Dosbarth Whitesands
Year 5
Year 5
We’re excited to share that as of September, every year group will be learning in line with the new Religious Education Directory, known as the RED. This marks an important and exciting new chapter in how we teach Religious Education. The RED has its own specially designed model curriculum, made up of six branches. Each half-term, we will explore one of these branches in class. Each one focuses on a core theme, helping children to grow in their understanding of key aspects of the Catholic faith, including Revelation, Scripture, life in Christ, and life in the Church.
What makes this new approach so special is that it not only helps pupils learn about their faith in a deeper, more meaningful way, but also invites them to reflect on what it means for their own lives. It helps pupils to see, judge, and act with greater understanding and compassion. We’re really looking forward to bringing this new vision for Religious Education into our classrooms.
To help keep you informed and involved, we send out a newsletter each half-term with updates on what your child is learning, as well as showcasing the wonderful learning happening on our school Facebook page and here, on our class pages.
Branch 1 - Creation and Covenant
Autumn 1 - 2025
In this branch, we learned about Moses, focusing on the two key events of the call and the covenant (the Burning Bush and the Sinai covenant and the Ten Commandments). We made links between the Ten Commandments and Jesus’ summary of the law in Matthew’s Gospel. We learned how the Ten Commandments help us live good and happy lives as well as how sin is deliberately spoiling our friendship with God and each other. We then learned more about positive habits (virtues) and negative habits and how virtues help us grow in goodness. Finally, we discussed what loving our neighbour means for Christians today, for example, welcoming asylum seekers and refugees, and relating this belief to the Church’s teaching on the common good and love of neighbour.
In Year 5, we decided to organise the harvest collection to donate to a local foodbank, Patch. We created posters and letters to inform our school community and helped to prepare the items ready for Patch to collect. A thoughtful example of loving our neighbour and living out our faith through action.
At home you could read:
Exodus 3:1-15
Exodus 19:3-8, 20:1-17