A deep dive into the treasures of catholic RE

A special launch event for a new programme from Ten Ten Resources to help form teachers in the rich theological content of the 2023 Religious Education Directory takes place on 10 October.

RE Deep Dive has the look and feel of a masterclass series and features well-known Catholic speakers such as David Wells, Fr Paschal Uche, Fr Christopher Jamison OSB and CEO at Caritas Social Action Network (CSAN) Raymond Friel OBE.

Other speakers include Marie Fahy from Aid to the Church in Need, Right to Life Operations Manager Madeline Page, psychotherapist Mariah Wilde and Sycamore founder Fr Stephen Wang along with Fr Frankie Mulgrew, Fr Emmanuel Mansford CFR and Jesuit spiritual director Fr Simon Bishop SJ.

This first phase of the project was filmed at Manresa House in Birmingham, which provides training for Jesuit novices from across northern Europe.

Fr Simon, a former Director of Novices for the Jesuits, commented:

‘It was a real privilege to host the Ten Ten team and speakers here at Manresa House during two periods of filming this summer. Our renovated library provides a beautiful and relaxing backdrop for a video series that aims to be engaging, informative and inspirational and yet not feel like your ordinary CPD teacher resource.’

The launch date of 10/10 was an obvious choice for Ten Ten which has become a leading provider of content for Catholic schools across the UK, with around 80% of all primary and secondary schools in England and Wales using one or more of their prayer and liturgy or relationship and sex education programmes.

Director of Content Edith Kirkwood says that the goal of RE Deep Dive is to complement the work already being done by schools and dioceses to support teachers in Catholic schools by giving them key insights into some of the fundamental themes in Catholic RE.

'The Religious Education Directory published by the Catholic Education Service raises the bar in terms of expectations for both RE educators and learners. It is rich and nuanced - and at first glance could be daunting to many teachers in primary schools who are often not trained in RE. We also know that in both primary and secondary schools, RE teachers might not be from a Catholic background. RE Deep Dive seeks to equip with foundational understanding, and inspire through engaging and passionate speakers so that teachers can do what they do best: teach.' Several pathways have been devised to help teachers navigate more than 60 videos covering everything from Revelation, to The Trinity, to Catholic Social Teaching:

- One pathway links to key themes within the Directory’s model curriculum broken down into branches and year groups.

- Another pathway follows the Directory’s Knowledge Lenses (Hear, Believe, Celebrate, Live)

- A third pathway groups videos into courses such as Distinctive Catholic Teachings, Understand the Story of Salvation or Understand the Sacraments.

‘Up to now, teachers have not had this kind of flexible and accessible resource directly available to them’, says Ten Ten’s Director of Ethos, Rod Isaacs. ‘Our hope is that RE Deep Dive will be one tool among many that will help teachers be led to a deeper understanding of the subject that is at ‘the core of the core’ of every Catholic school curriculum.’

Included in the special Launch Event on 10 October 2024 will be a trailer for the series, sneak peeks of different videos, an interview with one of the speakers and an explanation of the different pathways, plus a prize of a free subscription to the programme and signed copies of books by many of the course tutors.

Teachers, educators and those involved in Catholic Life formation in schools as well as parishes can sign up to attend the Launch Event via this link: tentenresources.co.uk/launch