Subject Vision Statement

At St Ignatius we recognise and value every individual as special and unique, made in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, Religious Education lies at the heart of school life and is the ‘core of the core curriculum’. - Pope St. John Paul 2nd

The Catholic faith perspective is not an added extra, which we teach and offer to the children, it is integrated into the whole life of the school and into all the aspects of the curriculum.

Religious Education at St. Ignatius aims to respect and promote each child’s innate capacity for wonder, awe, reverence and spirituality. Our Religious Education curriculum leads our children to aspire not to have more, but to be more; children are taught about God’s love; they learn about their Christian responsibility to care for one another, as children of God, and to care for the world he has given us; children are provided with experiences of the Church as the Body of Christ and its    traditions, as well as being taught to be respectful and understanding of people and traditions from other faith backgrounds. We aim to deliver faith-filled, enjoyable lessons where each child feels they belong to our school community and not excluded for any reason.

The Religion Curriculum

We plan and deliver sessions rooted in The Religious Education Directory (RED) across the school. We deliver high quality lessons, which aim to be challenging, exciting, informative and inspiring. 

Religion books are kept away from all other books, in a special place, in order to demonstrate their importance. We have the highest of expectations of our Religion lessons and pupils say that they enjoy their lessons. 

In the life of faith of the Catholic school, religious education plays a central and vital part. At the heart of Catholic education lies the Christian vision of the human person. This vision is expressed and explored in religious education. Therefore, religious education is never simply one subject among many, but the foundation of the entire educational process.

The beliefs and values studied in Catholic religious education inspire and draw together every aspect of the life of a Catholic school. We are committed to classroom RE, then, because all pupils have the right to receive an overall education which will enable them, in the light of the faith of the Church, to engage with the deepest questions of life and find reasons for the hope which is within them.

Religious education is, then, the core subject in a Catholic school.

Religious Education in Catholic Schools, Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales 2000

The outcome of classroom Religious Education is:

‘religiously literate and engaged young people who have the knowledge, understanding and skills – appropriate to their age and capacity – to reflect spiritually, and think ethically and theologically, and who are aware of the demands of religious commitment in everyday life’.

Education Curriculum Directory, Department of Catholic Education and Formation, Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, 2012, p.6

Whilst evangelisation and catechesis are happening in our school for some pupils, the specific contribution Religious Education makes to the Catholic Life of the school is primarily educational and will be planned, taught, assessed and monitored with the same rigour as other curriculum subjects.

Overview of the Content

10% of curriculum time is allocated to Religious Education. This does not include worship.