Year Six

Our Religious Education Journey

Our Religious Education curriculum follows the six branches of the Religious Education Directory, To know You more clearly. Each branch is revisited every year, enabling children to build upon what they already know and develop an increasingly deep understanding of Scripture, Catholic belief and the life of the Church.

Year Six – Salvation history, St John and living in the world

Year Six draws together many of the threads encountered throughout primary school. Pupils study St John's Gospel, revisit Creation through the second Genesis account, explore the Fall and original sin, make connections between Adam and Christ, examine the seven signs in John's Gospel and develop their understanding of the seven sacraments.

Branch	Children learn about…
Creation & Covenant	The second Creation account, the Fall and original sin; Jesus and the new covenant; Baptism; the relationship between faith, science, Creation and evolution.
Prophecy & Promise	Women in salvation history, including Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah and Esther; Mary as the fulfilment of Old Testament promises; the Magnificat and Mary as Mother of God.
Galilee to Jerusalem	St John's Gospel; Jesus' seven signs and “I am” statements; what these reveal about Jesus as Messiah; the seven sacraments and life in Christ.
Desert to Garden	St John's account of the Passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus; the Paschal Mystery and its place within the story of salvation.
To the Ends of the Earth	The risen Christ, the continuing mission of the Church and the call to witness to Christ in the world.
Dialogue & Encounter	Catholic Social Teaching and dialogue with contemporary culture; applying Catholic teaching to questions of human dignity, justice, the common good and our responsibility towards others.

Year Six also deliberately tackles a question children increasingly encounter outside school: Are faith and science in conflict? The RED teaches pupils that the Genesis account is not a literal scientific description and that belief in God as Creator and sustainer is compatible with scientific accounts of the beginnings of the universe and evolution.

How the learning grows

Reception: I encounter, wonder, listen and retell.
Years 1–2: I recognise, retell and begin to make connections.
Years 3–4: I describe, explain and make increasingly meaningful connections.
Years 5–6: I use theological vocabulary, explain, compare, interpret, discern and justify my thinking.

The RED describes three Ways of Knowing: Understand, Discern and Respond, which develop alongside increasingly rich subject knowledge. Pupils, therefore, do not simply learn more religious facts as they move through Sacred Heart: they become increasingly able to understand what they encounter, think critically and creatively about it, and consider its meaning and significance.