Catholic Preschool and Primary Religious Education Curriculum

For the first time in the history of Catholic primary education schools in Ireland have been offered, in the form of a curriculum, a structured outline for Religious Education and Faith Formation. It is the first formal Religious Education curriculum for all Catholic preschools and primary schools in the whole island of Ireland. Catholic schools are Jesus centred. Jesus Christ is at the heart of all activity in a Catholic school. Religious Education is not just one of the many areas of the curriculum but the basis of the entire educational process.

Aims

 

• 'To help your children mature in relation to their spiritual, moral and religious lives, through their encounter with, exploration and celebration of the Catholic faith.’
• To foster a distinctly Christian spirituality in following Jesus in the practice of the love of God and love of our neighbour.
• To ensure that your children leave primary school confident in the knowledge that Jesus loves them and values each one of them.
• To guide and inform the teaching of preschool and primary religious education.

 

Benefits

 

• If Religious Education is the core subject in a Catholic school and the foundation for the entire education process, then it stands to reason that it should be taught with the same rigour as all the other areas of the primary school curriculum.
• The Christian message is presented in the same depth as knowledge in the other curricular areas.
• It provides the opportunity for differentiation to ensure that the needs of all our children are adequately met.
• It uses an outcomes approach ie. it clearly lists the knowledge, understanding, skills and values to be achieved at each stage. This makes it easy for you to see what your child has achieved at any stage.

 

Overview

There are 5 levels to the curriculum:

Preschool level

• Level 1 - years 1 and 2 - (Junior and Senior Infants / foundation stage)
• Level 2 - years 3 and 4 - (First and Second / Key stage 1)
• Level 3 - years 5 and 6 - (Third and Fourth / Key stage 2)
• Level 4 - years 7 - (Fifth and Sixth / Key stage 2)

Content

The content of the curriculum is divided into four interrelated strands of Christian Faith.

Christian Faith

The announcement of the Good News of Jesus Christ

The Word of God

The introduction of children in an age - appropriate way to Sacred Scripture in the life of the Church.

Liturgy / Prayer

Talking and listening to God and getting to know and love God better.

Enabling children to engage with liturgical signs, symbols and rituals of the Church.

Enabling children to appreciate the importance of prayer and to provide them with many different experiences of prayer.

Christian Morality

Helping your children to grow into loving, forgiving people using Jesus as a model for living an ethical life.

These strands outline the knowledge, understanding, skills and values that make up the learning to be achieved at each level of the curriculum. You will be able to clearly identify how your child progresses from one level to the next.

Children develop their skills in reading, writing, listening, speaking, drawing, music, creative thinking, information technology etc. in the other curricular subjects and these are also developed in Religious Education to provide them with the language / tools that they will need to talk about their faith. This will enable you as parents to listen to, and to talk with your children about the themes that they covered in class.

Catholic Education is directed towards the growth of the whole person in the context of the relationship with God in Jesus Christ. Its purpose is to form people of love, care and compassion; with a care for beauty and wonder; with a sense of hope; who know they are beloved children of God; who will serve the world by their gifts. The school of Religious education programme alone will not secure the handing on of the faith. It will only succeed if it builds on the lived experience of your children in their homes and families. We thank you for your commitment in the past and hope that you will enjoy engaging with your children as they work through the new curriculum.