“To welcome this little child in my name is to welcome me;

and to welcome me is to welcome him who sent me.”

Luke 9:48

This document aims to describe the Religious Education that we hope to impart to the children of St Mary's Catholic Primary School in order to enable them to grow into fully committed Christians and members of the parish community. 

We are part of the parishes of St Thomas of Canterbury and St John the Evangelist in Deal. We work closely with the parish priests in developing the education and spiritual welfare of everyone in our school. 

Statement of Intent

Religious Education at St Mary’s Catholic Primary is designed to help the children understand the place of God in the world, to know how they can respond to that understanding through religion, and to be able to use that knowledge and understanding in their daily lives so that they can all contribute to building God’s kingdom in their community. It respects and promotes each child’s innate capacity for wonder, awe, reverence and spirituality. Our Religious Education curriculum leads our children to take inspiration from the Gospel teachings and to aspire not to have more, but to be more; children are taught about God’s love; they learn about their Christian responsibilities; children are provided with experiences of church, Catholic and Christian traditions, as well as being taught to be respectful and understanding of people and traditions from other faith backgrounds.

Implementation

We follow the scripture based scheme of learning ‘Come and See’ based on the Religious Education Curriculum Directory for Catholic schools. It is creatively taught across the school drawing on all other areas of the curriculum and offers an effective, systematic and rigorous approach to teaching and learning.  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 and Respond.

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

Our children are encouraged to take ownership of the liturgical life of the school, there are opportunities to be part of Cafod Club and Mini-Vinnies. They are given opportunities to explore their faith through masses led by the parish priest, trips and joint events with other local Catholic Schools both primary and secondary. 

Above all we want them to know that they are loved and to learn about ways in which they can respond to that love, supported by the teachings of the Church about social justice, care for creation, and faith and morals.

Impact

Our children do know that they are loved - there is evidence all around for this, in every aspect of the life of our school.  They leave St Mary's knowing that they have a purpose in the world and a responsibility towards one another.  This is reflected in the positive impact they have through their responses to charitable work, their contributions to the liturgy of the school and the parish, and in the reflective work they produce in their RE books.  RE is assessed at the school like any other subject, and there are high expectations for the quality of their written work. We assess their work against the descriptors to inform planning and identify areas for focus and support. Work is moderated internally and externally through collaboration with other Catholic schools in our deanery.