RE Curriculum
The Religious Education Directory (RED), titled To Know You More Clearly, is a required guide for Catholic schools in England and Wales. Created by the Catholic Education Service, it offers a high-quality way to teach RE for ages 3–19, focusing on theology, the Bible, and discussion.
The New RE Directory:
- Implementation: Developed by the Catholic Education Service, this framework will be fully used in Catholic schools by 2025.
- Core Structure: The lessons are built around six "branches" or themes each year. These often follow the Church calendar.
- Purpose: The goal is to help young people become "religiously literate" so they can talk confidently about faith, ethics, and spiritual ideas.
- Approach: It focuses on a "knowledge-rich" style that blends Catholic teaching with deep questioning and learning about other religions.
- Time Allocation: The directory confirms that 10% of school time must be dedicated to RE in Catholic schools.
RE-Curriculum (ID 1152)
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Branch 1 Half Term 1
Branch 1 Half Term 1
The heavens are telling the glory of God’ (Ps 19:1).
In this branch, pupils will encounter the God who creates and calls a people. They will explore revelation of the Christian belief that all that is comes from God, the Creation accounts in Genesis, and scientific explanations of the process of Creation. They will explore the call of God and his covenantal relationship with his people first through Abraham and Moses, then through the narrative of the Old Testament.
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Branch 2 Half Term 2
Branch 2 Half Term 2
‘In many and various ways, God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets’ (Heb 1:1).
The prophets speak of God reaching to his people, calling them back into a relationship with him. In this branch, pupils will explore the Christian understanding of the teaching of the prophets as they point to the fulfilment of God’s promise in a messiah, Jesus Christ. They will explore the expectant waiting for the Messiah through the Advent season and how this speaks to Christians today as they wait for Christ. Pupils will encounter the story of the nativity of Jesus and the mystery of the incarnation.
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Branch 3 Half Term 3
Branch 3 Half Term 3
‘God’s only Son, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known’ (Jn 1:18).
In this branch, pupils will experience the ministry of Jesus, the Word of God. They will learn about the life of Jesus and his revelation of the Kingdom of God through parables, encounters, miracles, and teachings. They will learn about the call of the disciples and the nature of being a follower of Jesus.
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Branch 4 Half Term 4
Branch 4 Half Term 4
‘Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day’ (1 Cor 15:3).
In this branch, pupils will study the season of Lent and its culmination in the events of Holy Week. They will learn about the Paschal Triduum at the heart of the Catholic Church’s Liturgy and life. The title of this branch points both to the liturgical journey from the desert of Lent to the garden of Resurrection, but also to the Paschal journey from darkness to light, barrenness to fruitfulness, death to life.
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Branch 5 Half Term 5
Branch 5 Half Term 5
Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’ (Mt 28:19).
In this branch, pupils will study the events that flowed from the Resurrection and Ascension in the coming of the Holy Spirit and the work of the apostles and early Church. They will also learn about the Catholic Church today as the apostolic Church and how its liturgy and structures flow from the
early Church.
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Branch 6 Half Term 6
Branch 6 Half Term 6
‘For “In him we live and move and have our being”’ (Acts 17:28).
In this branch, pupils will learn how Christians work together with people of different religious convictions and all people of goodwill towards the common good, respecting the dignity of all humanity. They will also encounter other pathways of belief drawing on the teaching of the Church about intercultural dialogue.
Our curriculum for the teaching of religion.
Our Mission Statement
Be the best you can be - Jesus loves you always.
St Mary Queen of Martyrs is a special place,
a place of joy, peace and love.
It is a place where we live, learn and love together; always aspiring to be the best that we can be!
Knowing that Jesus loves us, everything we do is done in his name.
Intent
Religious Education is an integral part of the curriculum at St Mary Queen of Martyrs’ and permeates all aspects of school life. It is the core subject which is central to our Catholic school. The aim is to promote an RE programme with objectives which considers and takes into account the religious and educational needs of our children
'Come and See' is an invitation to explore and a promise of life for everyone. The invitation is open to all. In response to the question; ‘where do you live?’ which was asked by the disciples, Jesus invited them to; ‘Come and See.’ (John 1:39) The disciples went with Jesus ‘and spent the rest of that day with him.’
Central to the programme are three basic human questions and the three Christian beliefs that are the Church’s response in faith.
• Where do I come from? Life – Creation
• Who am I? Dignity – Incarnation
• Why am I here? Purpose – Redemption
Implementation
The RE curriculum is led and overseen by Miss Allen and Miss Broadhead who monitor, evaluate, review and celebrate good practice.
We use Come and See which is a national Catholic Primary Religious Education programme delivered throughout our school from Nursery through to Year 6. It has been written by a group of experienced diocesan advisors and follows guidelines from the Diocese of Middlesbrough.
In Come and See, big questions are considered in the light of the Scriptures and Traditions of the Church, as expressed in the documents of the Second Vatican Council and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Come and See is developed through three themes based on the above documents of the Second Vatican Council, which are gradually explored each time at greater depth. They are Church, Sacrament and Christian living.
In St Mary Queen of Martyrs’ Religious Education in schools be regarded as the core of the core with the same systematic demands and the same rigour as other disciplines. It must present the Christian message and the Christian event with the same seriousness and the same depth with which other disciplines present their knowledge. However, it should not simply be regarded as one subject among many, but rather it should engage in interdisciplinary dialogue. Religious Education in schools underpins, activates, develops and completes the educational and catechetical activity of the whole school. (Religious Education Curriculum Directory 2012)
The Catechism of the Catholic Church addresses the human search for meaning, God’s initiative in Revelation who comes to meet us and our response of faith. This pattern guides the structure of the programme and informs the process of each topic, opened up through;
- Explore
- Reveal
- Respond
Each topic is taught for 4 weeks.
EXPLORE
Our teachers help the children to begin to look at and focus on the experience within their own lives – concerning themselves, their relationships and their world. In this way the children are led to a deeper understanding, clearer vision and the discovery of significance and value of the experiential events of everyday life.
REVEAL
Our teachers understand that reveal is the heart of the process. Together we discover the Christian understanding of the mystery of the Trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They explore the mystery of human life as revealed in the person, life and gospel of Jesus Christ Christians. It involves learning about Scripture, the teaching of the Church, prayers, rites, psalms, hymns and other expressions of Christian faith and the lives of outstanding Christians. This forms the basis of teaching our children to live out our faith on a daily basis and ‘be the best that they can be’.
RESPOND
This forms a central part of the children's RE learning journey where we come together to remember, rejoice and renew what we have learnt in the topic.
Remember is the first part of this section. The children will respond by remembering and celebrating all that they have learnt.
Rejoice is the second part of the section. There will be the opportunity to plan and take part in a celebration.
Renew the teacher helps each child to make an individual response, to hold on to and make their own, what they have understood of the topic.
Creativity is a central part of teaching in St Mary Queen of Martyrs. This enables our children to flourish and deepen their appreciation of their faith. We enhance their learning through practical first-hand experiences such as visiting our parish church. We work closely with our parish priest Father Mulholland, our chaplain Mrs Collinge and the other schools in our trust. We work with Mrs Ryan who is our RE Strategic Lead for the trust.
Multi-Faith Teaching
As part of ‘Come and See’ RE all children will study for two weeks of the year, Judaism and Islam. We teach Hinduism and Sikhism through planned interfaith experience days during the year.This enables the children to have an understanding of what life is like for a child of another faith by the time they leave us.
All Come and See materials are in Curriculum RE tab on our website.
Impact
- Staff and pupils understand that RE is the core of the core in St Mary Queen of Martyrs.
- Children are happy learners within RE. They experience a wide-ranging number of learning challenges in RE and know appropriate responses to them.
- Through RE, children deepen their appreciation of their faith and fulfil their God-given talents to ‘be the best that they can be.’
- Visits within RE (Covid restricted) have enriched the lives of the children and they are able to discuss how the experience impacted their knowledge and understanding.
- Children of all abilities and backgrounds achieve well in RE, reflected in good or outstanding progress that reveals a clear learning journey. Children talk enthusiastically about their learning in RE and are eager to further their learning in the next stages of their education.
- Children are well prepared for the next stage of their education as confident and enthusiastic learners who are witness to Christ in their words and actions.
- There is a proven track record of success in assessments that reflects the impact of deep learning. (Covid restricted)
Robust RE action plans drive school improvement and CPD. - The childrens’ moral and spiritual journey grows and deepens throughout their time at St Mary Queen of Martyrs.
The children will grow to know and love God.
Children will live their faith in an active and positive way, always aware of the presence and love of Christ guiding them. - Children become religiously literate.
- Through religious practice, the church’s traditions of prayer and worship will be upheld.
- Children show love, forgiveness, compassion and justice, love and forgiveness in their relationships.
- Faith plays a central role in the lives of the children and the decisions they make.
- Children are confident, resilient and actively engaged in the wider society.
- The school environment will reflect and celebrate our Catholic faith.
- Children will be able to define, describe and discuss areas of RE. They will confidently use skills such as retelling, describing, comparing, giving reasons, explaining the meaning of biblical stories and considering the impact of beliefs.
- Children will be able to reflect and consider important questions about RE.
- Through Catholic social teaching (CARITAS), our children will be confident, resilient and actively engaged in the wider society.
- Our children will be able to recognise, describe and discuss areas of RE. They will confidently use skills such as retelling, describing, making links, giving reasons, explain the meaning of biblical stories and considering the impact of beliefs (as recognised by the RE driver words.)