Key Stage 4 Year 11
A Fertile Heart Receiving & Giving Creative Love
Love is creative. To have a fertile heart is to love, grow and make a positive difference.
A Fertile Heart Receiving & Giving Creative Love
Children have a natural desire to love. They have a longing to make a difference. They love growing. A Fertile Heart helps them understand that these desires are all connected. God’s first words to us were, “Be fertile!” And the whole of the Bible teaches us that we are fertile through healthy, loving relationships – with God and each other. Learning to authentically and appropriately receive and give love leads to us having fertile hearts. Using the concept ‘fertile’ helps the children see the similarity between plants growing through fertile soil, sun and water, and us growing through a caring environment, love and truth.
Key Stage 4: Year 11
Contents: Year 11 Much of Year 11 focuses on virtue - particularly on the seven virtues that Greek philosophy and Christian theology have called us to, for 2,500 years. We begin with a summary of what it means to be a fertile person personally sharing in God’s creativity. Then we look at the importance of discerning, not deciding, truth in our growth. This leads us to explore prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude. We finish the whole curriculum with three important modules on: the unity of marriage, sex and family; the importance of being stewards of the planet for future generations; and the fertility of mercy - without which we are all diminished, because we all have done wrong. Module 11a: The Fertile Person and Sexuality To recap on what it means to be a fertile person, and to understand my ‘fertility’ and sexuality in the context of sharing in the creative power of God. Module 11b: The Intellectual Virtues To know how to think. To apply right-thinking skills so as to arrive at truth. Module 11c: Prudence Part 1 To know what is meant by ‘prudence’ as a virtue. To evaluate its usefulness in helping us to grow. To know what obstacles can prevent us from making prudent decisions. Module 11d: Prudence Part 2 To deepen our understanding of the virtue of prudence, by looking at real life situations and dilemmas. Module 11e: Justice To know what is meant by the virtue ‘justice’, and how to apply it responsibly in the context of relationships. Module 11f: Temperance To understand what the virtue of temperance is, and how it is linked to happiness and true growth. Module 11g: Courage or Fortitude To understand what the virtue of courage or fortitude is, and how it is important in standing up to adversity and to others seeking to make me into something I am not. Module 11h: The Gift of Human Life To understand more the integration of love, life and joy, particularly in reference to cooperating in the gift of human life. It is this integration that enables us to grow as persons, not simply as individuals. Module 11i: Stewards of Our Future To understand that to be a person includes thinking in terms of our future, to understand ourselves as stewards for those who follow us, to be a co-operator: this affects all our morality - how we treat ourselves, others and the planet. Module 11j: Forgiveness To understand more the centrality of forgiveness in any human relationship: the fertility of mercy.
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