Religious Education, Teaching and Learning
At St Wulstan’s Religious Education is the core curriculum subject, making up at least 10% of the total curriculum time.
We follow the Birmingham Diocesan Strategy, 'Learning and Growing as the People of God'. Children are taught the strategy from the Nursery class up to Year 6. Each unit builds upon children's prior learning from the previous year and enables progression of knowledge, understanding and skills to develop children's understanding of our Catholic faith. Our curriculum is planned and taught to ensure that children have opportunities to be creative, embrace the teachings of the Bible, and reflect on their previous understanding, whilst strengthening their own faith and beliefs.
In RE, children’s knowledge is assessed using the Living and Growing as the People of God unit outcome statements. At the end of each unit, children are assessed against unit markers that outline the end-of-unit expectations.
- B (Below),
- W- / W+ (Working Towards),
- N- / N+ (Expected Standard), or
- A- / A+ (Above Expected).
In addition to termly assessments, we assess children’s knowledge against three key units annually, using the Diocesan 4-yearly assessment cycle. Age-related statements are used to evaluate the following strands:
- The Liturgical Year
- Scripture
- Living as Christians (including prayer)
- Celebrating the Sacraments
Staff meet termly for RE assessment moderation. During these meetings, teachers review and validate work samples against the age-related standards grids, ensuring accurate and consistent judgements.
At the start of each RE lesson, a carefully planned question provides children with opportunities to link their knowledge with personal beliefs, the lives of the Saints, vocations, Catholic Social Teaching, and Scripture. Children respond to these questions at the end of the lesson, drawing on their learning and references to provide a personal, reflective answer.