Year 2 - RE
This week, we started our Christmas learning in RE we are going to be looking how good news about the birth of Jesus spread and how it made the world feel. We began by looking at what is the news and how do we find out about it. We read our happy newspapers from our library and watched Newsround. We made a note of the various ways we can consume the news and the impact it has on our lives.
Whole School Worship: God the Rescuer
Rev Matt led our worship today. We began our worship by watching a selection of videos to discuss if people were in trouble. Rev Matt told a story from the bible about Abraham. The story discussed how Abraham wanted a child but he couldn’t because he was old. Abraham trusted God and one night God told Abraham that he would have lots of children one day. God’s promise came true and they called their son, Isaac. Rev Matt explained that when Abraham was in trouble, he needed a rescuer who was God. God made the impossible, possible. God is compassionate and will always look after us. Christmas is a time to remember this. We ended our worship by singing ‘Rescuer’.
Whole School Peace Chain
During our second week of Advent, we are focussing on praying for peace. Throughout the last week, all classes have created a whole school peace chain. Continuing from yesterday’s worship, we discussed different ways that we can find peace. Ruby said that she had listened to her mum this morning to create a peaceful home environment. Darcy said she had shown peace to her younger sibling. Isaac said he had helped his parents and Percy said he had gone to bed earlier. We will continue to focus on peace throughout this week and the whole of Advent. Our peace chain is displayed in our school entrance for you all to see.
Year 2 - RE
This week, we completed our RE topic looking at Holy books from different faiths. We have been learning about the Bible and understood that different faiths have their own book which they follow. We looked in more detail at the Jewish Torah and the Islamic Qu’ran. We spotted similarities between how religions see their holy book as special and one that should be looked after. We also found that each book contains rules and stories which are used to help people be good citizens.
Rev Ben’s Worship- Jeremiah : Down in the well
This morning Rev Ben led our Worship about God's Compassion. We started with a fun listening game where Rev Ben blind folded some children and the rest of us had to make the animal noise of the animal on the screen. The children who were blindfolded were able to realise what it was like to not be able to see, just like the person in this week's Bible story, Jeremiah. We listened and joined in with the Old Testament Bible story all about Jeremiah being stuck in a deep, dark well. We loved joining in with the repeated refrain and we learned that God helped Jeremiah get out of the well. We reflected on how God can help us when we are feeling stuck or in a dark place. We then thought about how God sent His saviour, Jesus to rescue us all and how at this time of Advent, we are thinking about the special birth of Jesus. We finished our Worship singing 'Jesus, strong and kind'.
Year 6 R.E.- Pilgrimage
In R.E. Year 6 started to look at the pilgrimages of other religions. They focused on Hajj (an Islamic pilgrimage) and Kumbh Mela (a Hinduism pilgrimage). Once they had made some notes on these pilgrimages and how they are undertaken, the children then discussed how they are similar and different to the Christian and Jewish pilgrimages covered in earlier lessons.
WOW Group Worship: Respect and Tolerance
Well done to our fantastic WOW Group, who led their first whole-school worship this year today. In recognition of Inter Faith week, they talked about respecting each other’s differences and they taught us about tolerance and how we can show it to one another.
Rev Ben’s Worship: Samuel and David
This week in Rev Ben’s Worship, we learned the story of Samuel, Jessie and David. We talked about the qualities God looks for in a king and the importance of having a kind heart.
Year 6 R.E.- Judaism Workshop
This week in R.E. year 6 were visited by Samantha Hambling who led a Judaism workshop all about pilgrimage. Year 6 asked some impressive and mature questions and realised how religions are very similar, but also have some notable differences.
Year 4 - Judaism Workshop
We had a special visitor in school on Tuesday. Samantha came to teach Year 4 a bit about the Jewish day of rest: Shabbat. The children were fantastic! They listened with interest and asked some insightful questions. They enjoyed trying on the traditional garments and looking at artefacts, and they particularly loved tasting some challah bread.
Reception: Jesus walks on water
Today we learnt how Jesus is special and how he performed miracles. We listened to the story ‘Jesus walks on water’. The children retold the story using Godly play and enjoyed drawing parts of the story in our RE scrap book. Callie said “Jesus helped Peter get up from the waves”. Percy said “Jesus walked on water”.
Year 5 - Interfaith Week
Today, as part of interfaith week, Year 5 had a Jewish visitor who explained her religious beliefs and lifestyle. She focused on the story of Purim which is the Jewish holiday in which Jews commemorate being saved from persecution in the ancient Persian Empire. The children explored the story and began to contextualise the true meaning of the story and what it means to the Jewish community. The children explored the huge celebrations that take place and the various ways that Jewish people celebrate Purim. The children loved listening to the story and learning how other religions feed into their own religion.