R.E.

Nursery

In Nursery the children looked closely at the celebration of Christmas, and thought about what is special about Christmas. They listened to The Nativity Story, and then thought about what presents they would give to baby Jesus. The children thought about giving him milk ‘because babies like milk’, or ‘a teddy’.

Reception

Reception children were very excited about the Easter holidays. We spoke about what Easter means to us, these were the children’s responses:

Chocolate, family, eggs, Easter egg hunts, chicks, bunnies, friends.

We then thought about what Easter means to Christians, and found out that our yummy chocolate eggs, and chicks being born symbolises new life because Jesus came back to life at Easter.

We enjoyed listening to the Easter story and then we sequenced the pictures together and wrote the story.

During the topic ‘Festivals and Celebrations’, Reception looked at the festivals of Eid and Diwali, and the celebration of Weddings.

Reception children looked at beautiful Mehndi patterns which are a big part of Muslim and Hindu cultures. Mehndi is typically used to decorate the hands and feet of the bride and often the groom at their wedding, but is also applied during festivals such as Diwali and Eid.

Look at some of the intricate Mehndi patterns the children in Reception designed.

Reception children really enjoyed the story of Rama and Sita, and made their own colourful lanterns, like the ones used to guide Rama and Sita back home.

We looked at weddings from all around the World, and what is the same and different between them. Mrs Bowman and Mrs Cornwell even bought their wedding dresses in to class.

Year 1

We looked in more detail at the Easter story and focused more on palm Sunday and how Chrustians remember now what happened on that day. Children worked in groups, discussing the order of the story, and matching the correct sentence to the picture.

See an example of this group work below

We also spent some time thinking about God; who is God and where is he? They blew up a balloon and spoke about how you cannot see the air inside the balloon but you still know it’s there. They connected this idea to Christians belief, and how they think about God. They cannot see him but they believe he is there helping them to live their life. Look here to see the year 1 children’s work on where they think God is

We have looked at what makes a church a special place for Christians. The children have been exploring some real life objects that belong in a church and have learnt and used the correct religious words and phrases to identify these special features of a church.

Year 1 children spoke about what makes a place special, and what a special place for them would be. Some children said their ‘bedroom’, other responses were ‘the beach’ and ‘Grandmas house’.

Year 2

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Year 2 have looked closely at Sikhism, and in particular they have studied the 5Ks which are physical symbols worn by Khalsa Sikhs, and how these influence the lives of Sikh families.

The five Ks are:

• Kesh (uncut hair)
• Kara (a steel bracelet)
• Kangha (a wooden comb)
• Kacch (cotton underwear)
• Kirpan (steel sword)

After looking at what is special to Sikhs, Year 2 thought about what is special to them, and their own special group – lots of the children said their special group was their family. See an example of the writing Year 2 did below.

Year 3

Year 3 children had a big question to ponder – Why do Christians believe in life after death?

They studied the Easter story and came up with lists of questions around the Easter story, the children then worked together to find answers to their questions (if there are any). ‘Why was Jesus crucified because he didn’t do anything?’ is an example of the kind of questions they were asking. See some more examples below in their brilliant writing.

Year 3 learnt about the importance of Easter to Christians, and found out what the resurrection of Jesus means for some people.

We have been finding out ‘Who are the Saints?’ and studying why they are important. Year 3 children have been recognising similarities and differences between the lives of different saints, and they have made links between beliefs and sources, including religious stories and sacred texts. See an example of good work below.

Year 4

Year 4 children were lucky enough to eat some hot cross buns at Easter time, although some children were disappointed when they realised there were raisins inside not chocolate chips. They spoke about the symbolism of the cross, and what the cross means to Christians. They found out that the hot cross bun marks the end of Lent and different parts of the hot cross bun have a certain meaning, including the cross representing the crucifixion of Jesus, and the spices inside signifying the spices used to embalm him at his burial.

At Christmas time, Year 4 discussed and thought about which Christmas character they would like to meet and why.

Year 4 have also been thinking about what different people believe, and finding out what people believe about the creation of our World.

Year 5

We have been pondering a big question in their RE work; ‘Is religion what you say or what you do?’ The children have thought a lot about this question through work around the Easter story, and then they have considered what others might say about them, and whether this would be the same thing as they would say about themselves.

We all hope that other people would say nice things about us, but this has to be worked on and we have to reflect that in our actions, which is what the year 5 children have thought about, and it is what Christians try to achieve by living their lives as Jesus lived his.

See an example of the childrens work below

The children have engaged in some really good discussion around this topic.

In year 5 we have looked at Hinduism this term, they explored why and how Hindus worship, They asked the question ‘What can stories and images of deities tell us about Hindu beliefs about God’.

The pieces of work Year 5 produced on the Hindu religion were fantastic. Look below at this good example of a personal response written about Hinduism, which includes facts about the religion and the child’s own opinion.

Year 6

We have looked at beliefs and actions in the World. They have considered what key beliefs influence people’s faith and how people of faith live their lives. Year 6 use good religious vocabulary to describe and portray ideas, beliefs and experiences.

Year 6 focused on humanism, studying the idea of ‘the happy human’ and thinking about the idea that ‘we are ball free to find our own way and be happy, as long as we don’t harm other people’. Year 6 children discuss or write personal responses to the ideas they study, and are able to apply their ideas to their own, and other people’s lives.

See examples of good work below.