Religious Education (RE) at St Cuthbert Mayne Catholic Primary School

RE and Catholic Life Lead - Mrs Newland

Religious Education is central to our curriculum and school life at St Cuthbert Mayne. It is at the heart of everything we do. It is a core subject in the school and in line with the stipulation of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, the school spends 10% (2.5 hours) of the teaching week on Religious Education.

Children's faith journey and understanding of their current Religious Education unit can be seen around the school. Each classroom has a prayer table with the appropriate liturgical colours, which displays items personal to the members of that class. Each classroom also has an RE display which demonstrates children's learning that half term. Each year group has its own Saint. They learn about their Saint's life and mission and celebrate on their feast day. Father Alistair joins the class on or around their feast day to offer deeper reflection on the life and work of our class saints. Across the school, we also have House groups linked to places of pilgrimage. 

At St Cuthbert Mayne, our RE programme Day by Day is based on the Religious Education Directory "To Know You More Clearly". From September 2025, all year groups in the school are following the Day by Day programme. 

Learning in RE follows a spiral curriculum based on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus through scripture and in line with the liturgical year.  Assessment against the intended learning outcomes is ongoing and formally recorded termly.

Day by Day has 6 branches over the course of the year. They are: 

Creation and Covenant – In this branch, pupils will encounter the God who creates and calls a people. They will explore revelation of the Christian belief that all that is comes from God, the Creation accounts in Genesis, and scientific explanations of the process of Creation. They will explore the call of God and his covenantal relationship with his people first through Abraham and Moses, then through the narrative of the Old Testament.

Prophecy and Promise - In this branch, pupils will explore the Christian understanding of the teaching of the prophets as they point to the fulfilment of God’s promise in a messiah, Jesus Christ. They will explore the expectant waiting for the Messiah through the Advent season and how this speaks to Christians today as they wait for Christ. Pupils will encounter the story of the nativity of Jesus and the mystery of the incarnation.

Galilee to Jersualem - In this branch pupils will learn about the life of Jesus and his revelation of the Kingdom of God through parables, encounters, miracles, and teachings. They will learn about the call of the disciples and the nature of being a follower of Jesus.

Desert to Garden – In this branch, pupils will study the season of Lent and its culmination in the events of Holy Week. They will learn about the Paschal Triduum at the heart of the Catholic Church’s Liturgy and life. The title of this branch points both to the liturgical journey from the desert of Lent to the garden of Resurrection, but also to the Paschal journey from darkness to light, barrenness to fruitfulness, death to life.

To the ends of the Earth - In this branch, pupils will study the events that flowed from the Resurrection and Ascension in the coming of the Holy Spirit and the work of the apostles and early Church. They will also learn about the Catholic Church today as the apostolic Church and how its liturgy and structures flow from the early Church.

Dialogue and Encounter – In this branch, pupils will learn how Christians work together with people of different religious convictions and all people of goodwill towards the common good, respecting the dignity of all humanity. They will also encounter other pathways of belief drawing on the teaching of the Church about intercultural dialogue.

Find out more about your child's learning in Religious Education throughout their time at St. Cuthbert Mayne:

The new Religious Education Directory (RED)

Day by Day RED curriculum resources