Lighting the Path - new curriculum

At St Augustine’s, we follow the Lighting the Path programme in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2, and the Come and See programme in Key Stage Two. Both programmes are endorsed by the Diocese of Southwark and reflect our commitment to high-quality Religious Education.

We dedicate 10% of the teaching timetable to Religious Education, excluding time allocated for collective worship. This time is carefully distributed across the week to ensure meaningful and effective teaching and learning. In addition, we allocate five hours (equivalent to two weeks of RE time) to the study of other faiths, with school leadership and management overseeing this provision.

Each lesson is thoughtfully structured to include a balance of teacher input, pupil discussion, and engaging activities. The programmes are rooted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which explores the human search for meaning, God’s initiative in Revelation, and our response of faith. Form Come and see -this theological pattern shapes the structure of each topic, which unfolds through three key phases: Explore, Reveal, and Respond.

The RED identifies three ways of knowing that describe the skills that children develop: understand, discern and respond. In Lighting the Path, three angelic helpers represent the three Ways of Knowing and they appear on the presentation slides at appropriate points to guide the children by asking questions linked to their skill.

Term 2 2025: EYFS, Year 1, Year 2  will be teaching the new curriculum from the 'Lighting the Path' resource.  Year 3 Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 will keep using the 'Come and See' scheme of work. 

September 2026: It is anticpated that the whole school will be using the 'Lighting the Path' scheme of work. Year 3 Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 will start teaching the new curriculum from the 'Lighting the Path' scheme of work.   

Explore

The teacher helps the children to begin to look at and focus on the experience within their own lives – concerning themselves, their relationships and their world. In this way the children are led to a deeper understanding, clearer vision and the discovery of significance and value of the experiential events of everyday life.

Reveal

Reveal is the heart of the process. The teacher and the children together discover the Christian understanding of the mystery of the Trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They explore the mystery of human life as revealed in the person, life and gospel of Jesus Christ. It will involve learning about Scripture, the teaching of the Church, prayers, rites, psalms, hymns and other expressions of Christian faith and the lives of outstanding Christians.

Respond

‘Remember’ is the first part of this section. The children will respond by remembering and celebrating all that they have learnt. This new understanding will enable them to make a personal response in their daily lives. This part begins by reflecting on what the children wonder about. This is followed by providing the opportunity for the children to remember what they have understood and learnt.