Religious Education
In Catholic Schools Religious Education is teaching and learning what the Catholic Church believes and teaches – it aims to enable children to understand and appreciate how people live, pray and celebrate and how they can respond freely to God according to their gift of faith. […] As their knowledge, understanding and experience increase, children become more aware of what it means to have a Catholic worldview and to live a life as part of the Catholic community. […] The Aotearoa NZ RE programme reflects the understanding that from ‘learning about Jesus’ children can grow to ‘love Jesus and want to follow him as a disciple. Evidence of this growth can be seen as they share the outcomes of their learning through their prayer, stories, artworks, games, drama, digital learning, music and Scripture activities.


- Greater attention to Catholic Social Teaching
- Reference to recent Papal encyclicals and Papal quotes
- Promoting experiences to nurture children’s spirituality
- Highlighting children’s role in the mission of the Church as disciples of Jesus
- Calling for more intentional experiences to help children ‘encounter’ Christ
- Encouraging experiences that facilitate children recognising and responding to their personal call to holiness and entering into a relationship with Jesus
There are six learning strands:
1. God
2. Jesus Christ
3. Holy Spirit
4. Church
5. Sacrament
6. Communion of SaintsWoven through these are the cross strands:
- Scripture
- Tradition
- Prayer/liturgy
- Doctrine
- Christian Living
- Liturgical Year
- Prayer
- Myself and Others
- Sacramental Celebrations