Religious Education

Religious Education is a core subject at Emmaus and our Christian character and values permeate our approach to every subject and topic in school.  Our RE lessons are taught using ‘Come and See’, a Catholic primary religious education programme.  This programme informs each topic through: Explore, Reveal and Respond.  Ten percent of the weekly timetable is allocated to Come and See.

Explore

This introduces the topic, helping the children to begin to look at and focus on the experience within their own lives – concerning themselves, their relationships and their world.

This includes:

•   Exploring experiences through story, music, drama, dance, art, etc.

•   Investigation

•   Story telling

•   Consideration of the big questions

•   Discussion

•   Becoming aware of the questions raised

•   Reflecting on significance of these experiences.

Explore is expected to take one week to complete.

Reveal

Reveal is the heart of the process. The teacher and the children together discover the Christian understanding of the mystery of the Trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It involves learning about Scripture, the teaching of the Church, prayers, hymns and other expressions of Christian faith.

This includes:

•   new knowledge of religious education

•   reflecting on faith

•   researching, collating and classifying

•   discussing questions raised

•   working with problems and grappling with puzzling experiences

•   exploring in creative and practical ways through drama, writing, poetry, song, dance, music, ICT and service of others

•   making links between Christian understanding and the shared life experience

•   acknowledging and respecting difference

•   being open to new perspectives

Reveal is expected to take two weeks to complete.

Respond

‘Remember’ is the first part of this section. The children will respond by remembering and celebrating all that they have learnt. This new understanding will enable them to make a personal response in their daily lives. This is followed by providing the opportunity for the children to remember what they have understood and learnt.

This includes:

•   creating a quiet, prayerful atmosphere for reflection

•   looking at and thinking about the work done

•   sharing thoughts and feelings.

‘Rejoice’ is the second part of the section. There will be the opportunity to plan and take part in a celebration. It will be essential to involve the children in the choice of material to be used in the celebration, as guided by the Come and See programme.

‘Renew’ is the third and final part of the section, the teacher helps each child to make an individual response, including what they have understood of the topic. In this part the children will think about how they can apply their learning to their lives. Older children can be offered the opportunity to write or draw in their personal notebooks.

Respond is expected to take one week to complete.