Religious Education at Our Lady’s

Our rich curriculum embraces our Catholic Faith at its heart and complies with the Religious Education Directory requirements.

We currently follow the 'Come and see’ programme. Links are made with the children’s own experiences and the curriculum is adapted to make it real and meaningful to our children. We teach Religious Education through the process of Explore, Reveal, Respond. This follows the pattern of the human search for meaning, God’s initiative in Revelation and the response in faith.

We are very blessed to be supported by regular class visits from our Parish Priest, Father Andrew. He works closely with the children and staff, guiding their journey of faith and being on hand to help them wherever he can. Each class from Year 2 to Year 6 plans, prepares and leads a class mass once a year, in order to further help their understanding of the richness of the Eucharist.

We are also fortunate to be able to experience the richness of the liturgical life of the church in many ways throughout the year such as Feast Day Masses, the celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and a range of assemblies including Lenten and Advent.

It is important to us that our children see themselves as part of a wider community. To ensure we have real and lasting experiences we include a variety of visits, trips and outside speakers. 

At Our Lady’s we always strive to provide quality experiences of prayer and liturgy that support pupils’ spiritual development. These communal acts of prayer and the liturgical celebrations of the Church form part of everyday life in our school. Every child is given the opportunity to pray by giving praise and thanks to God using traditional prayers of the Catholic Church. We encourage the children to nurture a relationship with God through words, symbols, song, gestures and silence. Prayer is such an integral part of school life that it can never be confined to ‘timetabled’ slots but may take place in a variety of contexts other than those specifically structured. We mediate and ‘Examin’ daily, which allows the children to grow closer to God.

Pupil Voice

"Learning Religion helps us to be better outside and how to behave. We learn to be good people, how to be kind to others and to be like Jesus." Year 3 children 

"We learn how to be like the Saints and how to live like them eg, be courageous." Year 4 children 

"We enjoy learning about the special times in the Church's year like Advent, Lent, Easter and Christmas." Year 5 children

"We enjoy having mass with Father Andrew as everyone has a change to go to Church and be with God and Jesus in God's house." Nicola Year 5

"We love being at a Catholic School as we are learning to be more like God and Jesus." Year 5 children 

"I enjoy Religion lessons as it is very important we learn as Catholics all about our faith." Matthew Year 6 

Collective Worship

The children have been so inspired by Collective Worship in School and the Mark10 Mission Assemblies, that some children in Year 4 have created a Club to celebrate Jesus.

"Our Club is where we let you be yourself. We remember why we love God and Jesus. We are respectful and we gather to celebrate our faith. We started the club because we want to spread the good work and make people feel loved by God. At Jesus Club we pray, save animals, help the planet and respect God and Jesus" Karolina and Mya 

"I love sitting and talking to God." Romeo Year 2

"I like to gather together, talk to Jesus and learn to be like God." Sarah Year 3 

"It is a time to pray and think about God and the Saints." Kacper Year 4

"I like listening to Bible stories and having the chance to share opinions from what we have heard." Aleks Year 5 

"I like Collective Worship in class as we discuss what we hear, listen to others and explain our thoughts." Toby Year 6

Meditation

"I find the meditation calming." Dexter Year 2

"Meditation is really calming and I can forget all my problems." Julia Year 5

"It's very calming, peaceful and relaxing. It makes us feel relaxed and very calm." Children in Year 3

"The meditation makes me feel relaxed and is a good start to the afternoon." Hubert Year 5 

"It makes me feel that God and Jesus are telling me what is right and wrong. It is a beautiful feeling." Karolina Year 4 

"We love the singing part of the meditation." Archie, Cupcake and Oliver Year 2 

"It feels peaceful, I think of God and it calms me down." Cohen Year 5

"Meditation makes us feel calm, peaceful, happy, relaxed. We feel in a world of peace." Children in Year 4

"The meditation makes me calm and thankful." Oliver S Year 5

"My favourite part is the song." Mrs Evans 

November Display

Many thanks to all who decorated a poppy to create our Remembrance Display. We are very sad we cannot join together as a school and community to celebrate all those who fought and are still fighting for us, but every time we pass this display we will remember them.