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.

Our Curriculum

As RE is a core subject, it is taught for 10% of the curriculum, in line with the Bishops’ Conference recommendations.

The school uses the ‘In God’s Name’ resource (written by Dr Margaret Carswell) as a basis to plan two units for each term.  The resource draws from the Catholic Religious Education Curriculum Directory, which is currently being updated, and the new Age-Related Standards. These are due to be fully implemented in September 2022.

The units of work are age appropriate and empower pupils to develop their knowledge and understanding to become religiously literate. They present a Catholic world view through learning about the traditions of the Church, human experience, creation and scripture. They are closely linked to the liturgical year of the Church.

Scripture plays an important part in our Religious Education programme and the children are encouraged to make connections between the readings, the beliefs we take from them and the way we, as Catholic Christians, are called to live.  Children are also encouraged to explore links with other faiths and traditions. We have two weeks each year dedicated to other faiths.

RE is further enhanced and given expression through the Catholic life of the school. The children are encouraged to take part in the celebration of Mass and other forms of worship. The liturgical year creates the foundation for many opportunities for prayer and reflection. They also learn about Catholic Social Teaching and our call to serve God, and one another, through supporting those in need and caring for all creation.