We offer a Catholic Education which is based on Catholic Tradition, Gospel Values and child-centred pedagogy. The children participate in daily prayer, special liturgies and celebrate Mass at our parish church or in our school hall.
St Cecilia’s Catholic Primary School is a faith community where the Religious Education curriculum brings together many other disciplines and aspects of life.
New K-2 Religious Education Curriculum
The new Kindergarten Religious Education Curriculum was successfully implemented and executed in 2022. The new pedagogy aligns with the Early Years Framework and is a significant tool to assist with the understanding of the new approach to Religious Education in Kindergarten and Stage One. This new pedagogy highlights:
We want our learners at St Cecilia’s to experience:
Belonging: “Experiencing belonging – knowing where and with whom you belong is central to human existence.” (EYLF, p.7)
The new K-2 approach invites young children and their families to understand more fully what it means to belong to their Catholic school and parish communities.
Being: “Childhood is a time to be, to seek and to make meaning of the world.” (EYLF, p.7)
The new approach offers children time to be, to engage in their own seeking and to make meaning when they are ready.
Becoming: “Becoming reflects the process of rapid and significant change that occurs in the early years as young children learn and grow.” (EYLF, p.7)
The new approach enables children to grow in faith and awareness of God’s presence in themselves and others.
The Kindergarten teachers and children have already engaged in this renewed thinking and learning and this year Stage One will be introduced to this same pedagogy. The new pedagogy has been well-researched and as a result, an established scope and sequence of experiences has been developed and excellent resources provided to allow for best practice. The Religious Education programs and learning environments have been designed to be age appropriate and to meet the developmental needs of all children. The children are provided with opportunities to respond to the stories of Jesus with their hands, hearts, and minds. Importantly, an essential aim of this renewed thinking and learning is for the children to be active participants who are engaging their whole person (head, heart, and hands) in a systematic synthesis of faith and life.
This is continuously achieved through the Religious Education sessions, where the children listen to presentations, engage in response tasks (e.g., practical life activities, play using concrete materials, painting, and prayer) and respond in their student journals. These experiences allow the children to be drawn into the mystery of God and strengthen their relationship with Christ and develop an understanding of the significance and meanings of scripture and liturgy for their lives.
