God’s Loving Plan

We use ‘God’s Loving Plan’ as a context to teach about relationships. This resource is approved by the Scottish Catholic bishops and meets the experiences and outcomes in the Curriculum for Excellence.

God’s Loving Plan provides guidance to Primary school teachers on how children can be helped to develop healthy and respectful attitudes to their bodies and to relationships with families and friends.  This important resource connects children’s learning about who they are and how they relate to others, to their learning about God and their relationship in faith.   It helps children to understand how love can be at the heart of their lives and what the Church’s vision is of Marriage as the ultimate expression of love between man and woman.

In using this resource, teachers are encouraged to work closely with parents and carers to ensure that young people are supported as they grow, particularly when coming to deal with the physical and emotional impact of puberty. Good communication between home and school is encouraged to ensure that the more intimate aspects of children’s growth are dealt with sensitively and skilfully by parents and teachers working together.

The detailed planning framework in God’s Loving Plan connects learning in Religious Education (RERC) to aspects of Health & Wellbeing (H&W/B) taught from Primary 1 to Primary 7.  This learning is organised under four THEMES, dealing with God as the source of all life who is delighted when we use our unique talents (including our bodies) for good, who calls us to be loving people and who guides us to make choices that are good and responsible.

The main aims of God’s Loving Plan are:

• To develop learners’ knowledge and understanding of the Catholic Christian faith, particularly relating to the moral life.
• To develop skills in moral decision-making, vocational discernment and critical thinking, leading to a maturing ability to apply moral principles to their own lives and to major issues in the moral sphere
• To exemplify and foster those beliefs, values and practices relevant to the moral sphere

This programme does not rely on purely religious content, but draws in other aspects of learning for life, personal decision-making and health. We seek to enable the children to:

• Make informed decisions in order to improve their mental, emotional, social and physical wellbeing
• Experience challenge and enjoyment
• Experience positive aspects of healthy living and activity for themselves
• Apply their mental, emotional, social and physical skills to pursue a healthy lifestyle
• Make a successful move to the next stage of education
• Establish a pattern of health and wellbeing which will be sustained into adult life, and which will help to promote the health and wellbeing of the next generation of Scottish children.

We have included a leaflet and an information letter for each year group which outlines the four themes, which are an integral part of the programme for all stages, and a list of the key vocabulary which will be taught to your child during these lessons.