Religious Education

Pre School

In nursery this half term we have been learning about Jonah and the Whale, how he did not listen to God and got swallowed up by the whale then prayed to God to say sorry. The children pieced a whale back together again and then they were able to recall the story, characters and why it had happened. We have also been exploring the story of Daniel and the Lion and creating beautiful lions to role play our story.

 

Reception

Reception have been learning about special places in RE. The children enjoyed looking at a Christian place of worship - Church, and a Muslim place of worship - a mosque. 
The children have discussed their special places with each other and looking at different holy places around the world.

 

Year 1

In Year 1 we have been learning all about Baptism.  We have talked about our own experiences of naming ceremonies, Christenings and Baptisms and named some of the objects usually associated with this event.  One afternoon we took a baby doll to church and Rev. Kev performed a Baptism Service for us to take part in.  We chose parents and God Parents and we used the font, blessed the water and made promises to God.

 

Year 2

Year 2 have been thinking about the question ‘Why is the church a special place for Christians?’ We began the unit by thinking of somewhere that is special to us and what makes a place special. We then talked about how the church is special to Christians but how it is made up of the people, not just the building. The children also looked at images of Jesus praying and thought about why a mountainside would be a good place to pray. They also visited St James Church and Rev Kev talked to the children about different artefacts and their meanings.

 

Year 3

Year 3 has been looking at rules that we follow at home or in school. They have also discussed what the difference is between rules and laws. The children then had great fun completing a set of silly rules that the teachers had to follow. The children then looked at God’s rules-the Ten commandments and then they discussed with their talking partners which of those rules still apply or which ones need to be changed.

 

Year 4

In year 4 we have been looking at the question: Are all churches the same? We created presentations showing different churches from around the world, we were amazed by the beautiful and interesting places of worship that we found. We investigated how churches began which took us to the Bible with Jesus, Peter and a rock. We have compared different churches and found similarities and differences.

We have looked at our school values and compared them to the letter that St Paul told the Christians, we then made posters to illustrate the similarities. Finally we interviewed Rev Kev and asked him lots of questions!

 

Year 5

In year 5 we have been looking  at Loss, Death and Hope. We have examined text used in funerals and burials, and bible quotes with the intention of deciphering what this tells us about Christian beliefs about death. We looked at artists' interpretations of heaven and Christian quotes to help us to visualise our own version of heaven, which we then created using water colours. 

We have also researched rituals around death in different religions, and created posters about these which we have delivered as presentations to the class.

 

Year 6

Year 6 have been exploring ideas about God this term.  We began by looking at the stories about God in the Old Testament, such as Noah and the House of Babel, and thought about the character and personality of God in these stories.  We then looked at the words Jesus said about God, and also what we learn about God from Jesus’s behaviour.  We discovered that God has many names, and we created a graffiti wall with adjectives we chose to describe God, such as Creator and Provider.  We also learnt more about God from the words of prayers and Christian songs, and we wrote our own Celtic knot prayers to explore the idea of the Holy Trinity.

This was the first of our World Faith Days

Each class spent the day learning about a different aspect of Sikhism and then presented their work to the whole school at the end of the day. We all had such a wonderful day and learnt so much about Sikhism.

 

Pre school

In nursery, we have been learning about Sikhism and the different things that they believe in. We enjoyed looking at all of the special items that they have and enjoyed meeting Harjet, the persona doll and discussing what he was wearing. We then created our own lions as Singh means lion in the Sikhism faith. We had so much fun learning the bhangra dance and we all did so well.

 

Reception

Reception have been learning about special times, and we have focussed on the festival of Vaisakhi.

We have learned that the Sikh symbol - khanda is used as decoration during the festival. We have made our own Vaihaki flags using paint and glitter, just like Sarjbot did. We had a story with Harjeet, the persona doll, learning all about the 5 K’s. Finally we learned a bhangra dance, a traditional dance for the Visakhi.

 

Year 1

Year 1 looked at the book ‘Hats of faith’, focusing on the turban.  We watched the BBC clip ‘What’s on your head?’ and practised tying our own turbans on each other.  We learned that Sikhs do not cut their hair.  We made paper turbans and in the afternoon we learned all about the Sikh naming ceremony when the baby is given honey and their name is chosen out of the Sikh holy book.

 

Year 2

Year 2 have been learning about the Gurdwara. They started the day on a sensory journey; walking to the Gurdwara, looking the the Nishan Sahib (flag) with the Khanda symbol. They entered the Gurdwara and  took off their shoes before listening to music, looking at a picture of Guru Nanak, listening to a Granthi reading the Guru Granth Sahib and then entered the Langar kitchen where we thought about the foods, smells and experience of eating whilst sitting on the floor. We then made our own Nishan Sahib and Golden temple (most famous Gurdwara in India) and wrote about each of them. 

We finished the day by joining Year 4 in their Langar Kitchen where they served us Dahl curry with chapati. All the children tried the food and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Thank you for inviting us, Year 4!

 

Year 3

Year 3 learnt about the Five Ks.  The Kanga is a comb worn in the hair under the turban and means pure and clean thoughts.  The Kara a steel bangle that showed no beginning and no end and means that God is eternal. The Kirpan is a sword used by soldiers and worn to show dignity and honour. The Kesh is uncut hair that is combed twice a day, symbolising strength and willingness to obey God.  The Kachera are shorts worn under their clothes to show they are sacred and show modesty . 

We read a story about a young girl who is about  to be a part of a Amrit Ceremony of initiation, or Amrit Sanskar, which is a baptism when Sikhs become baptised Sikhs, take new names, and wear the 5 Ks.  

The children then worked independently and in small groups to write and draw what they had learnt and to match the Five Ks with their explanations.

 

Year 4

In year 4 we focused our learning around ‘The Langar’. We now know that the langar is a community kitchen that is always placed inside any gurdwara and it is free food for all. They take off their shoes and everyone sits on the floor to eat their food, as no one is more important than anyone else - everyone is equal. We learnt about how the first langar started and we did some interesting role play. We made our own langar and served our year 2’s with chapati and dal, which most of us thought was delicious!

 

Year  5

Year 5 have focused on the Guru Granth Sahib. We learned all about the special book by looking at extracts and listening to videos about its importance from different people in the Sikh community. We then researched the book and made fact file posters sharing 5 facts about it- our favourite was how Sikhs open it randomly and use the first word on the top line, on the left hand side to select their children’s name at birth! We then learnt about the Mool Matra which is the statements of beliefs Sikhs have in their Guru Granth Sahib. The statements tell Sikhs about their God and his qualities. Some of the statements were tricky to understand so we needed to use our inference skills to decipher what they might mean. Finally, we looked at how Sikhs decorate their homes with wall hangings made up of the Mool Mantra - we made our own versions using coloured card and wrote our own phrases about God.

 

Year 6

Year 6 had a fantastic day learning all about Sikh pilgrimages to the Golden Temple.  We know that a pilgrimage is a special and sacred journey that people of all religions take to a significant place linked to their faith.  The children did their own research about the Golden Temple, and why somebody would want to do a pilgrimage there.  We discovered that a Sikh pilgrim to the Golden Temple would visit there to be closer to his or her God.  We learned about the history of the Temple, the significant features of the building (that it is next to a holy lake, and there are doors on all 4 sides to welcome anyone from anywhere).  We also learned all about what happens inside the Temple, including the langar kitchen which feeds everyone for free, and is one of the largest kitchens in the world.

Lastly, we put everything we have learned into a mini play which we performed for the school, and everyone in the class contributed to writing the script!

 

At the end of the day, each class presented their work in an assembly.

 

Pre School

This half term the children have been developing their understanding of the story of Noah’s Ark, the children named animals going into the Ark and and why God sent a flood. 

We have also learnt about Moses and what happened to him when he was a baby and how God spoke to him from a burning bush.

 

Reception

This half term Reception has been learning about special times. The children have brought in some photographs of their special times and talked about them with their friends.

We also explored Sikhism and the festival of Vaisakhi.

 

Year 1

Year 1 have been learning about Creation.  We have experienced creating something and talked about how we feel about this.  We have learned about what Christians believe God created and that this story is found in the book of Genesis in the Bible.  We have also explored the Muslim and Hindu creation stories.

 

Year 2

In RE this term, Year 2 have been learning about Ascension and Pentecost. We started the unit by learning about Jesus ascending into heaven and the children thought about and drew their interpretation of heaven. We then looked at Pentecost and how the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit. The children completed some super writing, thinking about ‘Before the Holy Spirit came’, ‘When the Holy Spirit came’ and ‘After the Holy Spirit’ came.

 

Year 3

In Year 3 the children have been looking at the topic, 'Rules for living'. Within this topic they have considered the importance of the 10 commandments and whether or not they are still appropriate for today. We then removed-Thous shalt not kill the discussion that led was very highlighting in what would actually happen to society. The children were quite astonished at what would actually happen. We then discussed Jesus’ new commandment and how he taught it though the story of the Good Samaritan.They then had to plan a new version of the story. Some children sequenced the story, whilst others worked in pairs to plan a new version. They worked really hard.

 

Year 4

In Year 4 we have been looking at the unit called ‘Prayer’ . We have learnt that prayer is a way of communicating with God and that there are so many different ways in which people pray. We have looked at different world faiths and have learnt similarities and differences around praying. We know that Christians believe that God always listens and responds to their prayers. We have enjoyed reading and looking at lots of different kinds of prayers and we have even written some of our own prayers.

 

Year 5

In year 5 we have been looking at significant women from the Old Testament. We have followed the stories of Abigail, Rahab, Deborah, Hannah and Esther. We looked at the actions of the women and debated if we would make the same choices. We acted out the story of Esther which was the foundation for the Jewish festival of Purim- another aspect of religion which we have studied. We pretended to be part of the festival in the synagogue and made loud noises when the villains name was said, just how the Jewish do.

 

Year 6

In Year 6, we have been learning about people of faith.  We looked at the difference between having faith in something or someone, and having a religious faith.  We studied how people of faith behave, and what Christians do to bring God’s Kingdom about on Earth.  We thought about what Jesus said about faith, and also thought about how Jesus’s early followers spread the word about faith in Jesus.  We made instructional posters based on Paul’s teachings in Romans, Thessalonians and Colossians. We also learnt about Terry Waite, and how his faith helped him when he was made hostage in Beirut.

2s room

In the two’s room, we have been looking at our special RE area and our children’s bible. We talked about how in our bible there are some lovely stories that we will be reading. We also talked about God and how he loves us all and created our very own love heart picture using our fingerprints. We also looked at harvest and talked about the farmers gathering the food for us to eat. We then created pictures using different fruit and vegetables.

 

Pre school

Pre school have been exploring the story of creation, learning that our stories for God come from the Bible. We looked at all the days and what God created on each of them. We also looked at how God created us and make as all special. We have also explored Harvest and that the farmer collects the fruit and vegetables that have been grown and we share these with people we love and what to help. The children role played being the farmer in the sand area, planting and pulling veg from the ground.

 

Reception

This half term we have been learning all about prayer. The children have talked about how we communicate with one another and that prayer is talking and listening to God. They had fun learning the story of Daniel and the Lion’s den by acting it out. They have also been learning about prayer in other religions. For Muslims there are very clear actions and ways to prepare for prayer which they enjoyed learning, as well as using the chatterbox of prayer items to explore different ways to pray.

 

Year 1

This half term, Year 1 have been learning about Harvest.  They have looked at food packaging and decided where in the world the food has come from.  They have learned about the meaning of the word Harvest and looked at different pieces of art work depicting people gathering food throughout history in different ways.  Year 1 also learned about the work of Christian Aid and how they help people around the world who do not have enough food.  For their World Faith Unit, Year 1 learned about the Jewish festival of Sukkot and made decorations for their own Sukkah.

 

Year 2

In Year 2 we have been learning about the Bible. We started by sharing books that are special to us, we brought some in from home to share with everyone. We also looked at how the Bible originated from the Dead Sea Scrolls. Rev Kev also visited us to talk about his experiences of the Bible and he showed us lots of different types, including a Minecraft one!

 

Year 3

Year 3 has been learning about Harvest. They began by thinking about 'What is harvest' and thought of some questions they would like to find out the answers to. They investigated the times Harvest is mentioned in the Bible and thought about why communities celebrate harvest. Then thinking deeper, the children explored the meaning of Harvest and what it means to Christians.

 

Year 4

We have been looking at the topic of ‘David and the Psalms’ and have enjoyed researching and recounting biblical stories featuring David such as ‘David and Goliath’ and how ‘David serves Saul’ exploring the deeper messages of the qualities of Kingship and Friendship and what values we consider to be important.

 

Year 5

This half term Year 5 have been learning all about the Bible. We looked understanding that it is a holy text, we later linked that to other religions and their holy texts. We looked at the Bible and Christianity and how a Bible is important to Christians. We also discussed why there are so many versions of the Bible.

 

Year 6

Year 6 have been studying the idea about Life as a Journey this half term.  We have thought about journeys we have taken in the past, created a personal timeline called ‘the journey of my life’, thought about what we would need to pack in a suitcase for our journeys for life; and then considered how the life journey of a Christian might be different to the life journey of a non-Christian.

Pre school

The children learnt about Harvest time in Britain. The celebrations on this day usually include singing hymns, praying, and decorating churches with baskets of fruit and food in the festival known as Harvest Festival. In pre school we learnt about how the farmer collects all the fruit and vegetables grown, and shares this with family and friends and people in need. We celebrated in church and made Harvest baskets to share with others.

 

Reception

Reception Class have been learning about the Lammas Festival. Lammas marks the beginning of the harvest season, when food is abundant and the light begins to wane. We went out on a harvest walk, collecting different items such as leaves, berries, fruits and vegetables.

 

Year 1

Year 1 learned all about the American festival of Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving, a U.S. holiday on the fourth Thursday of November, originated in the fall of 1621, when Pilgrims celebrated their successful wheat crop and overflowing store cupboards with a three-day feast. Year 1 listened to the difficulties that the Pilgrim Fathers had when they arrived in America and how grateful they were for the first harvest.  Year 1 learned that Americans say something they are thankful for on Thanksgiving while they are eating their turkey, mash and pumpkin pie.

 

Year 2

Year 2 learned about the Jewish festival of Sukkott.  This is were people celebrate the gathering of the crops, and remember the time in the past when small shelters were made by the Jews when they were in the wilderness and had no homes. Wands of willow, myrtle, and palm, together with a citron (a kind of lemon), are shaken every day in all directions to honour the gifts from the land.

 

Year 3

Year 3 have been learning about the Italian festival of Olivagando. This is a two day celebration that celebrates the Olive harvest and olive oil. While olive oil tasting is a central part of the festival, there are also a wide variety of other Italian foods showcased such as wine, cheese, cured meats, truffles, and newly harvested walnuts and chestnuts.

 

Year 4

Year 4 have been learning about Chanthaburi Fruit Fair, Chanthaburi, Thailand. It is known for gemstones—and for its profusion of beautiful native fruits, as colourful as jewels. During the summer harvest, the annual Fruit Fair exhibits exotic durians, rambutans, longans, and mangosteens in vibrant arrangements as elaborate as Buddhist mandalas. There are produce competitions and art displays, and the opening-day parade features floats made from thousands of tropical fruits and vegetables.

 

Year 5 

Year 5 learned about Vendimia in Argentina. On the final Sunday of February, the Archbishop of Mendoza sprinkles the season’s first grapes with holy water and offers the new vintage to God, setting off a month of celebrations in Argentina's Mendoza region. Crowds line the streets to watch a parade of competing beauty queens atop their regional floats, and the festival culminates with a spectacular show at the amphitheatre—musicians, entertainers, and dancers take to the stage before a Harvest Queen is chosen amid a backdrop of spectacular fireworks.

 

Year 6

Year 6 focused on the harvest festival Incwala in Swaziland. In late December, Swiss men journey to the sea to gather water so Incwala can begin. Branches from the sacred lusekwane tree are woven into a bower for the king, and only when he eats the first fruit can his people partake of the harvest.