Religious Education
It is recognised at St Thomas More School that Religious Education is central to all we do. Pupils are helped to
develop an understanding of Catholic values and doctrines and they are encouraged to participate in the life of the Parish.
Click the link below to view more information about Reigious Education in our school.
Click here to view report from The Diocese of Hallam
Section 48 Inspection Report - The Catholic Life of the School and Religious Education May 2019
DIOCESE THEME FOR 2018-19: "CATHOLIC SCHOOLS: CALLED TO BE A FAMILY OF FAMILIES"
The theme has been chosen to follow on from the World Meeting of Families in Dublin in August, to share the aims of that meeting in the light of Pope Francis' encyclical Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love). The theme will present a special opportunity for school families to celebrate, not only the fact that parents are the primary educators of their children, but also the vital role that Catholic schools play in assisting parents.
The theme will rely on materials created by the Irish church's schools' steering committee for last year, and will invite schools to reflect on and celebrate the relationship that exists between home, school and parish through participation in four sub-themed catechetical moments.
Information for these 4 moments will be shared throughout the year and linked to activities in school and through homework.
Moment One: Families of Hope (November 2018)
Moment One: Families of Hope is rooted in our belief in the promise that Jesus made when he said,
‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will live, even though
they die’ (Jn 11:25–6).
Our hope as Christians is that death is not the end but that at the end of our time here on earth we will be reunited eternally with Jesus in heaven:
We are reminded of this hope in Pope Francis’ document Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love), which teaches us about love in the family. Hope is an essential part of this love.
“Here hope comes most fully into its own, for it embraces the certainty of life after death.
Each person, with all his or her failings, is called to the fullness of life in heaven. There, fully
transformed by Christ’s resurrection, every weakness, darkness and infirmity will pass away.
There the person’s true being will shine forth in all its goodness and beauty. This realisation
helps us, amid the aggravations of this present life, to see each person from a supernatural
perspective, in the light of hope, and await the fullness that he or she will receive in the
heavenly kingdom, even if it is not yet visible. (117)”
Moment Two: Families of Faith (January 2019)
Moment Two: Catholic Schools: Families of Faith
W/C 11th March 2019
The children will be receiving daily lessons and reflections for w/c 11.03.19 on this second moment along with homework linked to this second moment topic. Homework will be given out on 13.03.19
Each day of the Week has its own unique theme with associated resources that the classes will follow.
The daily themes are:
Monday: Our Family at Home
Tuesday: Our School Family
Wednesday: Grandparents: A Special Part of Our Family
Thursday: Our Parish Family
Friday: Our World Family
Moment Three: Families of Love (Lent 2019)
Moment Four: Families of Joy (April/May 2019)
Please see below for the winners of our recent Spirited Art Afternoon!
Shanie Y6
“The windows are open because it is like God opening the gates of heaven. The teardrops represent people’s feelings tears can be happy or sad ones. On the bottom there are leaves and fern plants to represent God’s ever-growing love hearts. On the bottom, there is fire for rage (not everybody is perfect) but Jesus’s love- the love hearts- extinguish the sin so there is smoke. The calm colours are the background represents relaxation."
Kamal Y6
“My art work is windows on the soul because it depicts a room with open doors and a massive eye outside the window. The mass of white symbolises purity and the black amongst all the other colours is because black is the origin of all colours and God is in the origin of everything. Also I wrote room to show God is infinite.”
Imogen Y5
“Spirited hearts- art in heaven competition 2019. My picture means God never leaves you no matter where you are in the world and how special we are to him and he is to us. I chose to do this because he’s so much to us and has done so much for us. As God made the Earth I chose it in respect of him and how he’s always with us and never leaves so that’s why I chose to put the world and it reminds us as well that he loves us and never leaves us.”
James Y5
“While I was doing my piece of artwork I thought a lot about what God’s eye looks like and the faces of people in my family because the eye was in the middle overlooking what was going on. Also the family faces are a key part. My inspiration came from me believing that God created the earth and wants us to look after it, so he’s looking to see if we are having a good life, loving and caring for the earth. If you look carefully at this work you will see that there are golden rays coming off the corner of the eye because it shows that he loves us and is always watching over us.”
Jessica Y4
“Where is God? In my picture you can see God in our hearts. God shows us love by opening his arms as a welcome. This art work is spiritual because God is love. Doing this work made me think that we are all loved by God. What I like best about my work is all of it.”
Dylan Y4
“The title I chose is where is God? I have made my picture about how God is in you. God is not just in you he is everywhere. The glitter represents how Jesus shines. The heart one side is bigger than the other shows no matter how small you are God is still with you. The heart represents how God is love. The colours prove how God shines as well.”
Oliver Y3
“Where is God? I created this image because it shows how we are all searching for God. I put roads onto my picture because we go on journeys when we are on roads and searching for God is a bit like a journey. I placed the roads inside a heart because when I search for God I can sometimes find him inside my heart.”
Harry Y2
“My picture is showing that even if he is in heaven he sees us.”
Franklyn Y1
“I used paint and plastic beads in my picture, you see got love heart clouds.”
Katie F2
“God is in the sky in heaven.”
Y5
In RE Y5 been learning about stewardship, and how we can be Stewards of Creation. We wrote letters to our teachers and parish to explain to them why each and every child at St Thomas More should be a Steward of our school environment. We chose two winners from our class to have their letter published to their audience!
Bethany
James
Click here to view our Gathering Together Summer Term booklet.
Click here to view the themes we are exploring in RE this Summer Term.
Click here to view our RE Year by Year Overview.
We follow the “Come and See” programme of Religious Education from F2 to Year 6.
Click here to visit the 'Come and See' website
Other Faiths
The children are taught to value and respect other religious beliefs through in-depth study of other world faiths.
Two other faiths are covered each year and different classes will teach different faiths. All classes will teach Judaism each year as required by the Come & See RE scheme.
Over a 3 year period the four main other faiths will be taught. A child who enters school in Reception and remains in school until end of Y6 will be taught each major other faith 4 times.
|
Class |
Other faith - Autumn |
Other faith - Summer |
|
F2 |
Judaism |
Sikhism |
|
Y1 |
Hinduism |
Judaism |
|
Y2 |
Judaism |
Islam |
|
Y3 |
Sikhism |
Judaism |
|
Y4 |
Judaism |
Hinduism |
|
Y5 |
Islam |
Judaism |
|
Y6 |
Judaism |
Sikhism |
We aim to teach children about loving human relationships developmentally alongside the Science curriculum, and within a framework of Religious Education.
What did St Thomas More do during the Year of Mercy? Click here to find out!
