Faith

St John Vianney is a Catholic school and as a Catholic school, we are part of the Church’s mission in education – to place Christ and the teaching of the Catholic Church at the centre of people’s lives. We work closely in partnership with Canon Chris Loughran and The Parish of The Guardian Angels as well as other schools in the Diocese of Lancaster.

Our Mission Statement

‘Seeking Growth Together through Jesus’
We are made in the image of God,
and through Jesus we seek to grow
as a caring Catholic community in faith and love;
knowledge and understanding;
aspiration and independence;
using the talents we have been given
to achieve the best we can.

 

  • ‘We are proud to be an Outstanding school for Catholic Education’
  • We achieved a Grade 1 in ALL areas, which includes both Catholic life and Curriculum RE.
  • Click this link to read our report. Section 48 Report
  • We support other Catholic schools on their journey to achieve Outstanding – please contact us if you would like any guidance.
Intent

As a Catholic school, we are all called to put Christ at the centre of our lives and be stewards of creation. Through our Mission statement, ‘Seeking Growth Together through Jesus’ we aim to encourage children to come to know Him through their experiences and interactions with others.

At St John Vianney we believe everything we do is for the greater glory of God and through Jesus we seek to grow as a caring Catholic community in faith and love; knowledge and understanding; aspiration and independence.

As a Catholic primary school, we work within an inclusive, caring environment, always promoting Gospel values and ensuring that the teachings of Jesus Christ permeate throughout our school curriculum. We aim to equip our children with a feeling of self- worth, a respectful attitude towards others, an excitement for learning about their faith and an enthusiasm to share their faith with others when they leave our school. We prepare children with the skills, knowledge and understanding necessary to enable them to make informed choices about their future, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Through their learning experiences in school, we aim to foster the sense of ‘togetherness’ in our children by showing them we are part of a global community.  We will teach the Catholic faith as our core faith, but will also open children to the understanding that we respect and acknowledge other worlds faiths alongside the beliefs of our own.

With the Gospels and ‘Laudato Si’ as our inspiration, the children develop an understanding of their role in caring for our common home and caring for one another. The purpose of our RE curriculum is to ensure that children will learn about the mission of Christ, through rigorous study and immersion in scripture. Through our curriculum, the children learn how Christ showed tolerance, compassion, justice, love and forgiveness to those most in need and are encouraged to actively live out these values in their own lives.

We aim to help our children grow through;

  • Placing scripture joyfully at the heart of our Prayer and Liturgy
  • Within the perspective of the Gospel, engaging and responding to the challenge of global current affairs
  • Considering their responsibilities as Christians in a critical way
  • To develop an understanding of their faith in order to become compassionate followers of Christ.
Implementation

As a Catholic school, religious education is at the heart of all we do and is central to our inclusive curriculum and school life.  We currently use a variety of schemes and resources such as; “The Way, the Truth, and the Life”, ‘Come and See’, ‘Caritas in Action’ to support our teaching.  The RE subject leaders have used the Diocesan Curriculum directory and devised a long-term plan that is personalised to the needs of our school.  Teachers use Scripture links in everything that they deliver to ensure that children are always able to have a sound understanding of why we live our lives as Christians in the way we do.  We have high standards at SJV, whereby leaders regularly monitor the implementation of Curriculum RE, Prayer and Liturgy and Catholic life.  Teachers celebrate children’s learning and engagement through a variety of platforms such as Showbie, Certificates and Twitter.

Our pupils are motivated to develop their critical thinking skills and to reflectively examine their own religious journeys through our excellent RE provision. The children are challenged within our personalised curriculum to consider, to consider how they apply the gospel and the teachings of Jesus to their own daily lives. Teachers plan opportunities for pupils to explore their spirituality through rigorous discussion, lessons, prayer, and Collective Worship in order to continually reflect on their own spirituality.  A high priority is given to the formation of pupils in their understanding of, involvement in and service to building the Kingdom of God and taking care of our common home.

 

Each year group uses the RE level descriptors from the Bishops’ conference to assess the attainment of the children and their progress is tracked on a termly basis. Teachers use age-related moderation statements to assess the children’s learning across an attainment target.  This is done collaboratively across school to ensure judgements are well evidenced and verified. Children are observed throughout their learning on their individual, group and oral work through each topic. This enables both class teachers and the subject leaders to monitor coverage and identify progress made throughout the pupils’ time at school.

Impact

We develop life-long faithful children who have an enthusiasm to share their faith with others as ambassadors of Christ.

As a result, children at SJV…

  • Achieve consistently well in all areas of Religious Education and make exceptional progress.
  • Are happy, comprehensive individuals who have developed a deep-rooted relationship with God and understanding of our Catholic faith.
  • Are well prepared for the next stage of their journey in education as aspirational and independent learners, who are proud of all they have achieved.
  • Understand that they are part of the family of God and know how they can play their part in this Global family through living out the Gospels.
  • In line with The Diocese of Lancaster Education Service’s desire to bring the word of God to the people, we aim for our children to ‘go out to the whole world and proclaim the good news.’ Mark 16:5

Wednesday Word

Sharing the Sunday Gospel with our families