Religious Education
Religious Education at Holy Ghost
At the heart of our school, is our Catholic mission, which gives us our identity as a school and reaches into every aspect of our work.
In keeping with our mission statement, we aim to work alongside parents to bring children to a deeper understanding of the truths of their Catholic faith.
Through explicit teaching about Jesus and the Church, and the development of prayer and worship in school, we provide daily experiences where children live the gospel values; have respect for the opinions and beliefs of others, and grow in their faith.
Our curriculum is Christ-centred and daily school life is permeated with activities which promote the Catholic life of the school. Every classroom has a focal point designed to lead the children to pray; interact with their faith, as well as to reflect current learning in Religious Education. Our priests visit the classrooms each week. The children regularly attend Mass with the Parish, and the school assists the parish programmes by delivering the teaching and preparation for First Holy Communion and First Confession for our Year 3 pupils. The school organises Confession for pupils during Advent and Lent.
We have a Christ - centred curriculum
Religious Education is taught using “The Way, The Truth and The Life” scheme. This acts only as a starting point to our teaching of RE and teachers take the learning much deeper to allow for a greater level of learning and understanding. We focus on helping the children to think theologically, ethically and spiritually. The teaching of other faiths is also an important aspect of our RE curriculum.
Our RE teaching encourages our children to gain a better understanding of the scripture messages and to make links with other scripture as well as their own lives.
Aims
- Develop their knowledge and understanding of the Catholic Faith.
- Engage and know key stories from the Bible.
- Promote their innate capacity for wonder, mystery and spirituality.
- Understand, know and discuss how their beliefs and moral values are influenced by others.
- Develop their awareness and understanding of other faiths.
- Engage in prayer respectfully and maturely, to develop their interpersonal relationship with God.
- Have an understanding and awareness of the meaning of scripture and lessons taught.
- Develop a thirst for learning of their faith and an appreciation that it is a life-long pursuit guided by the spirit and the presence of Christ, in the service of God and others.
- Encourage independent study, investigation and reflection.
Relationships and Sex Education
Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) is provided in accordance with the teachings of the Catholic Church, and in such a way that it encourages pupils to consider morals, and the value of family life.
Relationship and Sex Education Curriculum Overview
Relationship and Sex Education Policy
Holy Ghost use the Ten:Ten schedule to delivery RSE lessons, please see our details below to login and look at the resources on offer for you:
https://www.tentenresources.co.uk/parent-portal/
username: holy-ghost-sw1
password: ocean-5-sw1
The Class Knowledge Organiser
Please see each classes knowledge organiser for this term and their topic. These organisers provide you with the key vocabulary used and taught within these units and the lessons outcome (LO) for each lesson.
Reception - Getting to Know Jesus
Year 1 - Families and Celebrations
Religious Education in the classroom
Each week we shall be sharing some of our classroom learning and how we celebrate our faith.
All Saints' Day
For All Saint's Day, each class dedicated an afternoon to celebrate their class Saint. We explored the lives of our class Saints and how each Saint lived out Catholic Social Teachings. We reflected on how we could follow their examples and each class decorated their doors with ideas of how we can live our lives inspired by their Saint.
Reception - St Francis of Assisi
Year 1 - St Oscar Romero
Year 2 - St John Paul II
Year 3 - St Teresa of Avila
Year 4 - Sister Thea Bowman
Year 5 - St Therese of Liseaux
Year 6 - St Mother Teresa
Advent
Reception
Reception has been exploring the story of Jesus' birth and the season of Advent. We learned that Advent is a special time to prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus. To reflect this, we created Advent promises on ornaments to hang on our Christmas trees, connecting the physical preparations we make for Christmas with the spiritual ones. Additionally, we have been sequencing the events of Jesus' birth and deepening our understanding of the story. Using our outdoor blocks, we built a stable and brought the story to life by re-enacting it together.
Year 1
Year 1 have begun learning about the special season of Advent. We have been
learning that during Advent we reflect and prepare our hearts for the arrival of Jesus' birth and that it is a time of promise and hope. We have learnt that we represent Advent by the colour purple, because the colour purple signifies royalty and that we are waiting for our saviour Jesus to be born. We created our own Advent candles and wrote our own promises. Year 1 also enjoyed listening to reflective Advent music, thinking about Jesus's love for us and discussing ways we can reflect that love. We finally created our own liturgical dance to visualise how we can go forth in our own lives to prepare for this special season of Advent.
Year 2
As part of our Advent preparation for the coming of the Saviour at Christmas, Year 2 re-enacted the story of the birth of Jesus in the Holy Ghost nativity. The children all worked incredibly hard to learn their lines and acting roles, not to mention the huge amount of effort they put into practising the songs and actions. In retelling the story of the Nativity, the children reflected on the importance of the roles of Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and the Kings in the birth of Jesus. We considered how important it is for us to also open our hearts to God, and help to spread His messages of hope, peace, joy and love to our community during the season of Advent.
Year 3
Year 3 have been focusing on how we can prepare our hearts and minds for the birth of Jesus during Advent. Together, we created a special Advent calendar. Each child was given a number and wrote their own Advent promise, a prayer or a kind message. This activity helped us reflect on the importance of showing kindness, love and faith as we get ready to celebrate the joy of Christmas.
