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Religious Education at St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School
Religious Education is at the heart of the curriculum at St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School. As a Catholic school, we believe Religious Education enables children to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the Catholic faith whilst developing the skills to reflect spiritually, think ethically and engage with the wider world. Religious Education encourages pupils to explore questions of meaning and purpose, develop their religious literacy and understand the impact faith can have on daily life. The outcome of excellent Religious Education is confident, engaged and religiously literate young people who are able to make meaningful connections between faith, culture and contemporary society.
In accordance with the requirements of the Religious Education Directory, Religious Education is recognised as the core of the core curriculum and is given the same status, rigour and academic challenge as other core curriculum subjects. A minimum of 10% of curriculum time is dedicated to Religious Education across all year groups.
Our Religious Education Curriculum
At St Anthony’s we follow The Vine and the Branches, the Diocese of Shrewsbury’s recommended programme for Religious Education, which is fully aligned to the Religious Education Directory: To Know You More Clearly.
The curriculum is organised into six branches of learning which are revisited each year, allowing pupils to deepen their knowledge and understanding as they progress through school:
- Creation and Covenant
- Prophecy and Promise
- Galilee to Jerusalem
- Desert to Garden
- To the Ends of the Earth
- Dialogue and Encounter
These branches are rooted in the story of salvation history and are carefully sequenced to reflect key moments in the Church’s liturgical year whilst ensuring progression in knowledge, understanding and skills. Through the curriculum, pupils encounter Sacred Scripture, Catholic belief, prayer and liturgy, Catholic Social Teaching and the wider life of the Church.
Religious Education is structured around six knowledge lenses:
- Hear
- Believe
- Celebrate
- Live
- Dialogue
- Encounter
Pupils develop their learning through the three ways of knowing:
- Understand – developing knowledge and understanding of Catholic belief and teaching.
- Discern – thinking critically and creatively about different interpretations, viewpoints and questions.
- Respond – reflecting personally on learning and considering its implications for their own lives and the wider world.
Through Religious Education, pupils are encouraged to make meaningful links between Scripture, belief, prayer, liturgy and daily life, helping them to develop as thoughtful, compassionate and informed young people.