Religion
Welcome to St. Brigid’s H.S. Religious Studies Department
Head of Department
Mrs Venetta Treanor
Members of the Department
Mr. Niall McParland, Miss Joesphine McGuigan, Mrs Bronagh Hughes
Facilities and equipment
Oratory, CD Player, CD Roms, Computer, Multimedia Projector
Rationale
R.E. is one of the compulsory elements of the NI curriculum and it is expected that every pupil who attends St. Brigid’s will avail of the opportunity to study R.E. in each school year. It is hoped that the study of R.E. at each stage of their school career should enable pupils to be more confident about their own beliefs and enable them to reach out to others in a spirit of tolerance, understanding, generosity and love.
Each of the learning objectives for R.E. are addressed in the programmes of study each year and they are
• The Revelation of God
• The Christian Church
• Morality
• World Religions
The spiritual dimension of R.E. and the development of our relationship with God and the church are fundamental to the work of the R.E. department and the relationships formed between pupils and teachers are crucial to this faith development process.
Key Stage 3 Religious Education
In Key Stage 3 Religious Education the students follow the new series Fully Alive, the first part of which came out in 2004. In this programme, the pupils study the life and teachings of Jesus, the Church and Sacraments in a way that facilitates their spiritual and moral development. This is done using many teaching and learning strategies: Discussion, group work, projects, drama, research, etc.
It also fosters a spirit of prayer in the students by offering an opportunity for prayer during each lesson, and encouraging celebrations of the liturgical year at class and school level.
The units of work covered each year are as follows:
Year 8
• New Beginnings
• The Bible: Old & New Testament
• Baptism and Confirmation
• Choices and Morality
• Background of the Life and Ministry of Jesus
• The Life and Ministry of Jesus
• Reconciliation
• The Mass through the Ages
• Leadership of the Church
• Getting to know your Parish
Year 9
• The Origins of the Universe
• Caring for the Earth
• Moses
• Morality
• Conscience and Sin
• Conflict and Dealing with it
• The Orthodox Church
• Christianity Today
• Luke’s Gospel
• A study of Judaism
Year 10
• Getting to know me
• The Beatitudes
• Death and Eternal Life
• Friendship
• Awareness of God/Trinity
• Miracles of Healing
• Prejudice and Stereotyping
• Justice and Human Rights
• A study of Islam
• Celtic Christianity
• Marriage and Priesthood
Our department is aware of the exciting opportunities afforded by ICT to help highlight significant feast days/liturgical seasons and of how ICT could be used to raise awareness of church-related themes, especially at Christmas and Easter when informative materials are sought and displayed on our notice boards and various display areas in the school. Topics include:
The meaning and significance of Advent/Christmas;
Relevant images and information on St. Patrick, St. Brigid and Our Lady;
The meaning and significance of Lent/Easter.
The R.E. Department assists colleagues in the promotion and organisation of charitable events e.g. the Lenten Trocaire campaign and the St. Vincent de Paul appeal before Christmas. This year St Brigid's raised £1017.00 towards a great cause.
Each year as part of our programme for Sexuality and Relationships Education a team from Love for Life presents to our first and third year pupils.