Key Stage 3
At Key Stage 3, pupils follow a carefully sequenced curriculum rooted in the Catholic faith and structured around the Religious Education Directory.
Beginning with Creation and Covenant, pupils encounter Scripture, revelation and the relationship between God and humanity. Their learning develops through Prophecy and Promise, Galilee to Jerusalem, Desert to Garden, To the Ends of the Earth, and Dialogue and Encounter.
Across Years 7–9, pupils encounter and revisit increasingly sophisticated theological ideas including Creation, Covenant, Incarnation, Trinity, the Paschal Mystery, Eucharist, salvation, the Church, Scripture, Magisterium, sacraments, vocation, human dignity, justice, peace and the Common Good.
As pupils progress, previous knowledge is deliberately revisited and extended. For example, their understanding of Creation develops into consideration of the Fall, conscience, human dignity, marriage and the sanctity of life; their encounter with the person of Christ develops through Scripture, Christology, vocation, redemption and salvation; and their understanding of the Church develops through the sacraments, ecumenism, Vatican II and Catholic Social Teaching.
This enables pupils to see Religious Education not as a series of isolated topics, but as an increasingly connected body of theological knowledge.
Religious Formation has 10% curriculum time in KS3 based on 5 x 1-hour lessons a fortnight. The curriculum follows the new Religious Education Directory launched by the Catholic Education Service (CES) for Catholic schools. Titled ‘To know you more clearly’, the directory sets out the purpose of RE for KS3 and features a programme of study with a model curriculum, which presents the expected outcomes in six curriculum branches. The model curriculum is rooted in the narrative of salvation history. Further information can be found here: