Religious Education is central to the life of the school and includes a range of topics concerned with Faith, Relationship with Self and Others, The World, Mission and Justice, The Church, The Church’s Liturgical Calendar, Sacraments, Scripture and Prayer.
Religious education is a lifelong process. Its foundations are laid in the home and built on within the parish community.
Throughout life, people learn and grow as they try to make sense of their lives, searching for purpose, meaning and happiness. The Catholic school plays an important part in this lifelong journey. Its first contribution to the student’s religious education is through the culture and climate of overall school life – the way people treat each other, the religious symbols and celebrations, school prayer, the people and activities that are especially praised and valued, and the values inherent within the school.
This religious dimension is present everywhere in the school: in the playground, the assemblies and the classrooms themselves where every subject contributes to a genuinely religious way of understanding the world. Meaningful prayer and liturgy nurture and express the religious dimension of school life in the context of the Church’s celebration of the liturgical year.
Within the formal curriculum, Religious Education has a prime place. Here it is a course of formal study that commences in Kindergarten and continues until the end of Year 12.
Classroom-based Religious Education is just as demanding as every other subject. It has its own syllabus (Sharing Our Story) and it uses the most effective teaching methods including group work, inquiry learning, research, critical thinking, problem-solving, appropriate use of memorisation, display, and dramatic presentation.
As with other subjects, teachers help their students to develop specific knowledge, understanding, skills, values and attitudes.
