You, or a representative, are invited to attend the launch of the new Catholic Preschool and Primary School Religious Education Curriculum for Ireland (2015), and its related religious education programme Grow in Love. Details:
Time and date: 12 noon, 28 September, 2015
Venue: Presentation Girls’ National School, Maynooth, Co Kildare.
In attendance: Bishop Brendan Leahy, Bishop of Limerick and chair of the Council for Catechetics will launch the new curriculum and programme. Ms Anne Hession, lecturer, Saint Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, and lead curriculum writer will address contemporary issues in religious education. Ms Maura Hyland (Director, Veritas) will outline Grow in Love format and content. Ms Fiona O’Dwyer, special needs teacher Scoil Na Naomh Uilig, Rickardstown, Newbridge, Co Kildare will speak on her use of Grow in Love in special needs education.
Background
This is the first time in the history of primary religious education that teachers have been offered, in the form of a curriculum, a structured outline of religious education as an academic discipline. Grow in Love (Veritas) is the religious education programme based on the curriculum and will be available for use in Junior and Senior (P1 and P2) classes from September 2015.
The new Catholic Preschool and Primary School Curriculum for Ireland (2015) will be rolled out in all Catholic primary schools on the island of Ireland over the next four years. It is envisaged that the Grow in Love programme and other resources based on this outline will be developed to support teachers in their implementation of the curriculum. The purpose of the new curriculum is to guide and inform the teaching of pre-school and primary religious education. The curriculum uses an outcomes approach, emphasising the educational alignment between religious education and the other six areas of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment Primary School Curriculum (1999) for the Republic of Ireland.
Notes for Editors
- The new Catholic Preschool and Primary School Curriculum for Ireland is addressed to bishops as patrons of Catholic schools, to teachers, to principals, to programme writers, to Diocesan Advisors and to lecturers in the field of primary religious education.
- Grow in Love is the education programme based on the new curriculum. Some of the content at various levels is different from the content that was taught in the previous Alive-O Teachers have been welcoming both the change and the continuity evident between one series and the next.
- The children’s Grow in Love textbooks are designed to be used both in school and at home and each week, families are asked to help their children to do something related to Grow in Love for homework. The text books give the parents the resources to do this. This approach is in line with the vision contained in Share the Good News – the National Directory for Catechesis in Ireland which sees home, parish and school working together to share the faith with children.
- There are 2,858 Catholic primary schools in the Republic of Ireland, and 381 Catholic primary schools in Northern Ireland. The new curriculum and the new programme will be used in Catholic primary schools throughout the island.
- Photographs from the launch for publication by media will be available from John McElroy on 87 241 6985 and [email protected]
ENDS
For media contact: Catholic Communications Office Maynooth: Martin Long 00353 (0) 86 172 7678 and Brenda Drumm 00 353 (0) 87 310 4444
