Religious Education
We follow the guidance of the Catholic Religious Education Curriculum Directory.
Intent
We are a Catholic school and we are committed to the Catholic Faith, recognising and valuing every individual as special and unique in the image and likeness of God.
Religious Education at St Joseph’s respects and promotes each child’s innate capacity for wonder, awe, reverence and spirituality. Our Religious Education curriculum leads our children to aspire not to have more, but to be more; children are taught about God’s love; they learn about their Christian responsibilities; and they are provided with experiences of church, Catholic and Christian traditions, as well as being taught to be respectful and understanding of people and traditions from other faith backgrounds. Through Religious Education, our children learn about their unique place within the home, school and parish community.
Catholic Social Teaching (CST) principles are woven into everything we do and teach. They underpin our curriculum, collective worship, school ethos and daily life, helping children to live out Gospel values in practical ways such as stewardship of creation, preferential option for the poor and promoting human dignity.
Implementation:
Religious Education is at the centre of everything we do as a Catholic school and permeates through every aspect of the curriculum and school life. We ensure that a minimum of 10% of curriculum time is allocated for RE teaching across all key stages.
At St Joseph’s we are currently piloting the new Religious Education Directory (RED) in EYFS and Key Stage 1, using Lighting the Path, the programme chosen by the Southwark Archdiocese to deliver the RED in all Catholic schools. This new scheme is carefully structured to reflect the RED’s vision, ensuring that pupils encounter the story of salvation through Scripture, tradition, prayer, liturgy, Catholic Social Teaching and dialogue with other worldviews.
The new RED is built around knowledge lenses (Hear, Believe, Celebrate, Live, Dialogue, Encounter) and expected age-phase outcomes. It ensures that pupils are not only growing in religious literacy but also developing spiritually, morally and socially. The curriculum is spiral in nature, revisiting and deepening key ideas year on year, enabling children to progress in their understanding of the Catholic faith while also learning to dialogue with other religions and worldviews.
From September 2026, the RED will be fully implemented across the whole school, replacing the previous Religious Education Curriculum Directory (2012). This means that all classes from EYFS to Year 6 will follow Lighting the Path, ensuring consistency and progression across phases and fulfilling the requirement that Catholic schools provide high-quality religious education as the "core of the core curriculum".
Until September 2026, Key Stage 2 pupils continue to follow the Come and See Religious Education Programme, in line with the guidance from the Southwark Archdiocese. This scheme provides:
- opportunities for celebration, prayer and reflection in implicit and explicit ways
- the language of religious experience – a literacy in activities, places, stories, symbols, rituals and people
- a systematic presentation of the Christian event, message and way of life, in age-appropriate ways
- materials about other faiths (Judaism, Sikhism, Hinduism and Islam)
- academic rigour and progression in line with other curricular areas.
Through Come and See, children explore nine topics across the year, focusing on: Community of Faith (Church), Celebration in Ritual (Sacraments) and Way of Life (Christian Living). These are delivered through the three-fold process of Explore, Reveal and Respond, supporting pupils to deepen their knowledge, understanding and spiritual reflection.
Through the high standard and exceptional teaching of RE, pupils are inspired to become critical thinkers and to reflect deeply upon their own faith journey. They are challenged through the topics taught to think about how they put the teachings of the Church and Jesus into practice in their daily lives. A high priority is given to the formation of pupils in their understanding of, involvement in and service to building the Kingdom of God and taking care of our common home.
Other Faiths and Religions
As part of both Come and See and the new Lighting the Path curriculum, children also learn about Judaism and other world religions (Sikhism, Hinduism and Islam) in line with the RED’s commitment to dialogue and respect for different faith traditions.
Assessment
Ongoing informal assessment against the RED’s age-phase outcomes, alongside formal tasks, is used to inform planning and identify areas for focus and support. Assessment is moderated internally and externally within cluster meetings to ensure consistency.
Impact
As a result of these strategies, children at St Joseph’s:
- Are well prepared for the next stage of their education as confident and enthusiastic learners.
- Produce good quality work, which they are proud of.
- Achieve consistently well in all areas of Religious Education and make exceptional progress.
- Are happy, well-rounded individuals who have developed a deep-rooted relationship with God and understanding of their Catholic faith.
- Become ambassadors for Christ who are ready to go out into the world and proclaim the values of the Gospel confidently, building the Kingdom of God through compassion, justice, love and forgiveness in their relationship with others.
- Understand that they are part of the family of God and know how they can play their part in this global family united by Christ.
- Deepen their appreciation of their faith and fulfil their God-given talents through study, prayer, liturgy and action.
- Grow in knowledge of the Saints and Christian witnesses, linking their lives and teachings to their own experiences.
The school environment reflects and celebrates our Catholic faith, supporting children’s spiritual development and their mission to live out Gospel values in everyday life.
Additional information can be found under the RE Curriculum page here.
Useful Links
'Lighting the Path', Vocabulary based on RED.
‘Come and See’ Scheme yearly overview
Examen for children
Wednesday Word leaflet