St. Dunstan's Curriculum

	Welcome to St. Dunstan's Catholic School Website

Home

Children's Learning

School Policies relating to RE and Collective Worship

Charity at St. Dunstan's

Religious Education

"The fundamental aim of all education is the promotion and development of the human person".
Vatican Document ‘The Catholic School in the Third Millennium’ 1997

Religious Education at St Dunstan’s is at the very heart of the curriculum and all that we do to educate the whole child.

We aspire to help every child in our care to develop as a whole person, becoming happy, caring and compassionate people where each child’s gifts are developed to the full and the foundations for lifelong learning are laid down. Educating our children to be good people, is our highest priority so they have a strong sense of moral purpose and a commitment to use their gifts and talents to create peace in our world and to act compassionately to those in need.

The learning of Religious Education aims to deepen the knowledge and understanding of key theological ideas and how they can be applied to the lives of the children. We encourage children to engage with the difficult ‘big’ questions of meaning and purpose and to think critically about their own ‘big’ questions.

In line with Diocesan guidance, the school follows the ‘Come and See’ programme of religious education.

Study of Other Religions

"A religious education which enables pupils to be confident and secure in their own religious faith, as well as being knowledgeable and respectful of other religions, plays a key role in building a cohesive society. Thus, “In Catholic schools, teaching of religion must help students to arrive at a personal position in religious matters that is consistent and respectful of the positions of others, so contributing to their growth and to a more complete understanding of reality.”

Consecrated Persons and their Mission in Schools, Congregation for Catholic Education, 2002

Children live in a fast changing global world which opens them to diversity and challenge. At St. Dunstan’s we believe it is important to prepare children for this.

Pupils are taught about Judaism and additionally, Islam because it is the common faith of many people in our local community. Pupils will be given the opportunity to visit the Mosque in Woking and the Synagogue in Weybridge as part of their learning over their time at St. Dunstan’s.

Prayer

Prayer is a central and ever living part of our school day. Through prayer, we seek to deepen the children’s relationship with God in a way that is relevant and meaningful to them.

We feel that at every stage the children in our care should be encouraged to spontaneously express their joy, wonder, awe, concern, thanks, sorrow, sadness, anger, fear and disappointment through prayer.

Prayer forms an integral part of all Collective Worship and liturgical celebrations when there are moments of quiet reflection or guided meditation. Prayer is also an important part of religious education lesson.

Each class has their own prayer table which is a focus for the children’s prayer. More formal prayers are shared too, such as morning and evening prayers, grace before and after meals. Prayer forms an integral part of all Collective Worship and liturgical celebrations when there are moments of quiet reflection or guided meditation. Prayer is also an important part of religious education lesson. Each class has their own prayer table which is a focus for the children’s prayer. More formal prayers are shared too, such as morning and evening prayers, grace before and after meals.

Children are encouraged to compose their own prayers for Masses and Collective Worship. Staff and Governors pray together before every meeting and at the beginning and end of every term.

Prayers we use in school.

Worship and Liturgy
In keeping with our Mission Statement, we believe that Worship is concerned with giving glory, honour, praise and thanks to God. It is our loving response, in word and action, to God’s invitation to enter into relationship, made possible through the work of Jesus Christ and the witness of the Holy Spirit.

Class Worship

There are daily acts of collective worship during the school week in the form of Key Stage worships, Worship through Song and class based worships (often led by the children).

Class collective worships are led by every class during the year for the pupils and the parents. These are creative and very spiritual occasions, which focus upon different themes linked to the Religious Education being taught.

Stations of the Cross

Throughout the year, we celebrate important events in the church’s calendar such as Lent and Advent and we also celebrate Mass at the start and end of each term. Each year group helps to prepare and lead a mass; their readings, poetry, singing, acting or dancing help to create a reverent and spiritual atmosphere for children to engage with the Gospel.

In addition, we share liturgies on special themes such as St. Dunstan’s Day, Stations of the Cross and Our Mother Mary, to allow the children to gain a deeper understanding and have time for prayerful reflection.

The Bible
The message of salvation is handed on from generation to generation in a living way in the doctrine, life and worship of the Church, and in a special way in the Scriptures, both Old and New testaments. The Scriptures are the word of God. God is their Author, inspiring the human writers who were themselves true authors of Scripture in the power of the Holy Spirit. In the Scriptures, God speaks to us in a human way.

We have a wonderful selection of Bibles suitable for children at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 for the children to refer to during learning. We study themes in the Bible over the year: The Creation stories and the Infancy narratives of the New Testament in the Autumn Term; the Passion narratives in the Spring Term and in the Summer we explore the Resurrection stories.

The children regularly refer to scripture in RE lessons and understand the context and how it is important to apply what they have learnt to today’s modern world. It is so important to us, that we remain faithful to the context and the meaning of the passage in Scripture and we take particular care that the message is not distorted when we select readings from Bibles re-written for children. Our parish priests are always on hand to advise us and speak to the children about the meaning of Biblical texts.

For all our Religious Education News please click on the link and find the Religious Education section in the school newsletters.

Top of Page

St. Dunstan's Catholic Primary School, Onslow Crescent, Woking, Surrey. GU22 7AX Tel: 01483 715190
email: office@stdunstans.surrey.sch.uk