Religious Education

Religious Education

Come and See is the Religious Education (RE) programme recommended by the Bishops of England and Wales and provides the basis for RE lessons throughout the school. This curriculum was launched in September 2012. It gives children a lively and engaging curriculum where they are able to learn through a variety of experiences and activities.
Besides the formal RE syllabus, every opportunity is taken to ensure the message of the Gospel is in all the work of the school. Our
Christian Values Curriculum gives our children a clear understanding of the Christian values we hope they will adopt in their everyday life.

Religious Education plays a central and vital part in the life of faith in our Catholic school. It is the foundation for all learning and as such is the core subject in our school. We believe firmly that RE permeates every aspect of our curriculum, as, by helping children to understand more fully the world around them, they will come to a deeper understanding of God and of their fellow human beings. This vision shapes the daily life of our school as a community.

Come and See Letter to Parents - Advent Term 2021

Our Catholic Schools' Week - The Year of St. Joseph

To celebrate Our Catholic Schools' Week, the children reflected on the week through art, drama and scripture based on the life of St. Joseph. On Education Sunday, we were privileged to lead the Mass at Christ the King Church in Kent's Hill. Many of our Mini Vinnies attended Mass, wearing their uniform and led the hymns, readings and prayers. The parishioners were delighted to have so many of the children attend the special Mass and Father Francis was very proud of the children. On Monday 11th October, three of the Prayer Mini Vinnies attended the Schools' Mass in St. Mary's Church, Dunstable. They were very excited to meet Bishop David and represent the school.  

The Parable of the Mustard Seed (Mark 4: 31-32)

“What shall we say the Kingdom of God is like?” asked Jesus. “What parable shall we use to explain it? It is like this. A man takes a mustard seed, the smallest seed in the world, and plants it in the ground. After a while it grows up and becomes the biggest of all plants. It puts out such large branches that the birds come and make their nests in its shade.”

In June, we had a whole school RE day. All of the children, across the school took part in a Mustard Seed Story virtual day led by the super actors from Rise Theatre and experienced the most wonderful songs, stories, prayers, drama and art activities. They then took part in a pre-recorded interactive show: using the creations they had made; the prayers they wrote on their prayer birds; and sang the songs they had learnt throughout the day. It was so lovely to speak to the children about this and some of the children in Year 1 said it was the best day they ever had! I could hear the most wonderful singing coming from the children’s classrooms all the day. Ask your child to sing The Warrior Song and The Miracle Song to you. We explored the parable and now have a better understanding of Jesus’ intentions when he shared this parable with his followers; we are unique and special and we have so much to give, no matter how small we start off.

St. Bernadette's Feast Day 

Friday 16th April 

We had a wonderful time today celebrating St. Bernadette's Feast Day.  Across the school, there was lots of learning and a range of activities taking place in all of the classes. This ranged from art activities, newspaper reports, research and some children in Year 5 and 6 learned how to sign our school song, We are St. Bernadette's. A fantastic day had by all! 

Our Year 3 and 4 pupils have prepared Easter Reflections for you with song, action and word. 

Please click on the classes named below to see their Easter Reflections:

Y4 Lions and Y3 Kangaroos

Y4 Leopards and Y3 Pandas

St Bernadette's school family wish you and your loved ones a blessed and happy Easter Season.

Lent

On Ash Wednesday - 17th February, we entered the season of Lent. 

Lent is the period of 40 days before Easter in the Christian calendar. It is a time of reflection as we prepare to remember the passion and death of Jesus, before celebrating his glorious resurrection on Easter Sunday. 

To prepare ourselves, we focus on the three pillars of Lent - Prayer, Good Deeds and Fasting.

On Saturday 20th February, we are asked to join CAFOD’s Lenten campaign by going for a walk in solidarity with people who have to walk long distances to collect clean water for their families. We hope that we can raise money as a school family, which we will then send to CAFOD to support their invaluable work in bringing easy access to water for such communities.  

If your child and your family do take part in the walk and would like to donate to CAFOD, you can do this by making a donation through School Gateway Payments. If you are happy to share photos of your walk with the school and with CAFOD, please do email them over to Mrs Pughe along with the completed consent form that has been sent out previously. PugheJ@stbernadettesschool.com

HOPE - A Carol Service for 2020

The whole school community worked together to retell the story of the nativity through singing, acting and scripture. We are very proud of the wonderful talents of our children. We hope that you have a blessed Christmas and a healthy New Year. 

Although parents/carers are entitled to withdraw their child from religious education and worship, we encourage all children to participate in RE lessons, assemblies and daily acts of worship.

We firmly believe we are a school community and would hope all children would want to participate in the life of the school.As a Catholic school, we aim to provide a Catholic education for all our pupils. As a Catholic school, Catholic doctrine and practice permeate every aspect of the school’s activity. It is essential that the Catholic character of the school’s education be fully supported by all families in the school.  We therefore hope that all parents will give their full, unreserved and positive support for the aims and ethos of the school.

If alternative arrangements are required this must be discussed with the Headteacher.