Religious Education Curriculum

At St. Osmund's Catholic Primary School,  we develop our pupils' knowledge, understanding and skills as measured against the learning required by the Religious Education Curriculum Directory.  Please follow the link for full details of the national expectations for the teaching of Religious Education in Catholic schools: Religious Education Directory (RED)

Religious Education is the very core and essence of our existence as a Catholic School and plays a key part in the curriculum. It is expected that the children admitted to the school will take a full and active part in the religious life of the school. Religious Education is undertaken according to the doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church.

At St. Osmund's Catholic Primary School Religious Education is the ‘core of the core curriculum’. This helps us to fulfil our mission to educate the whole person, concerned not only with intellectual knowledge but also forming thoughtful, prayerful, curious, respectful, creative, independent, caring and responsible people. The outcome of excellent Religious Education is religiously literate and engaged children who have the knowledge, understanding and skills – to reflect spiritually, and think ethically and theologically, and who are aware of the demands of religious commitment in everyday life. We aim to maximise the contribution RE makes to raising standards and achievement.

We teach about other religions as part of the Religious Education curriculum. This is a feature of Catholic RE in all stages of a child's development and is timetabled through the academic year. Learning about the religion and cultures of those who do not share the Catholic faith is one of the ways in which we embody catholic social teaching and the call to love one’s neighbour. It also prepares the children in our Catholic schools for life in modern Britain, giving them an understanding of the beliefs of others. This in turn will improve social cohesion and contribute to the common good by increasing mutual respect between those of different religions.

Religious Education forms a valuable part of the educational experience of children in the Early Years Foundation Stage. It contributes particularly to: 

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

Communication and Language 

Understanding the World

People, Culture and Communities

Planning for RE ensures all children have a high quality, coherent and progressive experience which contributes to the cross-curricular dimensions of the wider curriculum. We present an engaging and comprehensive content which is the basis of knowledge and understanding of the Catholic faith. The aim being:

1. To enable children to continually deepen their religious and theological understanding and be able to communicate this effectively.
2. To present an authentic vision of the Church's moral and social teaching so that children can make a critique of the underlying trends in contemporary culture and society.
3. To raise children’s awareness of the faith and traditions of other religious communities in order to respect and understand them.
4. To develop the critical skills of children so that they can relate their Catholic faith to daily life
5. To stimulate children’s imagination and provoke a desire for personal meaning as revealed in the truth of the Catholic faith.
6. To enable children to relate the knowledge gained through Religious Education to their understanding of other subjects across the curriculum.  

We encourage children to play a full part in their own learning. We focus on asking and trying to answer 'I wonder' questions leading to an exploration of the answers. We offer opportunities for children to use their own experiences and backgrounds to reflect on questions of truth and morality and deeper meanings of life and death.

Through the high standard of RE, pupils are inspired to become critical thinkers and to reflect deeply upon their own faith journey. Every child is challenged through the branches taught and our School Mission, to show 'Love for God, Love for Each other and a Love for Learning'. The children are encouraged to continually think about their own spirituality and teachers plan opportunities for all children to explore this through many strands. Opportunities include debate and discussion, challenge from carefully sequenced lessons,  reflections, leading and engaging in Mass, Chaplaincy Team  charity work and daily Celebration of the Word.

A high priority is given to the formation of pupils in their understanding of, involvement in and service to building the Kingdom of God and taking care of our common home. Each branch uses the RE learning objectives from the Bishops’ conference to assess the attainment of the children and this is tracked on a termly basis. Children are assessed not only on the content of their written work but on their individual, group and oral work through each branch.

We follow an annual teaching cycle which includes the seven themes within Catholic Social Teaching. Catholic schools are subject to a diocesan inspection at least every five years. The inspection is carried out by Clifton Diocese appointed by Catholic Bishop of Clifton, Canon Bosco MacDonald. St. Osmund's most recent Section 48 was April 2018 and the full report can be found on the school website. We ensure that a minimum of 10% of Curriculum time is allocated for RE teaching across all key stages. The requirements of the RE curriculum are met through the RED Curriculum. This meets the requirements of the Religious Education Curriculum Directory set out by the Bishop’s Conference of England and Wales.