Saint James the Great

St. James the Great Roman Catholic Primary and Nursery School

Religious Education Policy

Date Created: Summer 2011

Date Reviewed: Spring 2015

Date Reviewed: Autumn 2017

Rationale

Our school, as a place of learning, belongs to the parish communities of St. Andrew’s in Thornton Heath and St. Bartholomew’s in Norbury and exists to educate the children of the community with the Gospel values, traditions, and beliefs of the Catholic Faith at the centre of its ethos, while recognising and understanding and individuality of the “faith journey”.

We have an Ethos of Excellence, guided by the beliefs and practice of the Catholic Church, where:

· Love ensures we build a community inspired by Gospel values, where all feel safe, valued, respected and we have opportunities to ‘love thy neighbour’;

· Resilience is promoted by providing a balanced curriculum, in which children can grow in understanding and acquire knowledge, skills, attitudes and values;

· Determination enables us to work hard so that we fulfil our academic, moral, physical, social and spiritual potential;

· Faith is nurtured through prayer and liturgy, promoting respect for others and tolerance of differences.

· Respect for ourselves and one another is fostered, and evident through our behaviour and conduct in school, at home and beyond.

Aims

· Develop respectful and reflective attitudes towards prayer, worship, and liturgy.

· To recognise the important contribution that everybody in the school makes.

· Develop the children’s understanding of and participation in Catholic celebrations

· Develop the children’s involvement in the preparation of Catholic celebrations as they progress through the school.

· Maintain strong links with the parishes of Saint Andrew’s and Saint Bartholomew’s.

· To ensure the children have the opportunity to participate in a daily act of worship.

· To facilitate children to move from an inherited faith to a personal faith.

· To ensure that religious education is integrated into all aspects of school life.

Objectives

· All children will have access to daily worship.

· All children will be involved in whole school, Key Stage, and year group liturgical celebrations.

· Each child will be actively involved in an annual class Mass, prayer service, and assembly.

· Parents and members of the parish will be invited to liturgical celebrations.

· Member of the clergy will be welcomed to participate in all aspects of school life.

· Enable the children to be confident in the use of religious vocabulary.

· Integration of religious education into school life will be facilitated through a diversification of teaching materials and methods.

Teaching and Learning

Teaching and learning of religious education is central to all aspects of school life and learning. The pupils will have opportunities to expand their knowledge, understanding, and skills through direct teaching, collaboration, and discussion. In addition to the whole school approach the children will study specific aspects of the Catholic faith through the use of the ‘The Way, The Truth, and The Life’ programme of study and our programme of worship. It is the expectation that 2 hours per week is spent on the teaching of R.E.

We will develop the children’s knowledge of other faiths and willingness to empathise with people who hold beliefs that are different to our own. The pupils will have the opportunity to study the faiths of Judaism, Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism and Hinduism to celebrate similarities with the Catholic Faith.

Planning

The Way, The Truth and The Life is used as the basis for long and medium term plans. Teachers use this as the basis to form their own weekly plans, adapted to needs of their pupils.

Assessment

Assessment in ‘The Way, The Truth and The Life’ is related to the concepts, skills and attitudes developed through the exploration of themes and learning outcomes for each unit of study. Assessment establishes what the pupils know, understands and can do, through observation and tasks. It does not assess faith or the practice of faith. Teacher assessment and pupil self-assessment takes place on a half termly basis at the end of each of each unit. The programmes of study are based upon AT1 – Learning about Religion and AT2 – Learning from Religion. Formal summative judgementa are made termly and recorded on the school’s tracking system.

Inclusion

Children with special educational needs, those that require extra support to achieve national expectations, and those with exceptional ability, are identified through assessment and tracking.

Individual Learning Plans, the use of appropriate resources and Learning Support Assistants, support children who are not achieving set targets.

Appropriate resources are available to support the more able who are mainly challenged through open-ended and higher order questioning.

Cross Curricular Links

The Way, The Truth and The Life is an inclusive and wide ranging programme of study which enables the teaching of R.E. through all other aspects of the curriculum.

Resources

Each year group has a complete set of ‘The Way, The Truth and The Life’ resources including pupil books, teacher books and big books as appropriate. Sample plans and powerpoint resources are available on the school server.

The school has an Oratory where additional teaching resources are stored centrally for use by all year groups and which is used as a place for children to reflect. It also houses a large selection of multi-faith resources which are loaned out to other schools as needed.

The Role of the Subject Leader

It is the subject leader’s responsibility to ensure:

· Development, monitoring and evaluation of whole-school policy.

· Areas for development are identified and planned for with the R.E. Curriculum Development Plan.

· The school’s Section 48 SEF is up-to-date.

· Colleagues are supported in the teaching of Religious Education.

· Continued professional development is available for all colleagues of all faiths.

· Appropriate systems are in place for the assessment of RE.

· The school is aware of developments, through establishing links with fellow RE Leaders throughout the Deanery and the Diocese.

· Resources are developed and maintained.

· Liaise with members of the school’s R.E. team to ensure smooth organisation of the programme for Collective Acts of Worship, and to support with specific whole school projects.

· To liaise with the Governing Body, and especially the R.E. Link Governor, regarding developments in R.E.

Involvement of Parents/Carers

Our school recognises parents as the first educators of their children and sees the involvement of the school as being an on going partnership with parents. Parents have access to the RE policy. They are made to feel that they have an important part to play in teaching their children about the beliefs and traditions of the Catholic faith as well as helping their children to develop a personal faith.

Linked Policies

Collective Worship Policy

This policy has been shared with the Governing Body of the school.

Policy to be reviewed Autumn 2018.