St Mary Magdalene Catholic Primary School

Religious Education

St Mary Magdalene Catholic Primary is an outstanding Catholic school. (Catholic School Inspection - May 2022)

Please find below, a copy of our most recent Denominational (Section 48) Catholic School Inspection Report (May 2022):

denominational section 48 catholic school inspection st mary magdalene bexhill.pdf

Inspectors said the following about our school:

St Mary Magdalene Catholic Primary is an outstanding Catholic school because leaders and governors ensure that the religious education curriculum meets the requirements of the Bishops' Conference in every respect and in each key stage.

Pupils are excellent ambassadors for the school in the way they behave and confidently articulate the school's mission. They demonstrate that they understand the demands of living out their faith and embrace the opportunities to show kindness to others and a need to 'let their light shine.'

Almost all pupils concentrate well in religious education lessons and are committed to improving their knowledge, understanding and skills in order to develop as competent learners.

Teachers are confident in their subject expertise and employ a range of appropriate strategies, linked to other curriculum areas. As a result, pupils make good, or better progress.

(Catholic School Inspection - May 2022)

High quality resources are used very effectively, including other adults, to optimise learning for each pupil. Support given to pupils, especially by supporting adults, is sensitively managed in all classes.

Prayer life is embedded in the heart of this school community and the prayers written by the pupils show great maturity and concern for wider world issues.

Collective worship has a clear purpose, message and direction.

Leaders are models of outstanding practice of collective worship. The themes chosen reflect a deep understanding of the liturgical season and the Church's mission in education.

Pastoral care is outstanding.

Outreach to the wider community is strong and links are encouraged, for example the pupils have written their own prayers, following a visit from the St Vincent de Paul Society, to be shared with the wider community. Key Stage 2 pupils also wrote prayers to people who receive food from a local food bank.

St Mary Magdalene's pupils are given many opportunities to make a positive contribution to the Catholic life of the school including Worship Leaders and a Spiritual Council. Pupils support whole school and class Masses, services such as Stations of the Cross, Harvest and Remembrance Day, in class Collective Worship and during religious education lessons. The pupils take pride in their responsibilities and are keen to offer new ideas and continually want to become more involved.

The curriculum reflects a commitment to Catholic social teaching, 'to care for our common home and the dignity of every human person' and the school has been awarded the Silver UNICEF Rights Respecting Award.

(Catholic School Inspection - May 2022)

The school provides many opportunities for the moral and spiritual development of pupils and staff. (Catholic School Inspection - May 2022)

Come and See

At St. Mary Magdalene, to support our teaching of Religious Education, we use 'Come and See' - a Catholic Primary Religious Education programme for Foundation and Key Stages 1 and 2.

The ‘Come and See’ programme of Religious Education is recommended by the Catholic Diocese of Arundel & Brighton.

Come and See is developed through three themes which are gradually explored each time at greater depths: Church, Sacrament and Christian Living.

The process for delivering the topics in ‘Come and See’ has three stages – ‘Explore’, ‘Reveal’ and ‘Respond’.

Explore

'Explore' is where the teacher helps the children to begin to look at and focus on the experience within their own lives - concerning themselves, their relationships and their world. The children are led to a deeper understanding, clearer vision and the discovery of significance and value of experiential events of everyday life.

Reveal

‘Reveal’ is the heart of the programme. The teacher and the children together discover the Christian understanding of the mystery of the Trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The children will learn about Scripture, teachings of the Church, prayers, rites, psalms, hymns and other expressions of Christian faith and the lives of outstanding Christians.

Respond

‘Respond’ is where the children will respond by remembering and celebrating all that they have learnt so that they will be able to make a personal response in their daily lives. The children will also have the opportunity to plan and take part in a celebration.

The nine topics are subdivided as follows:

Autumn Term