Year Two

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 Two – Baptism and new life

The overarching Year 2 theme is Baptism. Children explore the idea of new life through Noah and the flood, the Sacrament of Baptism and Jesus' own baptism. They begin to explore sin, reconciliation and how the Holy Spirit transforms people's lives.

Branch	Children learn about…
Creation & Covenant	Noah and God's covenant, symbolised by the rainbow; sin and turning back to God; Baptism as new life and becoming part of the Christian family.
Prophecy & Promise	The prophets and God's promise of a Messiah; John the Baptist; the Visitation, Magnificat and birth of Jesus.
Galilee to Jerusalem	Jesus' Baptism and temptation; his miracles and parables; Jesus revealing God's love, forgiveness and power.
Desert to Garden	Lent, forgiveness and reconciliation; the events leading towards Jesus' death and Resurrection.
To the Ends of the Earth	The Resurrection and the work of the Holy Spirit; the conversion and mission of St Paul and the growth of the Church.
Dialogue & Encounter	Christianity as a worldwide faith and further encounter with Judaism, developing respectful understanding of Jewish belief and practice.

This is an important progression from Year One: the RED explicitly links Noah, Baptism, John the Baptist, sin and Reconciliation so children begin making connections across the branches rather than encountering them as isolated topics.

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.