RE | Hartington C of E Primary School

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION is taught in accordance with the Derbyshire LA agreed syllabus and Hartington is a Church of England school. This means that the school has a strong Christian ethos with the vision statement being at its heart, which is also reflected in the teaching of religious education. Children learn about Christianity and Judaism in KS1 while Christianity, Sikhism and Islam is taught in KS2. RE encourages the children and staff to think about what they them selves and others believe but ultimately respecting the views and opinions of everyone.

Our Christian values are:

Friendship, Compassion, Service, Generosity, Trust and Respect.

Key Stage 1 – Autumn Term 1

Which people are special and why

During Autumn term 1 the Reception and key stage 1 children were thinking about people who are special to us and why. We thought about family and friends and people who help us. Everyone was super enthusiastic about interviewing Katie Kitchen and we all agreed that she is a very special person in school as she cooks the best dinners! Her food keeps us all going through the busy school days!

As we progressed through the term we began to transfer this line of thinking to focus on special people within religion. Through learning the story of Jairus’ daughter from the New Testament, the children were able to think about how Jesus was a friend to others and how he helped them. Using these ideas we then made friendship bracelets to demonstrate being a friend to others and how we can show this.

We all enjoyed learning the Buddhist story of the Wind and the moon. The reception children used the puppets to retell this story whilst the older children sequenced the pictures. The children were able to suggest some great ideas about what this story tells us about friendship:-

“If you have an argument try to make it better.”

“Love each other whatever you believe in.”

“If you fall out you can still be friends again.”

Key Stage 1 – Autumn Term 2

Christmas: A year by year approach

During Autumn term 2 we focused on the Christian celebration of Christmas, and the story of Jesus; birth. The children were able to use the puppets to demonstrate prior knowledge of this story.

The children were intrigued to find out what special gift was in the box. They each had the opportunity to look inside and discovered that they could see themselves in the mirror inside the box. ‘The most special gift is YOU!’ and Christians believe the gifts and talents that we can share with others are gifts given to us by God.

We explored examples of the gifts that the Wise Men gave to Jesus and what Christians believe the symbolism of these were.

“Gold was a symbol of a king.”

“Frankincense was used by the priests and Jesus was a holy man.”

“Myrrh was for healing and Jesus was going to be the savior of the world.”

As a class we then created a newspaper article sharing the Gospel of Jesus’ birth, joining the Shepherds and the angels in sharing the Christian good news of Jesus’ birth.

Key Stage 2 – Autumn Term 1

Our first big question was “What is God like to follow?”. We started the unit by looking at the story of Noah and we explored the links between this story and the idea of a covenant. We also made links between the story and how we live in school and the wider world. We explored the Christian wedding ceremony and talked about the meaning of the symbols Christians use during wedding ceremonies. We finished the unit by looking at the story of Abraham and exploring the covenant that Abraham made with God.

Key Stage 2 – Autumn Term 2

In the second autumn term, our key question was ‘Why is Jesus inspiring to some people?’ We started the unit by thinking about people that we find inspirational. We then looked at Jesus and discussed Jesus’ qualities as a leader.

We explored the parable of the Good Samaritan through hot-seating, drama, freeze-frame and artwork. In lesson 4, we explored the question: why do Christians call Good Friday ‘good’? We also identified the most important parts of Easter for Christians and discussed why they are important. We finished the unit by thinking of examples of what some Christians say are the most important attitudes and values to have, as inspired by Jesus’ teachings and actions.

Key Stage 1 – Spring Term 1

Who is Jewish and what do they believe?

This term we have been learning about different aspects of the Jewish faith.

We learnt about Mezuzahs and what the purpose of these is. These are fixed to the right side of a door frame to constantly remind Jewish people of God’s presence. The year 2 children wrote messages of welcome which we then put inside the Mezuzah boxes, made by the reception and year 1 children, before attaching them to door frames around the school. The children from class 2 then asked if they could open these and look inside!

In the Jewish religion they have the Sheema prayer written and placed inside the Mezuzah. This prayer is one of the most important Jewish prayers and one of the first learnt by Jewish children. We wrote our own prayer representing the Sheema, reflecting on the key value of thankfulness.

The children were very excited to make Challah bread and learn about the Jewish Sabbath, Shabbat. We made the bread using honey and everyone tried it once it was cooked. We thought about the ways in which rest is important when life is busy.

We looked at the celebration of Sukkot, the Jewish Harvest festival. We made our own replicas of a Sukkah, which Jewish people spend time in during the 7 days of Sukkot. This is a small structure consisting of three walls, made from wood, metal, stone etc, and a roof made from natural materials found on the ground. In our model we left gaps in the roof so that the occupants could see through to the light of God.

Key Stage 1 & EYFS – Spring Term 2

Why do Christians put a cross in a garden at Easter?

This term the children have been focusing on the Christian celebration of Easter and some of the symbolism of this season. Children were able to think about some of the symbols they are most familiar with, such as a cross and Easter eggs, but then to explore deeper into what this symbols means to Christians and why.

Through role play and sequencing activities we identified the order of the events of Holy Week and the significance of each of these to Christians and to extend our knowledge of the chronology of the Easter story by exploring the stations of the cross.

Using the symbolism of the Easter garden and this being ‘destroyed’ we thought about how Christians believe that God can rebuild when something goes wrong, and that Jesus died so people would be forgiven by God for things they say, do or think.

Finally the children created their own images of how they thought Christians might believe that Jesus builds a bridge between God and humans and how the cross is symbolic of this.

‘The cross is like a bridge from God to us because it showed Jesus died on the cross and went to heaven to be with God, his Father. It shows us we can be with God always and God is always with us, like Jesus always spoke to God.’

‘The cross is like a bridge from earth to heaven because after Jesus died He has not left our side because heaven is all around us. When Jesus died Christians believe it showed people that heaven is real.’

‘The cross is like a bridge from earth to heaven because Jesus was on earth and then He got put on the cross and the cross made Him go up to heaven to be with God and other people who had died.’

Key Stage 2 – Spring Term 1

In the first half of the spring term, we have explored the question – “What does it mean to be a Hindu in Britain today?” We started our learning by looking at the Christian concept of Grace and compared it to Hindu belief of Ahimsa. We looked at some ways in which Hindus express their faith through pujas (a ritual of worship and prayer that can involve offering food, flowers, incense, or light to a deity, or reciting verses), aarti (this is a ceremony that involves waving a lit lamp in front of deities while singing hymns in their praise) and bhajans which are devotional songs. We explored the concepts of karma and dharma and made connections with some Hindu beliefs and teachings about aims and duties in life.

Key Stage 2 – Spring Term 2

During this half term we explored the concept of salvation and thought about what did Jesus do to save human beings.

In the first session, we looked at artwork representing events from the last days of Jesus’ life. We had to identify the events and put them in the correct order. During next session, we discussed who was responsible for Jesus’ death and tried to explain the reasons why. We also made connections between the Christian belief of Jesus’ death as a sacrifice and how Christians celebrate Holy Communion.

We explored the symbolism of the bread and wine and other elements of the Holy Communion. We also thought about how Christians put their beliefs into practice and about the value of sacrifice in the world today as well as in our lives. At the end of the unit, Year 3s and Year 4s, chose a virtue that is the most important for their own lives, school and the world and explained why they have chosen it. Year 5s and 6s explored the answer to the unit question – “What difference does Jesus’ sacrifice make to Christians?” and have written an argument in response to the question.

Key Stage 2 – Summer Term 1

This half term we have been exploring how do Hindus, Muslims and Christians pray. During our first session, we learnt that Hindus, Muslims and Christians pray in many different ways, both using set forms of words and more spontaneously, and the three religions believe similar and different ideas about how God hears prayers. At the end of the session, we completed a Venn diagram identifying the similarities and differences between when, where and how Christians, Muslims and Hindus pray.

During our next sessions, we explored the impact of prayer and thought about what is needed to help believers pray. During those sessions, Year 3s and 4s designed their own prayer space and Year 5s and 6s, looked at arguments for and against providing a safe prayer space at work. We have also explored the key prayers in the three religions – their key words and their meaning.

Key Stage 1 – Summer Term 1

This term we have been thinking about what is special about our world? How should we care for others and our world?

We began by using our senses to think about what we could hear, see, smell and feel in our world around us. The children gave some great suggestions, such as ‘the rustling of the trees, water, breeze, cut grass.’

The reception children had the opportunity to explore the discovery table where there were a selection of natural items for them to see, touch and smell. From this they created a word bank of the different properties they thought the items had.

We listened to the story of creation from the Bible and then listened to the Jewish story of creation. We created our own images to retell the story and answered the questions ‘What do you find most amazing, mysterious, wow or beautiful from nature?’ and ‘Why do you think Christians and Jewish people thank God for the earth and all it’s creatures?’

In thinking about looking after our wonderful world the reception children took their view finders outside to find things they found interesting, puzzling or wonderful in the natural world. They found flowers, tadpoles, the pond and insect hotel. This extended to think about things that make the world happy and what makes it sad and how we can look after the world.

Year 1 and 2 children thought about ‘If God does exist and He looked at the world now, would He still feel happy?’ Some ideas that were shared included ‘Yes, because people are beginning to protect the world.’ ‘No, because people have built towers and tall sky scrapers.’

This topic was concluded by thinking about someone who has put their religious beliefs into action to help the world and others within it. We used the example of Mother Theresa, learning who she was and the impact her religious beliefs had on her life and the actions she took.