St Agatha’s Primary School Clayfield Religious Education Policy
1. PURPOSE
The purpose of this policy is to describe St Agatha’s Primary School’s approach to Religious Education. This policy is to be read in conjunction with the St Agatha’s Statement of Special Religious Charter, The Queensland Catholic Schools and Curriculum and the Archdiocese of Brisbane’s Religious Education Curriculum P-12.
2. RATIONALE
St Agatha's Catholic Primary School promotes the Vision for Religious Education as outlined by Brisbane Catholic Education and the Archdiocese of Brisbane. This vision calls upon all schools in the Archdiocese of Brisbane to
“educate and form students who are challenged to live the gospel of Jesus Christ and who are literate in the Catholic and broader Christian tradition so that they might participate critically and authentically in faith contexts and wider society”.
At St Agatha's we aim to work in close partnership with parents, recognising that parents are the primary caregivers and teachers of a child's development and religious understanding. Together our school community seeks to understand and utilise the distinctiveness and complementarity of two dimensions of Religious Education in the holistic education and the formation of our students.
❖ The first dimension, focused on Teaching People Religion as an educational activity, utilising a range of teaching and learning processes and resources.
❖ The second dimension is reflected in the religious life of the school as students learn how to be religious.
St Agatha’s Catholic Parish facilitates the Parish Sacramental Program. Although the school does not facilitate this program, it is supported by the school.
3. POLICY STATEMENT
Religious Education at St Agatha’s is taught from the Archdiocese of Brisbane’s Religious Education Curriculum P-12 as approved by the Archbishop of Brisbane. As part of Brisbane Catholic Education, St Agatha’s School places a strong emphasis on Religious Education and the significant role it plays in forming young people. As such students in Preparatory to Year 6 will be explicitly taught Religious Education for 2.5 hours per week.
When students engage in Religious Education, teachers act as a witness presenting Catholic Tradition as a living faith that is supportive and open to additional sources of wisdom outside of the Catholic faith. Furthermore, teachers act as a moderator as they develop dialogue into students’ issues and experiences.
Religious Education at St Agatha’s is positive, purposeful and drawn from an Archdiocesan approved curriculum and as such is assessed in alignment with year level achievement standards. Because of the significance placed on Religious Education, it is assessed, teachers’ moderate students’ samples of knowledge and understanding as they would with other learning areas E.g. English or Mathematics.
St Agatha’s adopts a contemporary Catholic worldview of learning and teaching. To achieve this and in alignment of the St Agatha’s Leven Report 2017, St Agatha’s adopts a recontextualised understanding of Catholic Identity. This recontextualist position ensures that the Catholic position is visible in a contemporary school context and fuses old teachings with the new understandings, providing deeper levels of meaning for contemporary people.
As outlined by the Queensland Catholic Education Commission three core assertions should constitute a Catholic framework for curriculum. These include:
- “learning and living are linked in the curriculum in the context of a Catholic understanding
- curriculum forms the whole person in the context of a Catholic understanding of the inherent dignity of a person created in the image and likeness of God
- curriculum prepares students for global responsibilities in the context of a Catholic understanding of justice, peace and ecological sustainability”.
Subsequently Religious Education at St Agatha’s School is taught throughout all areas of the Australian National Curriculum through what Brisbane Catholic Education has classified as Catholic Perspectives. Catholic Perspectives provide a lens through which to teach the Australian National Curriculum but also teach Catholic social teachings.
4. PRINCIPLES
Religious Education at St Agatha’s:
- Supports the growth and wellbeing of students.
- Supports the dignity of each person.
- Promotes rigour in knowledge and understanding of Religious Education.
- Enacts our school motto ‘Growth, Friendship, Faith’.
- Meets students where they are and invites all in the St Agatha’s community to partake in the Religious Life of the school.
5. REFERENCES
St Agatha’s Statement of Religious Charter, 2012
Strengthening Catholic Identity, Brisbane Catholic Education Position Statement
Archdiocese of Brisbane Religious Education Curriculum, 2020
Queensland Catholic Education Commission- Catholic Schools and Curriculum, 2008
Enhancing Catholic School Identity Project, St Agatha’s School, Clayfield, ECSIP 2017, Research Report