Religious Education
The schools of the Archdiocese of Birmingham use the Diocese’s own curriculum strategy from Early Years Foundation Stage (Reception Class) to Year 6 called ‘Discerning Disciples’ .
Discerning Disciples is the religious education curriculum for Catholic primary schools in the Archdiocese of Birmingham. It has been developed in full accordance with the Religious Education Directory (RED), the curriculum directory issued by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales which sets out what pupils in Catholic schools should know, understand, and be able to do in religious education.
The curriculum supports the shared mission of our diocesan family of schools: forming Christ-centred pilgrims of hope with kind hearts, questioning minds, a thirst for knowledge and a hunger for justice.
Discerning Disciples is organised into the six branches' of the RED, which align with the Catholic Church's liturgical year:
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Creation and Covenant
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Prophecy and Promise
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Galilee to Jerusalem
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Desert to Garden
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To the Ends of the Earth
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Dialogue and Encounter
Across these branches, pupils encounter Sacred Scripture, deepen their knowledge and understanding of Catholic faith and teaching, study prayer, liturgy, and the sacraments, and consider how faith is lived in the world. Through Dialogue and Encounter, they also leam about other faiths and religions, and develop the knowledge, understanding, and dispositions needed for respectful dialogue. A key element to each unit is the opportunity to link the learning with opportunities for prayer and reflection.
At the heart of Discerning Disciples are the REDs three ways of knowing: understand, discern and respond. Pupils are therefore encouraged not simply to acquire religious knowledge, but to think deeply about What they learn, make connections, consider different perspectives and make thoughtful judgements. In doing so, religious education helps pupils to grow in knowledge, wisdom and understanding and to reflect on how what they learn might shape the way they live.
Parents have a statutory right to withdraw their children from Religious Education and Worship. It is not expected that parents seeking a place in a Catholic School would wish to exercise this option. In many instances, it would be very difficult to identify a specifically “Religious” element in a topic or theme as Catholic philosophy underpins so much of our everyday work. Any parents considering withdrawing their children from this area of the curriculum should put their requests in writing to the Executive Principal. They are very strongly urged to discuss the matter with the Executive Principal in advance of any such request. If pupils are withdrawn from Religious Education and Worship, school has a duty of care to supervise these pupils but not to provide additional teaching or to incur extra costs during this time. School is able to refuse a parent request for the pupil to study other areas of the curriculum during the times they have been withdrawn as time is already allocated to these subjects within our curriculum offer.