Embedded Files
“United in love, through learning and play, we nurture hearts and minds as we welcome all into our family.”
Education is not about knowing things or taking lessons, but about being able to use three lingos: those of the head, the heart and the hands...learning so that you can think about what you feel and do, can feel what you think and do and can do what you feel and think. Unity within a person
- Pope Francis
Education is not about knowing things or taking lessons, but about being able to use three lingos: those of the head, the heart and the hands...learning so that you can think about what you feel and do, can feel what you think and do and can do what you feel and think. Unity within a person
- Pope Francis
Religious education as the heart of the curriculum
1. Religious education is the core of the core curriculum and is to be the source and summit of the whole curriculum.
2. Religious education is an academic discipline with the same systematic demands and rigour as other disciplines.
3. Religious education is to be delivered within a broad and balanced curriculum, where it informs every aspect of the curriculum. Every other subject is to be informed by religious education and have a strong relationship with it.
4. In each year of compulsory schooling, religious education is to be taught for at least 10% curriculum time within each repeating cycle of the regular school timetable.
RED, 2023
Curriculum Statement of Intent
At the heart of our school is our Catholic faith and our mission: “United in love, through learning and play, we nurture hearts and minds as we welcome all into our family.” Guided by the Religious Education Directory To Know You More Clearly, our curriculum is designed to form the whole child — spiritually, academically, morally and socially — so that every pupil may flourish as a beloved child of God.
Our Religious Education curriculum enables children to encounter Christ and to grow in their understanding of Scripture, Church teaching and the living tradition of the Catholic faith. Through carefully sequenced learning, prayer and reflection, pupils are invited not only to learn about God, but to know Him more clearly and to respond to His call in their own lives.
Rooted firmly in Catholic Social Teaching, our curriculum forms pupils who recognise the dignity of every human person and understand their responsibility to work for the common good. Inspired by Gospel values, children learn that faith must be lived out in action. They are encouraged to show
solidarity with those in need, to act with compassion and justice, to respect the rights of others and to care for God’s creation.
United in love, we nurture hearts and minds by helping pupils to:
· Recognise that every person is made in the image and likeness of God.
· Understand the importance of community, participation and service.
· Develop a sense of moral responsibility and commitment to justice.
· Care for the environment as stewards of God’s creation.
· Stand in solidarity with the poor and the vulnerable.
Through learning and play, we foster curiosity, resilience and joy, ensuring that academic excellence and spiritual formation go hand in hand. We warmly welcome all into our school family, creating a culture of belonging where diversity is celebrated and each child is valued.
In partnership with parents, our parish and the wider community, we are committed to forming confident, compassionate young people who are prepared for the next stage of their education and who strive to build a more just and loving world in the light of Christ.
Implementation
Our Religious Education curriculum is implemented is implemented through a carefully sequenced, well-structured curriculum rooted in the Religious Education Directory (RED) To Know You More Clearly model curriculum. Long-term planning ensures clear progression across the Knowledge Lenses — Hear, Believe, Live, Celebrate, Dialogue and Encounter — so that pupils systematically build secure, connected knowledge over time.
Teachers deliver high-quality lessons that explicitly develop the ways of knowing — understand, discern and respond — through rich engagement with Scripture, Church teaching, prayer, liturgy, discussion, and reflection. Key vocabulary, core stories, and essential beliefs are revisited and deepened across year groups to support retention and theological understanding.
Through disciplinary knowledge, pupils are taught to think theologically: to interpret Scripture, to make connections across themes, and to engage in respectful dialogue. Opportunities for oracy, reflection and written expression and creative opportunities through the arts allow children to articulate their understanding clearly and confidently.
Clearly defined age-phase expectations inform planning, teaching and assessment, ensuring pupils know more, remember more and can do more at each stage. Ongoing formative assessment, professional development, and collaborative moderation support consistency and high standards in Religious Education across the school.
In line with the RED, pupils are invited not only to learn about the faith, but to respond in faith. Prayer, liturgy and reflection are integral to the curriculum and carefully planned to correspond with liturgical seasons and the themes being studied. Children are gradually formed in their understanding of prayer and worship and are supported in planning and leading liturgical celebrations in age-appropriate ways.
Catholic Social Teaching is embedded through the Directory’s emphasis on human dignity, the common good and moral responsibility. Pupils explicitly explore the principles of solidarity, stewardship, participation and the preferential option for the poor, applying them to contemporary issues and real-life contexts. This ensures that faith is understood as lived and active — shaping how we treat others, how we care for creation and how we contribute to society.
Across the wider curriculum, the vision of To Know You More Clearly permeates school life. Gospel values inform behaviour, relationships and decision-making, ensuring that we are truly united in love as we nurture hearts and minds and welcome all into our school family.
Impact
The outcome of excellent religious education is religiously literate and consciously 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 recognise the demands of religious commitment in everyday life.
RED 2023
“The task of handing on the faith to future generations is both the privilege and responsibility of the local Church. Its primary purpose is to bring young people to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”
- Cardinal Basil Hume
At Holy Family, the impact of our Religious Education curriculum is seen in the way pupils grow in their knowledge and love of God, their understanding of the Catholic faith, and their ability to live out Gospel values in daily life.
Through the Religious Education Directory (RED) To Know You More Clearly, pupils encounter the richness of Catholic tradition through the Knowledge Lenses: Hear, Believe, Live, Celebrate, Dialogue and Encounter. Over time, children build secure and connected knowledge, remembering key stories, beliefs, practices, and vocabulary that help them to understand the Catholic faith more deeply.
The impact of our RE curriculum is not only what pupils know, but how they come to know. Through the ways of knowing — understand, discern, and respond — pupils develop the skills to engage thoughtfully with religious belief and experience. They learn to:
· Understand by exploring and explaining Scripture, Church teaching, and Catholic practice with increasing confidence and accuracy
· Discern by reflecting on meaning, making connections, asking questions, and considering how faith relates to their own lives and the lives of others
· Respond by expressing their own ideas and beliefs respectfully, engaging in prayer and liturgy, and showing how Gospel values influence their attitudes and actions
At each age phase, clearly defined outcomes guide what pupils are expected to know, remember, and be able to do within these ways of knowing. As they move through the school, pupils become increasingly articulate in their use of religious language, more confident in discussing faith, and more reflective about their own spiritual journey.
Rooted in our Catholic ethos, the impact of Religious Education is also evident in pupils’ character and relationships. Children grow in compassion, forgiveness, respect, and a strong sense of justice.
They begin to recognise their responsibility to care for others and for God’s world, putting faith into action within our school community and beyond.
By the time pupils leave our school, they are religiously literate young people who have a secure foundation in Catholic belief, an openness to dialogue with others, and the confidence to continue their journey of faith in their daily lives.
Page updated
Report abuse