CATHOLIC EDUCATION
Religious Education is the "core of the core curriculum" in a Catholic school (Pope John Paul II). Placing RE at the core of the curriculum in Catholic schools helps the school to fulfil its mission to educate the whole person in discerning the meaning of their existence since "Religious Education is concerned not only with intellectual knowledge but also includes emotional and affective learning. It is in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of what it is to be human truly becomes clear. Without religious education, pupils would be deprived of an essential element of their formation and personal development, which helps them attain a vital harmony between faith and culture." (Religious Education Curriculum Directory p4). Furthermore, religiously literate children and young people are able to engage in a fully informed critique of all knowledge, ".....leading, for example, to an understanding of the relationship between science and religion or history, and between theology, sport and the human body." (Religious Education Curriculum Directory p4).
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN CATHOLIC SCHOOLS?
Catholic schools, with RE at their core, exist in order to "help parents, priests and teachers to hand on the Deposit of Faith in its fullness to a new generation of young people so that they may come to understand the richness of the Catholic faith, and thereby be drawn into a deeper communion with Christ in his Church."
Religious Education Curriculum Directory (pvii)
WHO INSPECTS CATHOLIC SCHOOLS?
All Catholic schools are subject to a diocesan inspection (which for maintained schools is also a Section 48 inspection) at least every five years. These inspections are carried out by diocesan inspectors appointed by the Bishop in whose diocese the school is situated. (Education Act 2005).
All maintained Catholic schools are also subject to Ofsted inspections at the intervals set out by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector.