Year Five

Our Religious Education Journey: Reception to Year Six

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 Five – Covenant, law and discipleship

Year 5 brings another significant increase in theological depth. Pupils explore Moses, David, covenant and law, connecting the Ten Commandments with Jesus' teaching about how people are called to live.

Branch	Children learn about…
Creation & Covenant	Moses, covenant and the Ten Commandments; how God's law guides people towards a good and happy life.
Prophecy & Promise	David, kingship and God's covenant; how Old Testament expectations point towards Jesus.
Galilee to Jerusalem	The Beatitudes, the Great Commandment, the Transfiguration and the Our Father; faith, hope and love as theological virtues.
Desert to Garden	Sin, conscience and temptation; Ash Wednesday and Lent; death, judgement and heaven; the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary.
To the Ends of the Earth	The Sacrament of Confirmation; the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit; Mary and the saints as examples of discipleship.
Dialogue & Encounter	The Bible as inspired Scripture; the relationship between the Christian Old Testament and Hebrew Scriptures; the Shema, Tanakh and Mezuzah in Jewish life.

The progression here is substantial. For example, pupils no longer simply learn that the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost: they make links between Scripture and Confirmation, study its signs and symbols and explore how the gifts of the Spirit support Christian discipleship.

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.