Creation and Science: Conflicting or Complementary? Year 6 have been exploring this ‘Big Question’ in RE and have had some very insightful and mature conversations in response to it. Children have discussed the Christian story of creation in Genesis as well as The Big Bang and Evolution theories and thought critically about how the two can be both in conflict and complement one another. Using topic-specific vocabulary, they have produced some high-quality pieces of work to visually represent the main ideas of both religious and scientific perspectives. Children have demonstrated great reflection skills whilst also considering their own thoughts and beliefs.
RE
Y4 Cathedral and Mosque Trip
This week, Year 4 visited Norwich Cathedral where they learnt about some important features of Christianity and the building of the Cathedral.Â
We also visited the mosque on Rose Lane where they learnt about the Five Pillars of Islam. The children asked many thoughtful questions about Muslim beliefs.
In addition to this, we spent time with Edith Cavell who told us all about her life and how she became a nurse, helping injured soldiers. We then visited her grave which is located at Norwich Cathedral.
It was a very busy but enjoyable day!
Year 1 celebrate pancake day
Today, our Year 1 pupils learnt more about the reasons behind shrove Tuesday and the start of lent. They designed their own pancakes, before getting to try them out in class!
Year 1-Meerkat Mail
This week we started to read the book Meerkat Mail. We met Sunny the Meerkat who lives in the Kalahari desert. The children found out about meerkats, where they live, what they eat and how they survive in the desert. We also received a post card from Sunny. Sunny told them about his habitat and the children wrote down some of the things they learnt from the postcard. We also found out about the Jewish Creation Story and about the importance of Shabbat, which is the Jewish day of rest.
Year 3 Cathedral Trip
Year 3 went to the cathedral today for an advent/nativity experience. We learnt all about Isaiah, Mary, Joseph, shepherds and the kings. The children were safe, ready and respectful and enjoyed dressing up, doing craft and seeing different items.
Y5 – Visitor
Y5 are currently exploring the enquiry question ‘How has belief in Christianity and Islam impacted on music and art through history?’ To help launch our enquiry Y5 had a visit from Reverend Laura Montgomery, who spoke to the children about Christian art and music. They discussed the importance of religious art and music and how it has changed over history.
Reverend Laura Montgomery shocked the children by playing them music they were familiar with but had not originally made the link back to Christianity.
Year 2 – RE
Year 2 have been learning about why light is an important symbol in Judaism. We have learnt about the Maccabees, the festival of Hanukkah and about the importance of the candles on a menorah.
Compassion
Across our afternoons in Year 6 we have been learning about a plethora of things! In RE, we have been learning about ‘non violence’ and what this means in Hinduism; non violence is known as ‘ahimsa’ and refers to the idea that all violence against any living creature is prohibited because all living creatures have souls. Within Hinduism, there is the belief that if one causes suffering, that person will then have suffering in their own life later on.
“True ahimsa should mean a complete freedom from ill will and anger and hate and an overflowing love for all!” Ghandi.
Maybe this week you can spend some time thinking about the compassion that you cultivate in your own lives – how do you help those around you feel loved? How do you like to feel loved and appreciated? What can you do as an act of kindness this week for family, friends, a stranger?
Y5 RE
This half term Y5 have been learning about humanists and what they believe. We were able to explore humanist beliefs in the classroom and had open discussion on how these beliefs may differ from our own. We were also lucky to welcome a visitor into school from the ‘Understanding Humanism Society’. Children were able to ask questions of our visitor in order to deepen their understanding of what it means to be a humanist. They were set the task afterwards to design what they believe a Humanist building might look like. Their imaginations went wild and they created some amazing looking buildings that incorporated humanist values.
Year 1 trip to Synagogue
Year 1 had a fantastic trip to the Adat Yeshua Messianic Synagogue in Norwich earlier in the term. Children learnt the about the important parts of the synagogue and had a chance to look at their Torah scroll.
Children then worked in groups learning about important festivals and Jewish celebrations including Shabbat, Jewish clothes and symbols in the synagogue and the books and hymns that they use.