Religious Education
Introduction
At St Simon the Apostle Primary School, our faith is at the core of who we are and everything we do. We are a school committed to develop the faith of all our students and staff. Enhancing their spiritual identity with the support of our faith community allowing students to reach their full potential.
Curriculum
Students are introduced to our Catholic tradition through daily prayer, parables, liturgies, masses and opportunities to reflect on scripture bringing the word into their current lives and making it relevant to them.
Our Catholic teachings impact the way our students live out their daily lives showing care, respect and dignity for each other in the classroom, playground, home and in the wider communities. Teachers seek to bring in rich and powerful learning experiences that provide students with rich opportunities to engage in authentic and relevant learning which they can impart to others.
At St Simon the Apostle we seek to create a Spirit filled community of students, parents and staff as all of us engage in a lifelong journey of faith development. Our curriculum links drawn from Hebrew Scripture (Old Testament), and Christian Scripture )New Testament), assist our students to make links and recontextualise this information for life in today's world.
The themes of Catholic Social Teaching principles also help extend our curriculum, helping students to understand the practical ways that we can put our faith into action hence making positive changes in our contemporary world.
At St Simon the Apostle our curriculum is also guided by the framework set out in Horizons of Hope. This is a contemporary guide created by Catholic Education Melbourne to assist in bringing about the full potential of the Religious Education framework for all students identifying that each student is a unique individual.
Sacramental Program
At Simon the Apostle our Sacramental program involves supporting our families and together we prepare our students in their faith, knowledge and experiences to readily and confidently understand the Sacrament they are about to receive. Students receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation in Year Three, Holy Communion in Year Four and Confirmation in Year 6.
Due to the current Covid-19 pandemic all sacraments are postponed.
Special prayer nights are run in addition to the junior and senior Religious Education Curriculum, as the school works very closely with the Parish in the delivery of the Parish Sacramental Program.
As this method of teaching is inductive, it works well with our contemporary inquiry process.
Laurie Pace resides in Texas in the USA. She states that God is the giver of the gift and it is through the Holy Spirit that she paints. She was honoured our school approached her wanting to use her image in combination with our school theme. Thank you Laurie for your amazing image.