Intent

At St. Augustine’s School, our aim is to provide a curriculum that is engaging, inspiring, broad, innovative and creative. As a Catholic school, Jesus Christ is at the heart of everything we teach and learn as we are all created in God’s image. Our ethos is shown through signs of Christ’s teaching in the school, the way we take care of each other as a family and through our service to society. We learn through the guidance and presence of Jesus. Children are equipped with the knowledge and skills to answer challenging questions, explore different religious beliefs, values and traditions.

We continue to have close links with our Parish Priest, Father Gladson, and continue to strengthen our links with our local community.

The school’s direction stems from its Mission Statement:

‘At St. Augustine’s School, we share the light of Christ with each other and feel a sense of belonging to the family of the Church.’

Implementation

At St. Augustine’s School, we follow the requirements of the Religious Education Curriculum Directory set out by the Bishops of England and Wales. 10% of teaching time is dedicated to the teaching of R.E. Lessons are faith-filled and stimulating where each child feels they belong. Children and staff participate in class or whole school worship each day and also attend school Masses. We strive to ensure that the Christian values are not only shown in R.E lessons, but in all other aspects of life.

We also have an enthusiastic Mini Vinnies team who promote social justice and develop the spiritual life of our school.

The children progress in the implementation of our Collective Worship. They plan, lead and develop reflective skills, which establish them as well rounded individuals once leaving St. Augustine’s school.

At our school, we follow the ‘Come and See’ Religious Education scheme from Reception through to Year 6. The process for delivering the topics in 'Come and See' has three stages - Explore, Reveal and Respond which enable the pupils with the development of knowledge, understanding, skills and the fostering of attitudes.

This programme provides:

• opportunities for celebration, prayer and reflection.
• children with the language of religious experience - a 'literacy' in religious activities, places, stories, symbols and rituals, people and objects.
• opportunities to explore the beliefs, values and way of life of the Catholic tradition.
• opportunities to make links between own experiences and with universal experiences.
• adults with the skills, knowledge and vocabulary involved to understand the underlying theological as well as educational principles.
• appropriate materials about other faiths.
• academic respectability as in other curricular areas – utilising appropriate stages from the National Curriculum.

Impact

We strive to ensure that our children’s attainment in R.E is in line with or exceeding their potential, taking into consideration the varied starting points of children. We measure this carefully using a range of materials, but always considering age related expectations. As a school, we monitor the progress of our children in R.E through formative and summative assessments. The teachers use meaningful and relevant marking, giving appropriate, individual feedback to the children and providing them with areas for development.  Assessment tasks serve as part of the evidence used to support the ‘best fit’ level of attainment achieved by each child.

Our children, staff and community place Jesus at the centre of all that we do and say. We believe our children have a clear understanding of our core values and our mission as pupils in our school and as they move on in each stage of their life. Our aim is to prepare them for life in the wider community, demonstrating respect, tolerance and equality. We measure this not just by the work our children produce, but in the attitude and behaviours we see each and every day in all learners through daily interactions with staff, other adults and their peers.