R.E Coordinator's Welcome

R.E Coordinator's Welcome

Welcome to our page for Holy Name RC Primary School.

My name is Miss Hackman and I am the RE co-ordinator for our school.

Our Mission Statement is the cornerstone of everything we do at Holy Name RC Primary School. Through our bespoke Religious Education Curriculum, we aim for our pupils to gain a deep understanding of their innate gifts, talents and skills.

Our Religious Education curriculum has been specifically tailored to meet the unique multi-faith context of our school through welcoming, worshipping witnessing, whilst thinking about the welfare of all staff and pupils and ensuring the Word is taught and mastered throughout teaching and Gospel assemblies.

 As a school we are working on keeping in line with Bishop John Arnold’s Laudato Si project. Children are offered a range of activities to complete in order to help reduce the pollution and to save the planet. Our links with Forest School where children plant vegetables and take part in the recycling scheme are all key parts of the curriculum.

As a Catholic school we are deeply committed to developing the faith of all children with Jesus Christ as our inspiration and guiding light with the school having children from all around the world with a multi-faith background we teach and develop the knowledge of other faiths with children. Our curriculum is being developed to enhance delivery and teaching of different faiths and for children to have a richer vocabulary. The children have a great understanding of other faiths and world religions. Throughout the year children have opportunities to celebrate key celebrations and activities through learning days, assemblies and a range of scriptures.

As a school our Praise and Worship sessions are a beautiful way of deepening our faith and spending time with our Lord. The hymns of worship and praise are extremely powerful with an enhanced spiritual feeling of the Holy Spirit descending on us all to help us to be who and what we want to be.

Our RE lessons deliver the ‘Come and See’ scheme of work for RE, which develops and enhances the knowledge and understanding our children have of scripture and how they can learn to be more like Jesus in all that they do. Lessons offer opportunities for children to reflect, discuss and worship on the scripture, and music. In addition to this, teachers extend their planning to reflect the events of the liturgical calendar, global events and the life of the Catholic Church.

Each year group from EYFS to Year 6 have their own list of focus topics to cover throughout the academic year all linked by a central theme. The topics will coincide with the church calendar however, the depth in which the topic is explored is dependent upon the respective age of the child.

As well as covering the delivery of Catholic Education, ‘Come and See’ also contains the resources and units required for us to regularly teach children about other world religions, in order that they develop an appreciation for faith in a wider sense and are appreciative and respectful of the religious beliefs, practices and observances of others thus enabling them to be responsible and constructive members of the multi-cultural, multi-faith society in which they live.

At Holy Name we want to help our children to respond to Pope Francis’ call to holiness. As such, the Saints play an important role in motivating our pupils. They inspire us to lead joyful lives; they serve as role models; they teach us that holiness means being who you are; and they pray for us from heaven, giving us the strength to be who God created us to be.

Our school is inspired through our school saints of St Don Bosco, St Joseph, St Martin and St Therese as role models of how we can be more like them in all we do. On entry to Holy Name each child is dedicated to a carefully chosen Saint. Each child keeps their Saint as they progress throughout the school and it forms their identity during their time with us.

Our House Saints are:

• Don Bosco
• Joseph
• Martin
• Therese

GIFT (Growing in Faith Team)

As members of The GIFT Team, we have a very important job to spread the Word of God throughout our school and the school community. It is our mission to interpret scripture so that children can better understand stories from the Bible and relate them to their own lives.

As members of the GIFT Team, we are called to lead our school by following in the footsteps of Jesus. Every day we live by the gospel values and show others how they can do the same. Being a member of the GIFT Team is a challenging but very rewarding task.

The aims of the Holy Name Gift Team are:

• To help the school to grow as a community of faith
• To encourage the pupils to live their faith in daily living
• To support Liturgy, prayer and the spiritual life of the school
• To involve pupils in fundraising for charities
• To continue to develop strong links with the Parish
• To support the school in its Mission Statement

Our Gift team are led by Miss Hackman and are supported by all the staff here at Holy Name but if you have any questions or would like to know more about us, please contact the office.

Charitable Acts:

Our GIFT team are great ambassadors for leading the drive and focus in fundraising opportunities. They support the work of Caritas and CAFOD to raise money and food for those who are less fortunate.

During the year they plan and deliver opportunities to help our School to complete charitable acts such as:

• Harvest food drive – creating posters and promoting the food drive in assemblies and in class. All the GIFT team created posters to help each class to know what foods could be brought in.
• Class, by class raising money for World Gifts, for CAFOD
• We fundraise for the street children of Brazil, through our work with Father Pat Clarke.