“To know you more clearly” - Prayer of St Richard of Chichester
Our Curriculum Intent
“The primary purpose of Catholic Religious Education is to come to know and understand God’s revelation which is fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.”
Religious Education Curriculum Directory (3-19) for Catholic Schools and Colleges in England and Wales
At the heart of Catholic Education lies the Christian vision of the human person. This vision is explored in Religious Education (RE) making RE the core subject in a Catholic school. The specific contribution to the life of the Catholic school of curriculum RE is primarily educational. Its primary purpose is to draw pupils into a systematic study of Catholic Christianity and to explore the contribution of Christianity and other religions to culture, personal commitment, and action in everyday life.
The Religious Education Curriculum Directory (RECD 2012) makes the aims of Religious Education explicit:
- To present a comprehensive content which is the basis of knowledge and understanding of the Catholic faith;
- To enable pupils continually to deepen their religious and theological understanding and be able to communicate this effectively;
- To present an authentic vision of the Church’s moral and social teaching so that pupils can make a critique of the underlying trends in contemporary culture and society;
- To raise pupils’ awareness of the faith and traditions of other religious communities in order to respect and understand them;
- To develop the critical faculties of pupils so that they can relate their Catholic faith to daily life;
- To stimulate pupils’ imagination and provoke a desire for personal meaning as revealed in the truth of the Catholic faith;
- To enable pupils to relate the knowledge gained through Religious Education to their understanding of other subjects in the curriculum;
- To bring clarity to the relationship between faith and life, and between faith and culture.
The outcome of excellent Religious Education is religiously literate and 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 are aware of the demands of religious commitment in everyday life.
Implementation of the new Religious Education Directory (September 2023-2026)
The new RED was published for implementation starting in September 2023.
We are fully compliant with this and have worked collaboratively as a trust to ensure that standards and consistency remain high across all five secondary schools.
During this transitional phase, we will be running a legacy curriculum for our current Year 8 and 9 students in 2023, whereas Year 7 will begin the new curriculum branches from September 2023. The curriculum learning journeys depict this below.
Legacy Curriculum (Students in Year 8 upwards)
This curriculum is a faithful expression of the legacy RECD.
New Overall Curriculum Learning Journey
Year 7 from September 2023 onwards
This curriculum is fully compliant with the newly published RED.
Our curriculum is a faithful expression of the legacy RECD (Religious Education Curriculum Directory). This directory includes five Church documents, namely:
- Revelation: Dei Verbum
- The Church: Lumen Gentium
- Celebration: Sacrosanctum Concilium
- Life in Christ: Gaudium et Spes
- Overview of the Bible
Elements of each are identified in each year group, fulfilling Diocesan Inspection requirements.
Our Year 7 curriculum is a faithful expression of the 2023 RED and the documentation, including outcomes, reflects this.
For GCSE, we follow the Eduqas Route B GCSE course over two years.
Curriculum time allocated: 10% (all year groups across phases).
Specific Skills Development
- Research and Analysis
- Critical Thinking
- Interpretation
- Empathy
- Independent Thinking
- Extended Writing
- Problem Solving
- Communication
- Literacy
Next Steps
Upon completion of this two-year GCSE course, students will have the skills and experience to progress onto A-level and beyond. Many of our students go on to study Religious Studies at A Level. As many of the skills developed in our subject are transferable, they will also prove useful in vocational post-16 courses such as the armed services, the police service, social work and health professions, as well as religious vocations such as chaplaincy, priesthood or other religious orders. Many employers value GCSE Religious Studies due to the variety of skills the subject develops and the enriching respect for the individual.
Possible Future Careers
Future careers could include:
- Police Officer
- Youth Worker
- Nursing and Healthcare
- Doctor/Nurse
- Advertising/PR Executive
- Journalism
- Social Work
- Teacher
- Ministry
- Archivist
- Charity/Fundraising
- Civil Servant
Famous students of this subject include:
Charles Darwin, William Paley, C.S. Lewis.