RE Week

RE Week
 
Each year. we hold two special school weeks where we are off timetable for the whole week. Our first special school week for 2022-2023 was RE Week.
 
In RE Week, there was a focus on ‘Traditions, Festivals and Celebrations’. The children were given the opportunity to learn more about other religions and about how people with different religious faiths and beliefs celebrate special times. This gave the children the opportunity to compare and discuss the similarities and differences between some of the world’s religions. 
 
Monday
 
On Monday, we focused on learning more about Islam with a focus on Ramadan.
Aside from fasting, Muslims observing Ramadan also increase in spiritual devotional acts such as prayer, giving to charity and strengthening family ties. These were the aspects of Ramadan that we focused on.
 
Tuesday
 
Tuesday was spent exploring Hinduism, with a focus on the special celebration of ‘Diwali’ – The Festival of Lights! The children took part in different activities to help them learn more about Diwali traditions practiced by Hindus.
 

During the day, the children made diva lamps out of clay and rangoli patterns using coloured rice as well as exploring shadow puppets, dancing and more!

 

Wednesday

 

On Wednesday, children learnt about Sikhism, with a focus on the special celebration of Vaisakhi (which is similar to a harvest festival for Christians!). Sikhs also celebrate Diwali. The children made this link by lighting a candle in their diva lamps that they made the previous day and having a virtual firework display. Fireworks are key to a lot of Sikh and Hindu celebrations!

 

In the afternoon, the children embarked on a Christmas walk around the school. The children visited 14 stations in different areas of the school and, at each one, they heard a part of the Christmas Story from the Bible and collected a little souvenir to help them remember each part. We hope that they will be able to use their bag of souvenirs to retell the Christmas story when they get home!

 

Thursday

 

We recently asked for families to let us know of their own religious faiths and beliefs and we received some lovely responses.

The children spent the day learning about the religious faiths and beliefs of our families, using the information that we received back from members of our own school community.

 

Friday 

 

In the morning, the children spent time learning about Christian beliefs about Christmas through RE curriculum teaching. There was also time to take part in some Christmas crafting throughout the day to allow the children time to create something special and beautiful to take home that would hopefully remind them of the amazing special school week they have experienced.

Throughout the day, the children made traditional Christingles in St Aldhelm’s Church with members of the church community. These special Christingles were then lit during our Christingle service that took place in the afternoon, at St Aldhelm's Church, led by Reverend Gemma Donnell.