Our school serves the Arundel & Brighton parishes of Ashtead, Leatherhead, Effingham & Fetcham and Cobham. (Please click on the Diocese or parish names to link to their websites.)

At St Peter’s Religious Education influences the ethos and the daily life of the school. Together with home and the parish, school is a place where children hear the Gospel through word and example, experience the Church as a community of God’s people and grow in understanding of the world and themselves.

Our Parish Priests regularly visit the school in a formal and informal way and are a link with the wider community of the Church. Masses and Class Services are an integral part of the life of the school, we regularly visit our local churches for masses and celebrations.

At St Peter’s we take the time to celebrate the seasons of the Liturgical Year. All of our class displays reflect the Liturgical colour and we take time to recognise the changing of the seasons. We spend time in our R.E lessons looking at the events in the churches calender and we celebrate many of them together through collective worship. Throughout the months of October and May we hold weekly prayer groups with parents and children, inviting them to say the Rosary together, exploring the different mysteries as we do this. We recognise the importance of Advent and Lent and encourage children to spend this time thinking about their role as a disciple of Jesus.

Holy Mass is celebrated in our local parishes Our Lady and St Peter, Leatherhead and St Michael’s, Ashtead on Holy Days of Obligation and other special occasions involving the whole school.

Year 3 take part in a special mass to celebrate them making the sacrament of First Holy Communion at the end of the Summer Term.

During May we remember Mary, Mother of Jesus with a celebration. The children in Year 4 who made their First Holy Communion last summer lead our celebration dressed in their First Holy Communion clothes.

After gathering as a school in the playground, each child carrying a flower. The celebration begins with a procession in the school grounds, followed by a liturgy when we crown Mary with flowers.

All of our classes are taught RE from the RED curriculum: "To Know You More Clearly" - Branch 6.

"To Know You More Clearly" is a new Religious Education (RE) curriculum for Catholic schools in the UK, designed to deepen students' understanding of Catholic teachings and foster a relationship with God. For parents, this means their child's RE lessons will now follow a structured program with six "Branches," such as "Creation and Covenant" and "Galilee to Jerusalem," which are explored through four "knowledge lenses". Parents can expect their children to develop spiritual, ethical, and theological understanding through stories, reflection, and activities, with a focus on encountering Jesus as the center of their learning. 

What parents can expect

• A scripture-based program: The curriculum is built on scripture and follows the story of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
• Structured learning: Children will progress through six "Branches," or half-term units, of study, such as "Creation and Covenant" and "From Galilee to Jerusalem".
• Four "knowledge lenses": Within each branch, lessons will be explored through four lenses: HEAR, BELIEVE, CELEBRATE, and LIVE.
• A holistic approach: The program aims to develop students' spiritual, ethical, and theological understanding, helping them to reflect on their faith and its place in everyday life.
• A deeper relationship with God: The ultimate goal is to help students develop a personal and lasting relationship with God and to foster spiritual growth through an engaging and enriching program.

On Tuesdays (KS1) and Thursdays (KS2) we gather in our Key Stage groups to reflect on the Gospel from Sunday’s mass. This child-led Celebration of the Word gives every child an opportunity to hear the word of God and reflect on what it means to us as Catholics today. We use Lectio Divina and Visio Divina to help us to understand the Word of God as well as developing children's opportunities and experience of prayer.

Once a term each class invites family members to join them in a class liturgy reflecting on their current learning in R.E. Each class also has the opportunity to visit our prayer room once a week. During this time they are given the opportunity to pray and reflect through a variety of different mediums. We also encourage some of our older children to plan and hold their own liturgies using scripture from their current learning in R.E.

We promote the children’s awareness of the local and wider communities by encouraging them to participate in charitable activities and fund raising. Every year as a school we take part in Mission Together. ‘Children helping Children’ is at the heart of Mission Together’s work. Throughout the world children are learning about the role they can play in helping others. It is a simple idea but puts children at the centre of the Church’s work to help those in need. We take part in a number of fundraising activities across the year in order to support people not only in the developing world, but also in our local community. 

We also support a whole range of other charities, ranging from national campaigns such as Red Nose Day and Children in Need, to local charities too.

Within our R.E, History and Geography topics we spend time looking at the issue of Fairtrade across the world. This provokes thoughtful and creative responses from all age groups as they look at a range of issues from the lives of cotton growers in Mali to banana growers in St Lucia.