Year Three

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 Three – Covenant, Mass and the Kingdom of God

By Year Three, children begin working with more complex theological ideas. They revisit Creation but now explore what it means to be made in the image of God, linking this with human dignity, equality and stewardship.

Branch	Children learn about…
Creation & Covenant	Genesis as poetic Scripture; humanity made in the image of God; human dignity, equality, stewardship and Laudato Si'.
Prophecy & Promise	St Matthew's account of Jesus' birth and the role of Joseph; the Mass, including how Catholics encounter God's Word.
Galilee to Jerusalem	Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God through parables and encounters; what his words and actions reveal about God.
Desert to Garden	The Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist; connections between the Mass, Holy Week and Jesus' sacrifice.
To the Ends of the Earth	The importance of the Eucharist to the early Church and the continuing life and mission of the Church.
Dialogue & Encounter	Developing understanding of Christianity and Judaism and encountering another religion or world view with growing religious vocabulary.

This is where the curriculum starts to move visibly from recognising and retelling towards children making and explaining theological connections.

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.