Reception have been exploring the qualities of a good friend as part of their current RE topic. They have been finding out about who Jesus’ friends were and the things they enjoyed doing together. The children enjoyed re-enacting the story of ‘Jesus calms the storm’ and role-playing Jesus and his friends fishing together.
Last week, Year 5 and 6 were treated to a live presentation and Q and A session with a group of teenage Sunni and Shi’a Muslims from Redbridge in North London know as AFABs (Ambassadors of faith and belief). As part of their studies in KS5, these young people are involved in a project to teach others about the diversity of their faith and help deepen knowledge of their faith with primary-aged pupils from across the UK. We were joined by children from other primary schools across Cumbria.
We have certainly deepened our knowledge and understanding of so many aspects of Islam including: the five pillars of Islam, the different branches of Islam, Ramadan and Eid, pilgrimage, prayer, dress and symbolism.
Florence – ‘I didn’t know that Muslims believe in Heaven.’
Grace – ‘I learnt that not all Muslims cover their heads but those that do choose to wear a Hijab to show respect and be closer to God.’
Eleanor – ‘I learnt more about the Kaaba being a very sacred place’ at the centre of the most sacred Mosque.’
Koby – ‘I learnt that over 3 million Muslims travel to Mecca in Saudi Arabia every year as part of hajj.
Class 4 have been learning about the Pentecost in RE lessons. We have heard how Christians believe Jesus ascended to heaven so that the Holy Spirit could come down to the world and bless Christians worldwide.
But what does the Holy Spirit actually do? What even is a Holy Spirit? What does it look like? We looked at a range of artwork on the theme of the Holy Spirit, from stained glass windows, classical paintings and modern interpretations. We found that the same symbols are often used to represent the Spirit of the Lord, including the Dove and ‘tongues of fire’. We used this as inspiration to create our own Holy Spirit artwork using a variety of methods. Check out our finished work below!
We have learnt so much this week during our focus on the sacred texts of four different religions – Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and Hinduism.
Each day, every class learnt about one of these religions with one of our four class teachers which culminated in sharing all our learning in our Celebration Assembly on Friday morning.
On Friday we also reflected on what we had enjoyed about our learning and why it is important to learn about religions followed by millions of people both in Britain and across the world.
The sun was shining once again as Class 3 visited the Buddhist Temple for World Peace in Ulverston. This was lovely end to our topic on places of worship, Our visit included some meditation, acting out the story of the life of Buddha, sketching some of the Buddhist symbols along with a picnic in the sunshine.
A huge thank you to Dan and Helen from Bay Search and Rescue who came to visit us this morning in Class One and talk to the children about their roles. They showed us photographs of the types of rescues they are involved in and the vehicles they use. Dan and Helen also gave us some important safety advice about when we are out on the sands and near open water. We were then lucky enough to see the pick up in real life, try on equipment and listen to the sirens. We learnt so much and had a wonderful time! Our current Christian Value is Service and this was a great example of how people in our community show service to others, something we have been exploring through our whole school assemblies.
All of KS2 travelled to Bradford yesterday to learn more about the Islamic faith by visiting their very sacred place of prayer and worship.
Bilali, our guide for the day, welcomed us at the door and led us all around the inside and outside of the Mosque. We began with the grand entrance hall with a huge glass chandelier and as we looked around, Bilali pointed out all the different symbols and features around us. We moved on to the place for ritual washing (called wudu) before prayer, which was a huge bathroom where Muslims will cleanse by washing the face, arms and feet; before wiping the head. We then moved on to the main prayer room where we learnt all about the weekly homework set my the Imam every Friday. This encourages the community to do good things – either for each other or for God’s creation – linking our Christian Values with Islamic beliefs.
We learnt more about the five pillars of Islam too; about the festival of Eid and Ramadan from our expert guide and the children had many interesting and valuable questions to ask!
We even remembered to step in and out of the Mosque using the correct foot first (the right foot) which we had learnt from Mohammad at our live-linkup with him the day before our trip.
The Grand Mosque also provided us with delicious treats at lunchtime for both children and staff; and each child was presented with a gift bag containing information books, quizzes, pens, stickers and more!
Thank you to everyone at the mosque for making us so welcome and teaching us so much about faith in our communities. We all valued our experience so very much and will certainly be back in a few years time when our current infant children move up to the juniors.
Reception, Year One and Two had a wonderful visit to the Manjushri Kadampa Meditation Centre in Ulverston yesterday. We were greeted at the temple by our guide Kerrin who led us through a guided meditation session and taught us a little more about the Buddhist faith. We learnt that Buddhists believe in living their lives built on love, compassion and empathy.
Our meditation session focused on steady breathing and everyone agreed they felt calm and relaxed afterwards! We enjoyed looking at the statues of the Gods and Goddesses, learning their names and spotting the largest dharma wheel in the building. Can you find it amongst our photos?
We are currently enjoying learning more about some of the many faiths followed by people across our community and the wider world. At our School, we spend a lot of time learning about Christianity, but this week we have immersed ourselves in the faiths of Judaism, Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism through the theme of prayer.
Each day, we have started with a whole school assembly led by each of our four classteachers. This morning, Mr Dean led the whole school in Buddhist meditation! Each class has then enjoyed a session in the their classroom with each of our four teachers learning about every faith in greater detail through a variety of ways including role play, artefacts, photographs, art and film.
The Lord’s Prayer is common to many Christian’s across the globe so we have been thinking more about it including where it came from and what it means.
Class 2 thought praying was talking to God and that people who believed in God might do it. They explained a few varied ways people stand, sit or kneel to pray. We ordered the Lord’s Prayer and discussed what some unusual words like hallowed and daily bread mean. Here we are drawing pictures around the phrases so show what we understood by them.
Class 4 explored the Lord’s Prayer differently – finding where it comes from and comparing references to the prayer in the Good News Bible in the books of Matthew and Luke. We looked at the 4 types of prayer that Christians might use – Praising, Asking, Saying Sorry and Thanking.
We then considered some deeper questions linked to phrases in the prayer with many thoughtful and honest responses that are recorded in the class reflection book.
