important aspects of other traditions.

We endeavour to do this by giving pupils opportunities to develop spiritually, morally, intellectually, emotionally and physically, towards their full and unique potential, in the sight of God.

This can be identified in all our work in school but most of all in the relationships which exist within the school. We value others for themselves, not only for what they have or what they can do for us. We value relationships as fundamental to the development and fulfilment of ourselves and others and to the good of the community. This can be seen in policies such as Behaviour, equal opportunities, SEN and inclusion. It can also be seen in the work done in R.E, health education and assemblies.

As a Community, we believe our faith and catholic values, which we hold dear, should have an effect on all aspects of school life, not just curriculum, but also personal relationships, manners, social development etc. It should also affect the conduct of wider school activities: celebrations, anniversaries, festivals, problems and complaints. In this way, we wish to promote an awareness of the spiritual significance of all aspects of daily life including the gifts, talents and personalities of both children and staff.

RE Progression Of Skills

RE