Our Intent

At SS Peter and Paul Catholic Primary School, our aim is to ensure our children gain a deeper understanding of their beliefs within the Roman Catholic faith and those of other faiths. We want to see the children form happy and rich memories in Religious Education formed through an engaging and comprehensive curriculum which enables them to develop a living and personal faith in Jesus Christ and allowing them to know and love God and understand the world around them. As a Catholic school, the Religious Education curriculum is central to the whole school curriculum and with our Gospel values, underpins all teaching. At SS Peter and Paul Catholic Primary School, we follow ‘Come and See’ as a curriculum scheme which is recommended by the Arch Diocese of Southwark. 

Through high quality teaching, we aim to engage children’s imagination and intellect, inspiring enthusiasm and interest in Religious Education. Children will develop the appropriate subject knowledge, skills and understanding as well as develop their values and ability to make reasoned and informed judgements about religious and moral issues.

SS Peter and Paul Catholic Primary School is at the centre of a culturally rich diverse community in Mitcham. Children will be prepared to live life in a multi faith society by fostering respect for and understanding other cultures and world faiths. They will develop an understanding and appreciation of the world and be able to reflects on their own beliefs, values and experiences.

Religious Education at SS Peter and Paul

At SS Peter and Paul, Religious Education is at the heart of everything we do. As a Catholic school, we seek to develop and foster each child’s relationship with God, as well as with other people and also enable children to develop the social and moral values our Church aims to promote. We feel it is important that children know how to work with others, show forgiveness and acceptance towards others and develop respectful attitudes in their daily lives, knowing that they are children of God. We aim to promote these actions through class-based teaching, as well as through our spiritual assemblies, liturgical celebrations and regular masses. Even though we are not able to celebrate whole school Mass together during these times, we still work very closely with our local parishes to understand that liturgies, masses and sacraments are central to our faith lives.

We follow the national scheme ‘Come and See’ as the basis of our teaching. The scheme aims to develop not only knowledge and understanding of the Catholic faith, but also spirituality. It covers many aspects  including what it means to be part of a Christian family, how Jesus is the role model on which we base our lives and our actions, the Seven Sacraments and important dates and celebrations in the liturgical year, for example Advent, Lent and Pentecost. Through the use of the scheme and the teaching at school, children are provided with many opportunities to show their creativity and express their thoughts, ideas and opinions.

We celebrate other faiths and believe that children must have the opportunity to learn about and understand these faiths. All children study Judaism over the course of one week in the Autumn term, with the teachings and customs of Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism being taught on a three-yearly rotational basis, ensuring that the children learn about major world faiths during their time at primary school. Where appropriate, children also learn about other faiths and cultures within the variety of topics that are studied outside of the Religious Education curriculum.

All children are given the opportunity to plan and lead their own class liturgies, as well as year group celebrations each term in which they share their learning. Each year group partakes in religious celebrations and we are still looking forward to planning our annual Christingle service, nativity performances, the Christmas Carol concert and remembering Jesus’ sacrifice at the Stations of the Cross service, in whatever form these might take this year. We seek to give our children the opportunity to visit various religious places, in addition to inviting people and companies into school to enhance children’s knowledge and spiritual growth. 

We also hold special RE days, centring around various themes as well as fundraising events to ensure that children understand the role that our faith plays in the wider world and how we seek to care for others, through acts of charity, kindness, self-giving and love.