Vision Statement
The vision of the RE department is aligned with the schools vision, which is to aim to be the best RE department in the country.
Through Religious Education at St Oscar Romero Catholic School, we will ensure that our students have a better understanding of their importance as a steward of creation, and their role in school, the communities they serve and the world they live in. We aim to provide all students with opportunities to reflect on their own faith and learn about the faiths and practices of others, enabling them to express themselves freely whilst demonstrating tolerance and respect for all those around them.
The Team
Mrs N Taylor – Deputy Subject Lead / Teacher of Religious Education
Mr J Chaffer – Teacher of Religious Education
Miss B Gray-Lyons – Teacher of Religious Education
Mrs N Hockett – Teacher of Religious Education
Mrs I Lock – Teacher of Religious Education
Intent
The RE department at St Oscar Romero Catholic School aims to engage, inspire, challenge and encourage our students, through the lens of faith, philosophy, ethics and critical thinking. We aim to help all students feel welcome, no matter their faith background, and enable them to engage with deep and often searching questions about faiths and beliefs. As a Catholic school our hope is that through their studies in RE students grow in personal development, and that “the mystery of what it is to be human truly become clear” (Curriculum Directory p4). Students will be taught to think critically, to question thoughtfully, and respond respectfully.
Implementation
As a core subject, students learn RE from Year 7 through to Year 11, with all students completing the GCSE course at the end of Year 11
At KS3 students have 3 lessons per week. The RE department have been implementing a new curriculum in line with the new RE directory for Catholic Schools in England and Wales. The course follows a spiral curriculum, in which key concepts are revisited through the years, deepening in complexity and theological depth. There are six units in each year, each with the same title, covering different but related material: Creation and Covenant, Prophecy and Promise, Galilee to Jerusalem, Desert to Garden, To the ends of the earth, Dialogue and Encounter. For a fuller explanation of the content of each unit view ‘Curriculum Roadmaps’ below.
During Key Stage 4, students in Year 10 and 11 follow the Edexcel Catholic Christianity route, which also covers Islam and Philosophy and ethics. Students have 3 lessons of RE per week as part of their core entitlement for their GCSE studies.
Impact
The curriculum has been planned in a way to ensure that students make concrete and consistent progress throughout the school years. The curriculum aims to bring clarity to the relationship between faith and life, and between faith and culture. The curriculum has been meticulously planned in order to develop student’s knowledge and skills from year to year, building on previous learning and gradually developing their critical faculties, and ability to link matters of faith to their own lives and the world around them. The curriculum aims to stimulate pupils’ imagination and to provoke a desire for personal meaning.
As a result of the quality of the curriculum and teaching and learning in RE, we are proud to celebrate that students receive a truly outstanding education in our subject. Our results over time are illustrated in the table below.
| % 4 (standard pass) | % 5 (strong pass) | Progress 8 | Attainment 8 | |
| 2018 | 68% | 50% | +0.19 | 4.5 |
| 2019 | 68% | 56% | 0.0 | 4.9 |
| 2020 | 82% | 68% | +0.29 | 5.5 |
| 2021 | 85% | 69% | +0.53 | 5.6 |
| 2022 | 84% | 72% | +0.61 | 5.5 |
| 2023 | 79% | 73% | +0.51 | 5.5 |
In addition to the above, we are proud that our students become religiously literate and have the knowledge, understanding and skills to reflect spiritually, and think ethically and theologically.
Inspiration
The inspiration for the curriculum in RE related directly to the mission statement of the school, and the Catholic ethos at the heart of St Romero’s, aiming to reflect the missionary and social justice spirit of St Oscar Romero. The Bishop’s of England and Wales’ Curriculum Directory sets out the advised pillars of a curriculum for Catholic schools. We have aimed to build our curriculum around these guidelines.The department aims to inspire students through increasing their awareness of career pathways, promoting their awareness of RE’s links to the charity sector, politics and areas connected to social justice. The department promotes the learning of Philosophy and Ethics at A-level. The department is building up an increased programme of trips in each year, such as a visit to a synagogue in year 8, a Mosque in year 11, and a mandir in year 7.