Religious Education at St. Alban & St. Stephen Catholic Primary School & Nursery.
“The outcome of excellent religious education is 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, and who are aware of the demands of religious commitment in everyday life.”
Religious Education Curriculum Directory for Catholic Schools (2012).”
Our aim is to:
Embrace all elements of our Mission Statement. Our learning objectives will take into account the religious and educational needs of our children whilst recognising the variety of starting points. We recognise that our children come into the school community from a variety of backgrounds and we take into account the religious and educational needs of all of our children.
Religious Education is viewed as a subject for all children – a collaborative activity, which respects and promotes the child’s innate capacity for wonder, awe, reverence and imagination. Through this approach, we aim to help our children to recognise and appreciate the religious and spiritual dimensions of life. We aim to lead our children into a deeper understanding of the Catholic tradition and where appropriate, other religious traditions and the ways in which they seek to express the significance of human life.
To achieve these aims we will:
• Create a caring happy environment where the school reflects a living Christian community.
• Provide opportunities for celebration, prayer, praise and reflection in implicit and explicit ways.
• Expect and encourage a high standard of positive behaviour.
• Provide children with the language of religious experience.
• Present a systematic presentation of Christian events, their relevance and meaning in ways appropriate to the age and development of the child.
• Encourage children to become independent, self-motivated and self-disciplined.
• Support Home and Parish in preparing the children for the Sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation.
• Ensure that parents are kept informed regarding the Religious Education curriculum.
• Provide an environment of continued development and growth for pupils and staff.
• Give children an understanding of and a respect for other faiths.
• Implement the Archdiocesan Religious Education programme ‘Come and See’.
Come and See R.E. Programme
To fulfil our aims and objectives, we use the ‘Come and See’ programme of Religious Education. This is directly linked to the Religious Education Curriculum Directory which is statutory for all Catholic schools to follow. The 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.’Come and See’ is also 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 Religious Education Curriculum Directory. At the heart of the programme is the mystery of God’s self-revelation of love through Jesus Christ. ‘Come and See’ gives pupils the opportunity to explore the mystery of faith through Scripture and Tradition. Throughout their time at St Alban & St Stephen, the children will be encouraged to develop and deepen their faith and to ask some ‘big questions’
Our Religious Education lessons follow a four week cycle where the children will be invited to explore a theme and relate it to their own experiences, link their learning to scripture and respond through an act of worship.
Come and See is developed through three themes. They are Church, Sacrament and Christian living. The basic question – belief for each season time is explored through three kinds of themes.
• Community of faith – The Church
• Celebration of Ritual – Sacraments
• Way of Life – Christian Living
Topics
The document below explain the themes and topics that are taught across the school through the year.
SSAS RE Year Overview 2024-2025
Age Related standards in Religious Education
You can see more about Religious Education across the school and in different classes in some of our news blogs:
https://www.ssas.herts.sch.uk/category/catholic-life/religious-education/
Working With Parents
We also work closely with parents to ensure that they can support our Religious Education Curriculum at home.
Each year group has optional home learning added to their Home Learning Grids, which is related to the topics that are being taught in class.
We also provide termly Religious Education newsletters and regular updates in our school newsletters.
We also encourage parents to use the Mark 10 resource at home to follow up on our assemblies in school and share the Gospel together as a family.
R.E Parents Letter Autumn 2024
Previous academic year:
Parents_Letter_Spring_Term_2024
RE Come and See parent letter Summer 2024 (1)
Other Faiths
Why teach about other Faiths or Religions?
“In Meeting God in Friend and Stranger” an article produced by the Bishops of England and Wales, it outlines that;
“Within our schools we are seeking to educate all pupils of whatever religion to be able to live a way of life that integrates their beliefs with all other aspects of what it means to be human. As part of this, they must learn to live alongside others who are different and hold alternative views, including religious views.”In school we refer to Judaism as another faith because of our shared Christian and Jewish heritage. Jesus was a Jew.
The school always dedicates a week of our Religious Education learning to Judaism in the Autumn Term.
We refer to Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism as other religions. These are studied because they have a belief in one God.
Judaism is studied for one week every year whilst the other religions are taught for one week annually in rotation, during the Summer term.
2024 – 2025 – Sikhism
2025 – 2026 Islam
2026 – 2027 Hinduism
2027 – 2028 Sikhism
We bring our learning about other faiths to life through visits to places of worship and by inviting faith leaders into school to share their faith:
Judaism Week – W/C: 11/11/24 Rabbi Zvi visited our school and held an Assembly & workshops. Also, Year 3 visited St. Albans Synagogue.
Year 3 visit to Radlett Synagogue
