Religious Education
Religious Education
Knowing more, understanding more, and growing in faith.
Religious Education at St Peter Chanel is taught in line with the Catholic Religious Education Directory for the Archdiocese of Southwark. RE is a core subject — children receive at least 10% of curriculum time across every year group, in keeping with the requirements of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. We are proudly a Catholic school, and children of all faiths and none are warmly welcomed into our community.
How we teach RE
The Way, The Truth and The Life
Children have two and a half hours of RE every week — two taught lessons plus thirty minutes of class reflection time. The first lesson of the week is usually creative and exploratory; the second gives children the chance to write about their faith in their own words. Alongside taught lessons, our weekly assemblies and class and whole-school Masses with our parish priest bring the curriculum to life.
Our RE curriculum helps children to…
Know and understand the Catholic faith
Its scripture, traditions, sacraments and beliefs — building a deep, age-appropriate understanding from Reception through Year 6.
Develop a personal relationship with God
Through prayer, reflection, liturgy and worship that punctuates every day of school life.
Engage with other faiths and worldviews
In Key Stage 2, children also explore Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism — growing up understanding and respecting religious diversity.
Apply faith to everyday life
Bringing the teaching of the Church to bear on the questions and choices children meet at home, in school and in the world.
What children learn
The great themes of the Catholic faith
Across their journey from EYFS to Year 6, children explore the foundations of our faith:
- Creation and Covenant
- Prophets and Promises
- The Life of Jesus
- The Paschal Mystery — death, resurrection and new life
- The Church and the Kingdom of God
- The Sacraments — Baptism, Reconciliation, Eucharist, Confirmation
- The lives of the saints, including our patron St Peter Chanel
- How we live out our faith in service to others
Beyond the classroom
RE doesn't stop at the classroom door. Children's faith is lived out through prayer, worship and service to others — explored in depth across our Catholic Life pages.
Section 48 inspection
Our Catholic life and Religious Education provision are inspected separately from Ofsted, under Section 48 of the Education Act 2005, by the Catholic Schools Inspectorate on behalf of the Archdiocese of Southwark. Read our most recent Section 48 report →