Religious Education

At St Charles, we are a community of faith and, through the teaching of Religious Education, we bring the children to a deeper understanding of their faith, allowing them to have an authentic encounter with God. We believe that Religious Education is essential to the formation of the human person and that the study of faith makes our children who they are. Religious Education binds together the whole curriculum of our school and plays an important role in preparing each member of the school community to play their part in building a ‘just’ society.

In keeping with our Mission Statement we, at St Charles Borromeo Catholic Primary School, aim to provide a Religious Education that meets the needs of every pupil. We follow the new Religious Education Directory (RED) in Early Years Foundation Stage (Nursery and Reception) and Years 1, 2, 5 and 6, the “Come and See” scheme is used in Years 3 and 4, in line with Diocesan guidance.  We are committed to providing the children with the rich and varied learning opportunities that will help them to be able to deepen their knowledge and understanding of their Catholic faith.

In our school, RE is taught discretely and developmentally. It includes the deepening of knowledge and understanding of key theological ideas and their applications to life. Children are encouraged to engage with the difficult questions of meaning and purpose which everyone has to face, enabling them to think critically about their own questions of meaning and purpose. Religious Education also offers the children a sense of self-worth through their experience of belonging to a caring community, and an awareness of their religious commitment in everyday life.

At St Charles Borromeo we believe in providing the children with rich and varied learning opportunities. Teachers are encouraged to be as creative as possible in their lesson planning and to employ a range of opportunities such as: discussion and debate, drama, art, music etc.

Dialogue and Encounter

At St Charles, the teaching of others’ faiths happens through Branch 6 of the RED Dialogue and Encounter. Through this lens, we allow the children to explore the relationships that we, as Catholic Christians, have with other Christian traditions, Judaism, other world religions and non-religious or other world views. Through trips to other places of worship, we ensure that the children have first-hand experience of the traditions of the religions of others. During their St Charles journey, we are committed to ensuring that we have equipped our children with the knowledge and understanding that they will need to live respectfully in our world.