Religious Instruction @ Goodna State School
Queensland state schools embrace a multitude of cultural, religious and non-religious beliefs. Under the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006, schools are to provide Religious Instruction (RI) if approached by a faith group seeking to provide RI and students of that faith attend the school.
RI informs students about the beliefs and values of a particular religion. It is delivered by volunteers of a faith group using instructional materials approved by that faith group. RI is required to be consistent with legislation and Department of Education policies and procedures.
All RI instructors must hold a blue card and participate in compulsory Student Protection and Code of Conduct training. RI instructors are only entitled to deliver the RI program outlined below. A school staff member will be present during the delivery of RI.
Participation in RI is not compulsory. Any student (except Prep students) may participate in RI if a parent has provided written instructions to the school.
Students are allocated to RI based on information provided by parents on the completed Application for student enrolment unless other written instructions have been provided to the school.
Note: This consent remains in effect unless the parent informs the school otherwise in writing.
A description of the RI program available is provided below.
Christian Religious Instruction (CRI)
Participating faith groups: Most Christian denominations join together to provide non-denominational Christian RI including: Acts 2 Alliance, Anglican, Australian Christian Churches, Baptist, Catholic, Churches of Christ, Congregational, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Salvation Army and Uniting Churches.
Authorised Program:
Christian RI authorised program resources are written by professional educators, are age-appropriate and have been reviewed by relevant independent experts.
These include:
Published by Christian Education Publications (CEP)
(Year 1) Introduces students to the key themes of the Bible and the Christian faith. Children engage with the themes through music, drama, reading and writing, puzzle-solving, drawing and asking questions. (Years 2 - 5) Designed to help primary age students develop the skills to explore the nature and context of the Christian faith and God as presented in the Bible.(Year 6) Who are ready to explore some big issues, share their own opinions and investigate the Bible for themselves?And/ or:
- GodSpace (published by Burst Christian Resources) is designed to introduce the Bible and the core beliefs common to all mainstream Christian denominations. GodSpace is presented across four age groups engaging children through games, puzzles, memory verses, use of puppets and singing.
Aims and Goal
s: The aims of Christian RI is to inform students about the basic beliefs of the Christian faith from a non-denominational perspective. Christian RI allows students to Question, Explore and Discover faith. Lesson Structure:
Lessons are half an hour a week, delivered on a Friday. They may involve a variety of up-to-date teaching methods including storytelling, prayer, music, drama, craft, activity books, games, quizzes, video clips and puppet shows.Parents of students participating in these programs are advised that there are no costs to participate in Christian RI. The local churches cover the expense of materials used.
Other Instruction
Students who are not participating in RI will be provided with other instruction in a separate supervised location. Other instruction must relate to part of a subject area already covered in class and may include:
- Goodna Hero – PBL lessons
- personal research and/or assignments
- revision of class work such as creative writing or literacy and/or numeracy activities which could include online programs currently accessed by the students of that school (i.e. Mathletics, Reading Eggs)
- wider reading such as independent reading appropriate to the student
Parents will be advised of any changes to the RI and other instruction programs to ensure they are able to make an informed decision on their child's participation.