Religious Education (RE): Blog items
Date: 12th Jan 2023 @ 3:07pm
This term Year 5 are asking the question: What do Hindus learn from stories about Krishna? In this lesson, pupils reflected on previous learning about Hinduism and recalled things that they know about this popular religion. In groups, pupils had to retell the story of Rama and Sita and discuss what they knew about Ramadan - The Festival of Lights.
Date: 9th Jan 2023 @ 7:19pm
Today we began to learn about Hinduism by thinking about our roles and the roles of others. We talked about people in the community – nurses, doctors, teachers, police, fire service, care workers, rubbish collectors, postmen/women etc, discussing how they are special and what would happen if we did not have these people. We learnt these people make a difference! They each play an important roe and do extraordinary things for people around them. We then looked more in-depth at police officers, discussing why this role includes special clothing and visual ways of showing people what this person’s role is.
‘Police officers wear a uniform so that people respect them’
‘’Their uniform helps people to know who they are and that they can trust them’
‘’Police people wear a uniform so that people can recognise them in a busy place’
Date: 15th Dec 2022 @ 8:06am
In Reception we have been learning about special times. We have celebrated Diwali by learning lots about Hindu and Sikh traditions, including how they prepare their homes and where they go to pray. We also made and painted diya lamps, created rangoli patterns, took part in some traditional dancing and tried on some of the traditional clothing and jewellery.
In Year 1 we have been answering the key question, ‘why is Jesus special to Christians?’ We have learnt how new life is celebrated, why we should give babies love and care and why we should help others who cannot help themselves. We have also completed lots of work around the nativity story. We have sequenced and retold the story, talked about the important roles of the characters and the important message. We also went on a trip to St Marks church where we impressed Reverend Mathew with all our knowledge about Christianity so far.
Year 2 have been exploring the key question ‘why do Christians say that Jesus is the light of the world?' After discussing the Christian story and exploring different lights we began exploring Christingle. We learnt that Christingles are a symbol of advent and were taught what each part of a christingle symbolism is.
Year 3 have been looking at Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). We have looked at what a good role model is and why Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is important to Muslims. We read a range of stories surrounding the prophet and focussed on which characteristics he demonstrated and how this made him a role model. As a class we looked at the third pillar of Islam Zakat, and considered how we could be charitable in our own lives.
In Year 4, we have been learning about Hinduism and how Hindus live their lives. We learnt all about the story of Rama and Sita and how this story can help Hindus live a good life in today’s society. Through the story, we learnt that displaying positive characteristics in life will always put you on the right track.
Year 5 have been learning about where Muslims find guidance and why the Qur'an is an important part of their lives. We then looked at where we find guidance and what or who supports us.
Year 6 has been learning about Hinduism. We have explored the 4 Ashramas (stages of a Hindu's life), reincarnation and the Sacred Thread ceremony. The children have been reflecting on their own lives and have planned their own ceremony for when they leave primary school.
Date: 13th Dec 2022 @ 7:03pm
Today we took part in the Now Press Play Christmas story. We played lots of different central figures including: the Angel Gabriel, Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, the innkeepers, shepherds and wise men. The experience took us through the main events of the story and the main places to understand that Jesus’ birth was – and is – important to many people.
‘The Angel Gabriel delivered very important news to Mary’
‘The wise men brought presents to Jesus to show respect and love’
‘Mary and Joseph travelled to Bethlehem. It was a very long journey and they were tired. The donkey was tired too!’
Date: 13th Dec 2022 @ 6:59pm
Today we completed some RE art to show an important event in the story – when the three wise men travelled to see baby Jesus. We created silhouettes of the three wise men on their journey and used collage to create a colourful design for the wise men’s clothing. We ripped, scrunched, cut and twisted crepe paper to create our design. Some of us also created and used patterns within our design.
Date: 5th Dec 2022 @ 7:04pm
This week we were lucky enough to visit St Mark’s Church. We met Reverend Matthew and told him everything that we have leant about Christianity so far. Reverend Matthew then read the nativity story to us and we all joined in with different parts. He taught us about the key messages in the story and the roles of different characters. We then learnt about the advent wreath and the symbolism of the different candles. Finally we looked around the church and asked and answered lots of questions about features of the church.
‘The pink candle on the wreath is for Mary’
‘The white candle is for Jesus and it is lit on Christmas Day’
‘The font is where Christians baptise a baby to welcome them into the Church family’
‘Matthew, Mark, Luke and Josh are the four gospels’
‘Christmas is about Jesus being born, not just presents!’
Year 3- What makes a good role model?
Date: 29th Nov 2022 @ 1:16pm
In R.E we were exploring a wide variety of stories surrounding Prophet Muhammed. We explored which characteristics he demonstrated and how these made him role model. We created a freeze frame from the stories that pin- pointed the most important part of each. We had to explain why it was the most important section. Then we identified what characteristics, message and how he was portrayed as a role model. We then had to teach other groups what we had found.
Date: 25th Nov 2022 @ 4:01pm
This half term in RE, Year Two have been exploring the Key Question 'Why do Christians say that Jesus is the light of the world?' and after discussing the Christian story and exploring different lights we began exploring Christingle. We learnt that Christingles is a symbol of advent and were taught what each part of a christingle symbolises. The orange represents the world and the red ribbon around the middle represents Christ's blood. There are four cocktail sticks to represent the creation of the four seasons and the sweets on the sticks represent all of God's creations. Last of all, the candle in the middle represents Jesus being the light of the world. The children loved making their Christingles to take home and really understood the meaning behind it.
Date: 16th Nov 2022 @ 7:40pm
Today we began to read, discuss and understand the Christmas story and the message behind the story. We read the story together, identifying the characters and key events witihin the story. We then independently ordered the story, using pictures/captions to support our learning.
Date: 13th Nov 2022 @ 7:46pm
This week Reception had a very special day celebrating Diwali 'the festival of Light'. To help celebrate the children were invited into school wearing a brightly coloured accessory. Thoughout the day the children learnt about lots of Hindu and Sikh tranditions including how they prepared their homes ready for Diwali and where they went to pray. The children enjoyed making and painting their own diya lamps, creating rangoli patterns, making a Diwali treat called a 'lado', trying on some of the traditional clothing and jewellery, makig cards for their friends and family and even taking part in some tradition dancing. At the end of the day we invited Miss Mloyes and Mrs Bunday to the dance studio to come an watch us perform our special Diwali dance and light of diya lamps. When we lit our diyas lamps we sat quietly and reflected on all the different things we had learnt.
"I'm going to light my diya and put in in my window at home" Kristian
"Sikh men wear a turban on their head because their hair is very special to them" Kazimir
"They wear special clothes and set of fireworks to celebrate" Logan
"I've made a Diwali card for my mummy and daddy" Sheraa
"Rangolli patterns welcome people to their homes" Lana-Rose.
Date: 12th Oct 2022 @ 7:38pm
As part of our RE topic on Christianity, today we began to reflect on where we search for guidance in how to live our lives. Christians use the Bible, the ten commandments and the Lord's Prayer. We talked about our own sources of guidance including other Gods and religious books, teachers, family and friends.
We then began to develop our debating skills by having respectful conversations about what we thought was the 'WORST' thing to do and ordered some scenarios to the 'LEAST WORST'. This proved to be a challenge with lots of conflicting opinions about what was the most 'Naughty!' We used all of our speaking and listening skills to debate and give reasons about what we thought.
Date: 7th Oct 2022 @ 9:49am
Matthew and Jeni came to speak to Year 6 about sin, resurrection and salvation.
Matthew used the example of a 'Do not touch' sign as sin and that if Christians ignore the instructions from God and sin, this can become a habit and we can 'stick' with sinning - and Matthew got 'stuck' to the chair.
We discussed that Christians believe that, through talking with God, they can repent and ask for forgiveness and seek salvation from our wrong choices.
There was an opportunity at the end of the session to ask questions about the key words used during the session and Year 6 discussed the types of questions they wanted to ask, recorded them and then took part in a thoughtful question and answer time.
Date: 6th Oct 2022 @ 7:41pm
Today, Year 6 led the whole school in our Harvest assembly. We were joined by Matt and Jenny from the Church Army, who discussed the difference between giving and getting and how giving is more rewarding than always receiving and getting things from others. We thanked everyone for their kind food donations, which will be shared with the local charity 'Vincent House' next week.
Date: 20th Sep 2022 @ 6:22pm
Today we learnt about the Christian belief that the Church community is like a family and considered why it might be important to welcome new people into the Church family. We listened to the story ‘All Are Welcome’ and discussed the different ways the characters were made welcome and how we make new children feel welcome in our classroom.
We learnt that parents ask for the child to be baptised so that it can belong to this family and develop a relationship with God. We discussed the importance of Christians making new members of the church family welcome. We then completed a task in groups to recognise and name basic artifacts and practices of a Christian baptism.
Date: 8th Sep 2022 @ 7:18pm
This week we began learning about Christianity by exploring families and belonging. We explored the fact that all families are unique and discussed who is in our family. We thought about different relationships and about how they might be similar and different to others. We learnt that Christians believe that God is like a father who guides them and helps them. We then created our own family portrait, sharing our ideas with others to two key questions. What makes a good family? How do families look after each other and look after children?
Year 4 - Sacrifice and Temptation
Date: 15th Jul 2022 @ 4:55pm
In RE we have been learning about sacrifice and temptation. We have looked at when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness and the importance of him suffering for his people. Most recently we have learned about the life of Oscar Romero who was an Archbishop that fought for equality in El Salvador.
Date: 13th Jul 2022 @ 7:19pm
Today we learnt about the festival of Sukkot. We learnt that it is a festival which celebrates the harvest and the gathering in of the crops. We also learnt that during Sukkot Jews rememeber the years in the desert and they thank God for providing them with food and water and thank God for the harvest. To get ready for Sukkot, people start to build a sukkah. We learnt what this means and the different criteria for a sukkah. We then discussed and designed our own, before making them out of a range of different materials. We followed the criteria to ensure our sukkah had three walls, a roof made from something natural and decorations of things from the harvest. We worked successfully as a small team to plan and problem solve with our group members.
Year 6 Learning about religious celebrations in French
Date: 13th Jul 2022 @ 1:58pm
In French this week we have continued with our unit - Moi dans la Monde (Me in the World). We learned about religeous celebrations from around the French speaking world and used known language, congnates and bilingual dictionaries to translate email converstaions between two friends.
Date: 29th Jun 2022 @ 6:55pm
Our key question for RE is 'Why might some people put their trust in God?' This half term we are learning about Judaism. Today we looked at what the word trust means and who we trust. We learnt that Jewish people believe they can have a personal relationship with God and that God continues to work in the world, affecting everything that people do. We then thought about who our trusted adults are and why we trust these people. As a class we came up with some great ideas!
'We trust people who don't lie and tell the truth even when it is not easy.' 'Trustworthy people are reliable and responsible.' 'They do what they say they are going to.'
Date: 21st May 2022 @ 7:24am
Today we recalled knowledge from our Islam learning journey and discussed ‘How someone’s religion or beliefs may impact the way they treat the natural world.' We looked at different ways to help look after the environment and the positive effects that this would have. We then painted a picture of how we wanted the natural world to look and to show our own beliefs and values of the natural world and all living things. We discussed what was important to us and thought about ways to help care for our environment or how we could improve it.
Date: 17th May 2022 @ 5:51pm
Today, we had two visitors from our local church. Jenny and Matt are both leaders in the church. We identified Christian symbols, talked about shared beliefs and values as well as discussing worship. We carried out a fun activity to explain that the Church is one community and all works together! We enjoyed meeting Jenny and Matt and loved the learning we did together.
Date: 11th May 2022 @ 4:01pm
This week in our RE lesson we used Now Press Play. This was focussed on the 5 Pillars of Islam and the children followed an amazing journey. This is the Now Press Play description: You are an alien agent from outer space, on a mission to find out about the 5 Pillars of Islam. When your spaceship crashes, you meet Maany, a ninety-year-old Muslim man. Together you travel to Mecca and he teaches you about Islam. The children had a great time on this experience and we discussed what we had done/learned about on the journey afterwards.
Date: 4th May 2022 @ 4:56pm
In our RE journey this half term we are focussing on Islam. Last week we began by researching the 5 Pillars of Islam and what each of them meant. We then went on an 'information hunt' to find as much information as we could and share it with the rest of the class. Some fantastic teamwork and collaborative learning form our Year 4's!
Year 1 How should nature be treated?
Date: 21st Apr 2022 @ 7:39pm
Today we began to discuss our key question in RE, ‘How might beliefs about creation affect the way people treat the world?’ We began by learning the name of the religion we will be learning about and that Muslims believe there is only one God – Allah. Todays lesson involved learning about how we should treat the environment, why it is important and whose responsibility it is. We did this through looking at images and real life nature examples. We went on a nature walk to collect lots of natural resources and we then used these natural resources to create transient nature pictures.
Reception Learning about Easter!
Date: 6th Apr 2022 @ 12:24pm
Reception have been learning about Christain celebration of Easter. We listened to the Easter story and talked how Jesus showed courage when he was crucified. The children learnt that throughout his life Jesus show kindness, compassion and empathy to others. Although Jesus was crucified on the cross on Good Friday he cross on Easter Sunday he rose from the dead to be with God in heaven. The children made their own Easter pictures and wrote some
"Jesus showed courage when he was scared" Harrison
"He was kind and helped lots of people" Maja
"He died on the cross and they put his body in a tomb" Isobelle
"He came back to life and went to heaven" Evelyn.
