Religious Education

Intent:

At St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School, we provide a warm and nurturing environment in which all children can grow in the love of God and respect for each other.

We intend to deliver a Curriculum that meets the needs of our children and that also considers a range of faiths to further the children’s knowledge and understanding.

At St Augustine’s we intend to:

• enable the pupils to grow in their awareness of what it means to be a member of the Catholic Church. To encourage our pupils to reflect on their lives and on society in the light of the gospels
• help pupils to recognise and appreciate the spiritual, religious, and moral dimensions of life
• lead pupils into a deeper knowledge and understanding of the Catholic tradition and the ways in which it seeks to express the significance of human life
• increase pupils’ knowledge, awareness and respect of other religious traditions and cultures
• create a warm and welcoming atmosphere where politeness and respect are shown to all
• allow time for searching and questioning. It is about meaning and the need to discover answers for oneself to basic questions about human existence, eg. Where do I come from? Where am I going? Who am I? Why is there pain, suffering and death? Is there a future?
• create in the classroom a community where the children know they are loved, where they feel confident and secure. Love and security experienced by very young children is a basic religious need. Our deepest concept of God is in terms of loving kindness and fidelity: but these concepts grow from our experience of the kindness and love we receive from others, especially from parents and teachers in the case of the very young.

Implementation:

At St Augustine’s RE is given significant importance in school accounting for 10% of the current teaching timetable; this equates to 2hrs per week in KS1 and 2.5hrs per week in KS2 with a mixture of both morning and afternoon sessions. Provision is of the highest quality with a significant number of teaching and non-teaching staff being of the Catholic Faith.

Some resources are held centrally with a combination of online schemes readily accessible {Come and See} Each class has their own Prayer and Liturgy resources that are age appropriate and enable the staff and children to deliver meaningful prayer sessions. Our school chaplain provides guidance, supporting staff in Liturgy and in Curriculum RE delivery. She also provides valuable direction to our worship Leaders to develop their role across school. Our KS2 children also experience Mass regularly in school. - we will expand this to include the Infant children again once COVID restrictions decrease.

Impact:

We want the children of St Augustine’s to:

• Be happy and engaged learners within Religious Education
• Deepen their faith and their relationship with God
• Achieve well- irrespective of faith or background
• Talk enthusiastically about their learning in RE and be eager to deepen their understanding
• Grow to know and love God, developing their moral, spiritual, and cultural understanding
• Be able to reflect on and consider important religious questions
• To be able to make links between Jesus’ life and teaching and link it to their own lives.

To assess the impact, teachers make judgments set against the AT objectives, reporting these for every pupil termly to the RE Subject Leader. This information is entered into the class RE trackers and analysed by the subject leader and discussed at core group meetings. Gradings are only given at the end of each phase (EYFS, KS1, Lower KS2 and Upper KS2).

Foundation Class pupils are assessed on entry and tracked throughout the year on each Attainment Target, following the Diocesan Early Years assessments on entry, moving onto the Bishop’s Conference assessments as appropriate throughout the year.

Strands identified at Cluster and Diocesan level {taken from the Age-Related Expectations laid down by the Bishop’s Conference} are also jointly assessed as part of School, Cluster and Diocesan moderation.

Additional evidence also includes our use of the schools RE Learning Ambassadors-children identified from each year group (and across the ability levels). This also forms part of the school’s monitoring procedures highlighting progress and attainment. Pupil voice is also used to evidence pupil engagement and the pupils love of RE.

Staff assessments are moderated at school level, cluster level (by the staff and/or Subject Leaders) and at Diocesan level. The Subject Leader is also responsible for carrying out regular monitoring including lesson observations, learning walks, planning looks and book studies. {With the learning Ambassadors}

Observation and monitoring records are kept and form part of the school’s self-review process and staff performance management. Outcomes of monitoring will be communicated to staff and governors with recommendations for the future. Targets will be set yearly in the school’s School Development Plan.