Religious Education at SFDS

At St. Francis de Sales, we pride ourselves on the quality of teaching and purposeful learning that ensures that the children in our care are engaged, interested and making the expected progress during Religious Education lessons. 

Religious Education Curriculum Statement 

We follow the Religious Education programme recommended by the Archdiocese of Liverpool, ‘Come and See’. It is engaging, inspiring and challenges our children’s thinking. The programme was developed to respond to the needs of children today in their faith journey, to enable them to grow in their religious literacy and understanding in a way that is coherent with current educational principles. It is designed to support teachers in their delivery of religious education. It integrates the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Catholic Levels Of Attainment and the new Religious Education Curriculum Directory. At the heart of the programme is the mystery of God’s self-revelation of love through Jesus Christ. Come and See gives pupils the opportunity to explore the mystery of faith through Scripture and Tradition. Throughout a pupil’s school journey, they will each have the opportunity to explore different faiths and religions as part of this curriculum.

In September 2024, we began to move away from 'Come and See' and introduced the new Religious Education Directory - To Know You More Clearly.

Scroll down for further information about these changes.

Assessment

Religious Education is at the centre of all we do here at our school It is, therefore, essential for use to ensure consistent high standards in this subject across the school. To achieve this, we have a clear and cohesive assessment system that is in line with other core subjects, such as Literacy, Reading and Maths. 

Policies 

Click the link below to see our RE policies. 

To Know You More Clearly

All Catholic schools will be expected to follow the new Religious Education Directory (RED). The curriculum is called To Know You More Clearly.

Following guidance from the Archdiocese, this curriculum will be rolled out to each year group. From September 2026, Year 3, Year 4 and Year 5 will be following this curriculum.

The topics will be as follows: 

Autumn 1 - Creation and Covenant 

Autumn 2 - Prophecy and Promise

Spring 1 - Galilee to Jerusalem

Spring 2 - Desert to Garden

Summer 1 - To the End of the Earth

Summer 2 - Dialogue and Encounter

Come and See

Year 6 will continue to follow the Come and See curriculum from September 2026.

Take a look at the Come and See Topic Overview below. This aims to keep you informed of the themes being studied by each year group and provides ways in which you can support your child’s learning at home.

Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) Statement

The Governors at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Junior School have adopted the ‘Journey in Love’ syllabus for Relationship, Sex  and Health Education.

We acknowledge that Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) and Citizenship, as well as Relationship and Sex Education (RSE), are all underpinned by a theology of relationship and are all encompassed in the title ‘Relationship, Sex and Health Education’ (RSHE).

Our belief in the unique dignity of the human person as made in the image and likeness of God underpins the approach to all education in our school. Our approach to relationship and sex education therefore is rooted in the Catholic Church’s teaching of the human person and is presented positively and prudently.

Stemming from this vision of what it means to be human, we seek to educate the whole child: spiritually, intellectually, morally, emotionally, psychologically, and physically towards our understanding of Christian maturity.

Following guidance from our own Bishop and Diocese, the Conference of Bishops of England and Wales and as advocated by the DFE, all Relationships, Sex and Health Education in our school will be firmly embedded in the Religious Education framework as it is concerned primarily with nurturing the human wholeness of our pupils.

All Relationships, Sex and Health Education will be in accordance with the Church’s moral teaching. It will emphasise the central importance of marriage and the family whilst acknowledging that all pupils have a fundamental right to have their life respected whatever household they come from and support will be provided to help pupils deal with different sets of values.

A Journey in Love - Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE)

We believe that relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) goes beyond the biological knowledge of sex and the importance of personal hygiene; it also has moral, legal, cultural and ethic dimensions. We want to help the pupils at our school make informed choices, to understand and deal with their emotions and experience healthy relationships within the ethos and principles of the Catholic Faith.

Intent

We understand and appreciate that our children are growing up in an ever-changing and increasingly complex world and here at St. Francis de Sales we believe that along with Parents as the first educators we need to ensure that the children are prepared for the wider world by equipping them with the tools that they will need in order to be safe and healthy, to be able to build positive relationships and to understand how to manage their personal and social lives in a meaningful way. We are tasked with educating young people and children about healthy loving relationships. We understand that any teaching about love and sexual relationships in a Catholic school must be rooted in the Catholic Church’s teaching about what it is to be truly human in Christ, what it means to live well in relationship with others and be presented within a positive framework of Christian virtue. For this reason, Catholic schools are encouraged to speak about Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) rather than Sex and Relationships Education (SRE), since this emphasises the importance of healthy relationships to human wellbeing, as the core learning within an RSHE curriculum. 

Implementation

We implement the content of the Relationships, Sex and Health Education set out by the Department for Education in a broad and balanced curriculum. The teaching of Relationships, Sex and Health Education is built upon various elements of our curriculum delivered through PSHE, Science, Computing, the Come and See Programme for Religious Education, To Know You More Clearly and RSE.

As a Catholic school our programme of religious study features heavily in our Relationships, Sex and Health Education mapping as our approach is rooted in the Catholic Church's teaching of the human person and how love is the central basis of relationships.

We are legally required to teach those aspects of RSHE which are statutory parts of National Curriculum Science. We understand that RSHE is sensitive to the different needs of the individual pupils. For this reason, we have chosen to use the RSHE programme ‘A Journey in Love’. This is an Archdiocese recommended resource that has been compiled specifically to present a Catholic, age-appropriate vision. This programme is intended to support teachers to deliver a comprehensive understanding of human relationships.

Impact 

Our impact of teaching Relationships, Sex and Health Education is that all pupils will leave us with the knowledge and understanding that their body was made in God’s likeness and therefore they have a responsibility to take care of it in the best way that they can. They will appreciate that others around them were also created in God’s image, and they therefore have a collective responsibility for the health and wellbeing of those in their community. We want pupils to take this ethos through their secondary education and into their adult lives.

The following themes are studied in each year group:

Year 3: How we live in love

Year 4: God loves us in our differences

Year 5: God loves me in my changing and development

Year 6: The wonder of God’s love in creating new life