Religious Education
Welcome to Notre Dame’s RE Department!
The RE department at Notre Dame has a pivotal role in the school, providing not only preparation for examinations, but also spiritual support for staff and students.Our students are on a journey of faith and it is the privilege of the RE Department to accompany them on this journey.
Intent
In Religious Education we aim to work within the British Values, the Cardinal Virtues and the Curriculum Directory. We hope that by combining all we will allow the following for our students.
- To create and nurture curious minds
- To enrich the students’ knowledge of religion, philosophy and ethics.
- To encourage within our students a thirst for this knowledge.
- To allow our students to apply what they learn in the classroom with the greater world picture.
IMPLEMENTATION
Within our classrooms students learn a wide variety of skills that fit within the Blooms Taxonomy pedagogical approach. An example of some of our strategies are listed below:
Remember:
- Formative assessments
- Use of Quizlet and other memory recall applications alongside their Google Classroom
- Spider diagrams of their prior knowledge at the beginning of a new module/ topic
- Sources of Wisdom and Authority (SOWA) Tests/ spelling tests weekly
- Questioning used by the classroom teacher
Understand:
- End of Unit Assessments
- Case studies of key ideas
- Exploring the practice of a religion and/or concept.
- Immersive writing tasks
Apply
- Taking what has been learnt in the beliefs section and see if they can apply it to the actions of a religion. To explain why some, behave a certain way.
- Assessment for learning opportunity
- Asking students to update the story they are reading to the 21st Century and current topical issues
Analysing
- Deconstructing religious dogma and doctrines
- Introduction of key religious documents or sources, such as ‘The Creed’
- Through the use of mind maps
Evaluating
- EDUQAS exam style questions
- Debates
- Higher/ open questioning from classroom teacher
- Summative assessment
- Verbal and written discussions
- Opportunity of playing “devil’s advocate”
- Peer assessment
Create
- Reflection time
- Writing tasks
- Art tasks
- ‘instruct a primary school student’ tasks
- Partner work
IMPACT
By the time our students leave they will be able to:
- Live in a diverse, multicultural city as confident scholars with a resource bank of philosophical, religious and ethical theodicies behind them.
- Engage in ethical and philosophical conversation with both a firm strength in their own opinion and a desire to learn from and validate others.
Curriculum Map
INTRODUCING THE RE DEPARTMENT
Our RE teachers are passionate about the subject and deliver it in an interactive and exciting way.
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Name: Miss S. Tragheim
Role: Head of RE
Favourite Biblical figure: Aside from the main man obviously. I love St Peter – he made mistakes and yet Jesus still loved him and made him leader of the Church. A figure we can all relate to and a wonderful example of God’s forgiveness.
Responsibilities: Overseer of department, tracking, Liturgical Co-ordinator, mentor to trainee teacher, inter-department CPD.
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Name: Ms R. O’Leary
Role: RE Teacher
Favourite Biblical figure and why: Mary the Mother of Jesus who inspires me to be humble and compassionate to all in all situations.
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Name: Ms. S Sadjady
Role: RE Teacher
Favourite Bible figure: God because He is why I am here!
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Spiritual Life
Prayer:
During Advent and Lent there is Morning Prayer for staff and students.
There is an emphasis on Marian devotion at Notre Dame too. During the months of October and May, which are dedicated to Mary, the rosary is said during weekly morning gatherings in the Chaplaincy area.
There are also regular after school reflections led by Sr. Magdalen Lawler, SND. These are open to all staff and are a wonderful way to think and pray in an informal setting, in particular to learn more about the charisma of St. Julie.
Services and Masses:
Throughout the year the whole school gathers to mark religious occasions in St. George’s Cathedral as well as to celebrate, as a community, the end of each school term.
- Mass of the Holy Spirit
- Introduction Mass for Year 7
- All Saints Mass
- Memorial Mass
- Christmas Service
- Ash Wednesday Mass
- Easter Service
- Ascension Mass
- St Peter and St Paul Mass
- End of Year Service
Each year selected students in year 11 who have posts of responsibility are invited to become Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist where, once commissioned, serve the school through this role during class masses. In addition we have a team of altar servers who also assist during masses and services.
Slide show
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Music
Notre Dame Gospel Choir - St. George's Cathedral ND Easter Service 2019
Notre Dame Gospel Choir - St. George's Cathedral Good Samaritan Mass 2019
Notre Dame Gospel Choir - St Peter & St Paul Mass 29/06/18
Video
ND Easter 2017 at St. George's Cathedral
