In Jesus we love, learn, hope, trust and care.

Religious Education

At St. Dominic’s Catholic Primary School, Jesus Christ is at the heart of all our learning. As our Mission Statement says, ‘In Jesus we love, learn, hope, trust and care’.

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At St. Dominic’s Catholic Primary School, Jesus Christ is at the heart of all our learning. As our Mission Statement says, ‘In Jesus we love, learn, hope, trust and care’.

As a Catholic community we believe that it is important to help each person develop a loving relationship with Jesus Christ. Reflecting the Gospel values, we wish to uphold the worth and value of each individual.

Prayer and worship are a natural part of our school life and a real expression of the partnership of the wider community, especially the home and the parish, where the development of the whole person is nurtured.

We wish to educate the whole person through the integration of intellectual, spiritual, moral, emotional, psychological, social and physical development.

Home, School, Parish Partnership

The school seeks to encourage links between the home, school and parish. Letters are sent to our parents who are invited to work alongside their child in each topic. Everyone is welcome at our assemblies and parents are encouraged to attend the whole school Masses. When there are class Masses, in class or in the church, parents are invited to attend.

Aims of Religious Education

The aim of Religious Education is to endeavour to help children become aware of God’s presence and action in their lives and to have a personal relationship with him.

The Religious Education of our children aims to promote:

    • knowledge and understanding of catholic faith and life.
    • knowledge and understanding of the response of faith.
    • the ultimate questions about human life, it’s origin and purpose.
    • the skills required to engage in examination of and reflection upon religious belief and practice.

Scheme used for teaching

In school we use the Resource Framework for Religious Education in Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Westminster which is produced by Dr. Margaret Carswell. This particular approach to teaching Religious Education allows for the children to gain a deeper understanding of their relationship with God. There is a great emphasis placed on not only hearing and understanding scripture but also making links with it and their own lives today. A great deal of work is covered on encouraging children to reflect on scripture and notice how, because of these words, we make certain choices about how we live our lives. This form of teaching allows us as a school to drive forwards our children’s religious literacy, a particular focus of the Diocese.

Click here to see the three-year curriculum cycle for Religious Education at St. Dominic’s.

Children’s Recording

Each year group has a special Religious education book in which work is recorded helping pupils to seek meaning and develop understanding.  This will document the work carried out in all topics through observations, examples of work, photographs and any other evidence that is deemed relevant.

In EYFS it is expected that there will be four pieces of work per topic.

In Key Stage 1 it is expected that there will be at least four to five pieces of recorded work in the books per topic.

For Key Stage 2 there should be at least five to six pieces of written work recorded in the books per topic.

There should also be other pieces of work recorded through photographs, art/drama work or work for displays.

These pieces of work illustrate how the same topic is covered from Reception  right up to Year 6.

Teaching Other Faiths

In the autumn term and the summer term one week is given over to the study of another faith. The school has chosen Judaism for the autumn term and in the summer term it will alternate between Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism because of the wider community in which we live. Resources are bought for the whole school to be able to participate at the same time. In this way the pupils are introduced to the background and beliefs of people of other faiths and to recognise God at work in them.