RE Curriculum

Religious Education

“Education is not an accessory activity, but forms the very fabric of evangelisation: it is the concrete way in which the Gospel becomes an educational gesture, a relationship, a culture.” Pope Leo XIV 'Drawing New Maps of Hope' 2025

Religious Education is at the heart of Catholic school life. Rooted in the Christian understanding of the dignity and value of every person, it helps pupils explore what it means to live a life of faith and purpose. As the core subject in a Catholic school, Religious Education provides pupils with a rich and structured understanding of Catholic Christianity, while also encouraging learning about other world views and beliefs. Religious Education considers how beliefs influence personal choices and actions in everyday life. It nurtures thoughtful, compassionate individuals who are prepared to make a positive contribution to society.

England in the 21st century is a diverse and multi-cultural nation. Our schools reflect this. Within Roman Catholic schools we recognise that young people will be at different places in the spectrum of faith development. Some will belong to the Catholic tradition; others will be of other Christian denominations or other world faiths. Many may have no faith at all. Religious Education should support all young people in their personal search for truth and meaning in life. As such, it offers opportunities for both evangelisation, proclaiming the Gospel message to all and catechesis, the deepening of existing faith commitments among believers. 

The Religious Education Directory (RED 2023) makes the aims of Religious Education explicit:

1. to engage in a systematic study of the mystery of God, of the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, the teachings of the Church, the central beliefs that Catholics hold, the basis for them and the relationship between faith and life;
2. to enable pupils continually to deepen their religious and theological understanding and be able to communicate this effectively;
3. to present an authentic vision of the Church’s moral and social teaching to provide pupils with a sure guide for living and the tools to critically engage with contemporary culture and society;
4. to give pupils an understanding of the religions and worldviews present in the world today and the skills to engage in respectful and fruitful dialogue with those whose worldviews differ from their own;
5. to develop the critical faculties of pupils so to bring clarity to the relationship between faith and life, and between faith and culture;
6. to stimulate pupils’ imagination and provoke a desire for personal meaning as revealed in the truth of the Catholic faith;
7. to enable pupils to relate the knowledge gained through religious education to their understanding of other subjects in the curriculum.

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 p6).

At St. Cuthbert's, religious education is based on the Religious Education Directory (RED) “To Know You More Clearly”. In line with the Bishop’s mandate, the RE curriculum is taught through the Diocesan resource, ‘The Way’.

In recognition of the importance of religious education in our school, we devote 10% of the teaching week to religious education lessons; not including Collective Worship.  In Early Years, the timetable and learning style is more flexible, but teaching of Religious Education is prioritised to give children the opportunity to engage fully with the curriculum. 

The Religious Education Curriculum Directory has a clear framework for learning:

• Knowledge lenses

Hear, believe, live and celebrate indicate what should be known by the end of each age phase.

• Ways of knowing

Understand, discern and respond are the skills through which children progress and develop their thinking during the curriculum journey.

• Expected Outcomes

Sets out what pupils should be able to know, remember and do in each year group

• Curriculum branches

Divide the model curriculum into 6-week units of study which repeat annually, giving a spiral curriculum which allows children to build progressively on the prior knowledge and develop their understanding year by year.

The curriculum branches are:

Branch 1	Creation and Covenant
Branch 2	Prophecy and Promise
Branch 3	Galilee to Jerusalem
Branch 4	Desert to Garden
Branch 5	To the Ends of the Earth
Branch 6	Dialogue and Encounter

The curriculum is firmly founded on building children’s knowledge and understanding of Scripture, while providing opportunities to make connections to other faiths and cultures, as well as to their daily lives.

 

Associated Policies: