In today’svastly progressive religious world, our school believes that it is imperativethat students are, from a young age, given the chance to explore and broadentheir knowledge and understanding of the world’s major religions and practices. The teaching and learning of Religious Education in the classroom is followedby the Archdiocesan Religious Education Curriculum.
It is the schools’intention to foster and nurture the faith development of students throughreligious education by teaching students “ the values of love, justice, peaceand forgiveness” (Our Ladyof The Rosary 2017). ReligiousEducation in Catholic schools involve understanding what it means to bereligious, as exemplified through Catholicism whereby as students become moremature, they are exposed to and learn more about the religions of others whilstcontinuing to learn about Catholic Christianity (Catholic Schools Guide, 2016). In doing so, thissignifies the importance for all Catholic Schools to adopt the appropriate pedagogiesin order to successfully reverberate teachings of the church. There is a great differencebetween Catholic schools and public schools in the sense that Catholic schoolspreach and practice the key messages of the Gospel and the teaching of JesusChrist. Students within Catholic schools carry these key messages and teachingson their lifelong journey, as evidently described in the Second Vatican Council” the Catholic school pursues cultural goals and the natural development ofyouth to the same degree as any other school. What makes the Catholic schooldistinctive is its attempt to generate a community climate in the school thatis permeated by the Gospel spirit…” (Congregation for Catholic Education, 1998, para 1).
Our Lady ofthe Rosary believes that Religious Education is a lifelong process. Childrenare first and foremost introduced into the world of Christian faith by theirparents, hence initiates the ideology that Religious Education is proven to bemuch more than just the classroom program. It is the sense that ReligiousEducation is derived from life experiences and home traditions that childrenare able to form their basis of Catholic faith and understanding. Teachingreligious education in the classroom does not directly allude to the idea ofcreating a ‘ religious experience’, rather an ‘ educational exploration ofreligion’ (ReligiousEducation in Catholic Schools, 2003).