Religious Education
Intent:
The RE curriculum at Laceby Stanford Primary Academy is unique and we believe in helping children become religiously literate young people, who are understanding of diversity and able to naturally reflect on their actions and their work. We want to enable children to be fluent in applying these key skills of deeper thinking and enquiry-based learning to the wider curriculum, and to be able to express themselves in a range of ways.
In RE children learn about religions and worldviews in local, national and global contexts, in order to discover, explore and consider different answers to these questions. Children learn to weigh up the value of wisdom from different sources, to develop and express their insights in response, and to agree or disagree respectfully.
Implementation:
The RE curriculum is purposeful and relevant to the pupils. The knowledge and skills pupils acquire, build on their previous learning, allowing them to transfer key skills, knowledge and concepts to their long-term memories. We use the agreed East Riding syllabus and have adapted this to meet the needs of our children.
Core theological learning focuses on the religions of Christianity, Islam and Hinduism, in addition to drawing comparisons and similarities with a range of other religious beliefs and practices. We follow the approach of: teaching about core theological beliefs; studying the key rituals and practises of these religions; then reflecting on how these beliefs impact on people of faith, including what we ourselves can learn from them.
Children use a range of different learning approaches to study RE, including: reading comprehension, immersive visits, expressive arts, drama and reflective writing.
Impact:
We are proud of the achievements of our pupils in RE. We assess children’s ability in RE based on their understanding of core religious practises and artefacts, as well as their ability to be reflective thinkers and to use higher order questioning skills. These skills learned in RE can be applied to a range of subjects across the curriculum.
A parents guide to the new National Curriculum (not Foundation/Seedlngs class). More information can be found on the Rising Stars website
Diva Lamps
As part of our learning about the festival Diwali we made Diva lamps. We used salt dough. When they dry we painted them and added sparkly details.
Harvest Time
The Year 2 children enjoyed a wonderful Harvest festival. Together they talked about why we celebrate the Harvest.
“We are so lucky to have enough food to eat. So when it’s the Harvest festival, we are saying thank you.”
“Christian people celebrate the Harvest and go to church. They pray and say thank you to God for all the food.”
“I think it’s about sharing.”
“Our food is going to go to Harbour Place and it will be used to make dinners for homeless people.”
“At school near the office, some of the food will be there to help anyone who needs some food.”
“We sang a song about driving tractors and that helped us remember to thank all the farmers for growing all our food.”
Easter in Pumpkin Class
In pumpkin class we have been looking at the garden of Gethsemane. We looked at what happened and had a go are creating our own gardens. We then wrote about what we had included in our gardens and why.
A big well done to everyone who decorated an egg this year it was very hard to choose a winner as per every year.
Symbol Detectives
In R.E this week we have been looking at what visual symbols and symbolic acts can be seen in a Christian church. We watched a short video where we were detectives and looked for signs of this. Once we had watched the video, we used team work to create mind maps noting down all the things we had seen that were symbols and symbolic acts within the church.
"There are lots of crosses within a church all a symbol of what happened to Jesus on the cross"
"Holy communion where Christians have bread and wine is a symbolic act that happens in church"
Christmas Dinner
On Friday we enjoyed a special Christmas Dinner at lunch time. Provided by Chartwells and prepared by our lunch cooks, we had roast turkey and all the trimmings.
Pupil 1: I liked listening to music whilst we ate our dinner.
Pupil 2: Mini sausage is the best!
Pupil 3: I love the Christmassy cake for pudding.
Year 3 and 4 Carol Service
Thank you so much to everyone who was able to attend the carol service on Tuesday evening. The children had worked really hard, practising their singing and Makaton movements. There was beautiful singing, great audience participation and even a magic trick from Reverend Mark. It was a great event to kick off the festivities of the month. Feliz Navidad!
Diva Lamps
As part of our interfaith week we have made diva lamps from salt dough, then we painted them in lovely bright colours and finally we decorated them.
Rangoli Art
During Sunita's visit this week, year 4 enjoyed creating some lovely artwork. We learned about how people may present Rangoli art on the floor outside their homes, during the Hindu celebration of Diwali. The art is symmetrical so that it will look just as wonderful, no matter which way you approach it from. We had to use team-work and good communication skills to create group artwork.
Diwali
After learning all about Diva lamps as part of the Hindu celebration of Diwali, Year 1 made their own Diva lamps to hang in the windows of the classroom. We followed instructions to select the correct materials and use our DT skills of folding, cutting and joining, to make the lamps. We hope you like them.
Pupil 1: I learnt about Rama and Sita coming home in the dark.
Pupil 2: They followed the lamps in the windows of the houses to get home.
Pupil 3: I got better and better at the folding.
Pupil 4: I thought it was tricky but my friend helped me.
Pupil 5: I loved the story in assembly.
Pupil 6: I liked making divas.
Bollywood Dancing
Pumpkin class worked with Sunita this afternoon to do some Bollywood dancing as part of our Hindu experience work. Children wore suitable attire to dance in and Sunita showed us lots of different dance moves to try.
"It was so fun!"
"I really liked trying all the different dance moves"
"I got 2 team points for my dancing"
"It was funny that Miss Purshouse was the Queen"
"I hope we get to go that again"
Harvest Festival
The Harvest Festival was an amazing event. Each of the classes prepared something to share - pieces of art, letters, poems and songs. It was lovely seeing the Foundation children join us to share their song. Rev Chris came to talk to us about harvest and spoke about how it is important to share and care for each other, qualities which we treasure within our school.
Inside a Mosque
As part of our learning in RE about different religious buildings, we looked inside a Mosque. We found many things inside and we recorded what they were. Both of the Mosques had: a Prayer Hall – where Muslims kneel on the carpet to pray; a Washroom – where Muslims clean themselves before they enter the Prayer Hall; a Minbar – where the Imam stands to talk to all the people; and a Mihrab – showing Muslims which way to face as they pray.
We then looked at our real Prayer Mats and designed some of our own. We really enjoyed designing and colouring them.
CW – I’m really proud of mine, I made it look amazing
SW – I’ve made mine really colourful with a rainbow of colours
SP – I liked watching the video of a Mosque to see inside
JR – The Mosque usually has a dome and a tall tower
Hindu Pilgrimages
In RE we have been looking at Pilgrimages, we have learnt lots of information about Hindu Pilgrimages.
Today we created a board game about the Kumbh Mela. We designed the game to use a dice and counters, we had to think of lots of questions as well consequences for landing on certain squares.
I think everyone did a fantastic job!
Year 3 - Modern Day Commandments for a Modern Life
In RE we have been considering what it is to live a good life. We looked at the 10 commandments and discussed whether they are relevant to today's life. We then looked at some rules made by a Rabbi reflecting on what Judaism has taught him about a good life. The children then made a list of 10 ways to live a good life thinking about how we can be inclusive and work together to make this world a better place.
Year 3 & 4 Easter Service
The children in years 3 and 4 were fortunate to be invited to take part in an Easter celebration at St Margaret's church. The service included readings about the Easter story and traditional hymns. The children enjoyed sharing their learning about the Easter story including pieces of artwork about the Last Supper, the garden of Gethsemane and the resurrection of Jesus.
Reverend Mark shared his thoughts on Lent linked with some Easter magic which amazed the children. After the service the children enjoyed a drink and a biscuit before returning to school. As ever, we would like to thank St Margaret's church for being a part of our school's community and we hope you enjoyed the Easter card and artwork that we left you. The children were amazing, their singing was inspiring and they were a real credit to the school. We are so proud of them.
Our Year 1 Easter Bonnet Competition Winners!
Congratulations to everyone who made an Easter bonnet, it was really tough for us to pick winners as everyone's were equally as amazing!
The Last Supper
In year 1 we have been learning all about the Easter story, today we focused on the 'Last Supper' or 'The Meal.' We had our own last supper, eating bread, and drinking Cranberry juice for the wine. After this as part of well-being Wednesday we created our own last supper pictures.
"I would have Spaghetti Bolognese"
"I've drawn pizza!"
"My last supper would be chicken nuggets, chips and beans"
"I'd have McDonald's"
Pancake Day
Today in Year 1 we have been finding all about Pancake Day. We discovered Pancake Day is also called Shrove Tuesday and happens before Lent begins. The day before Lent begins people would use up ingredients by making pancakes. We had a go at making our own with jam or syrup on.
"It was yummy"
"I liked stirring the batter"
"Lent is before people give up things"
"Miss Purshouse flipped the pancake so high"
"I had jam it was delicious"
Y3 - RE Building Bridges
The children were set a challenge to build a bridge across a 'river' with lego but they could only work on their half of the river. The children realised it took communication skills between them to work collaboratively.
We then learnt about how Adam and Eve were punished by God and how he eventually sent his son to 'build bridges' between God and humanity and open their line of communication.
The children made links between this and playground/friendship issues. Sometimes we need a third party to get people to talk, resolve their issues and work in harmony.
Who would have thought we could learn so much from a few bits of lego?
Chinese New Year
We have started our learning about Chinese New Year in foundation stage. We have read the story of 'The Great Race' and learned that there are 12 animals which different years are named after. This year is the year of the rabbit, but most of us will have been born in the year of the dog or the rooster. We have enjoyed exploring Chinese food in our takeaway role play area, as well as trying on some traditional Chinese clothing. We have also tried writing and painting some Chinese words and numbers. We have made some Chinese dragons using a concertina effect with card - next week we will be making a big dragon and taking part in a dragon dance. Happy Lunar New Year to all those who celebrate it!
A Magical Christmas Performance!
Well done to everyone in Pumpkin Class for their lovely Christmas nativity play. They told the story of the nativity beautifully. Everyone sang well, danced enthusiastically and the acting and the speaking were amazing too. Many thanks to all the parents and carers for organising such wonderful costumes.
Christianity: The Start of Advent
We had an exciting assembly led by our special visitor Mrs. Cockerill. She told the children all about Advent being the time leading up to Christmas Day. The word Advent means ‘coming’ and the children learnt that it is a time of preparation for Christians to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Mrs. Cockerill made the assembly very interesting and enjoyable with her props, dressing up and whole school singing.
Inter-Faith Week
Pumpkin Class have been finding out about three different religions this week.
They visited the RE display in the school hall, listened to a range of faith stories and watched videos about people’s way of life: how they worship and what they believe in.
J- We have been researching Christianity, Islam and Hinduism.
A- We made word maps of all the interesting facts we found out.
L- The stories and videos were good.
S- I enjoyed finding things out.
Then the children wondered if the different faiths had any things in common.
A- They all want people to have a good life.
R- They all have special buildings where people go to worship, like a church, a Mandir or a Mosque.
M- They all have a special book, like a Bible, a Qur’an or a Vedas.
J- It was interesting how they all have special celebrations, special symbols and special people who teach them and help them to worship.
Hinduism Visit- Sunita
Hindu Experience - Bollywood Dancing
We were lucky to have Sunita come and visit the school today. She told us a story about Rama and Sita in assembly then she came to our class to teach us about traditional Hindu dances. The children had lots of fun dressing up and dancing ‘Bollywood style’.
Willow Class
We welcomed Sunita into our school this morning to learn more about Hinduism.
Altogether we took part in an interactive story of Rama and Sita. In class Willow class learnt about Rangoli art and created our own versions using stencils and chalk pastels.
Year 6
Year 6 had a great afternoon learning all about life in India! We found there to be many similarities between India and our own lives- including McDonald's, gaming and football! We looked at other aspects of daily life, such as housing, pets, schools and transport; a very eye-opening and insightful session!
Respecting Each Other
Year 2 enjoyed a special assembly led by Sunita. She told them all about her religion: Hinduism. She told them the story of Rama and Sita and demonstrated how she prays and celebrates the festival of Diwali. After the assembly the children thought that it had been unkind of some children who laughed when Sunita showed pictures of her gods. This led to an important discussion about why it is important to show respect to others.
Mrs. Brady showed the class The Equality Act 2020 poster ‘Protected Characteristics.’ The children picked out some of the symbols they recognised e.g. religious symbols, people of different ages, male and female symbols, people with disabilities and different kinds of families. They made posters to show that all people need to be treated fairly.
M- Sunita has a religion called Hinduism.
A-She prays in a temple called a Mandir.
E- If she wants to pray somewhere else she can set up a little table called a shrine with all her candles and little statues of gods.
R- I learnt that people are different and it doesn’t matter if people pray to different gods.
S- People have the right to dress differently and wear things that they like.
V- She taught us that we need to show respect for each other.
Imran Kotwal
Laceby Stanford Primary Academy had a special visitor on Tuesday, Imran Kotwal from The Muslim Learner Services. He came and spoke with Key Stage 2 pupils about Islam and their key beliefs and also challenging stereotypes.
Parent Workshop delivered by Imran from The Muslim Learner Centre
A fantastic workshop for Parents and Carers on Islam. Thank you for the wonderful feedback:
“Really helpful and welcoming”
“Fantastic to learn about Islam, really enjoyed being able to ask questions and find out more about this amazing religion. Would love to learn more.”
“Very interesting and so informative. I really appreciate the time this took, so informative- would come again!”
“Very insightful and lovely session to meet other parents who are interested in exploring Islam. The discussion time/Q and A time is great to open up discussion on topics amongst parents.”
“It is definitely worth learning about other religions. Imran you are an asset to us and the kids at this school.”
How do we express feelings?
Juniper class explored how we express how we are feeling through different methods: poetry, songs, dance, art etc
We used different facial expressions, body language and tone of voice to show this in small groups, with our peers having to guess the emotion we were displaying. We linked this to different faiths and how expressing faiths involve feelings and emotions.
Year 2 Visit to St. Margaret's Church
As part of their RE work, Pumpkin Class visited the church. They learnt all about the Easter story with Rev. Mark and enjoyed exploring the church and asking lots of questions.
Mrs. Brady would like to thank Rev. Mark and all the community members for their warm welcome and help with the visit.
M- Rev. Mark talked about Easter and did some magic tricks.
E- I felt excited because I had never been in the church before.
R- We gave Easter cards and a pot of daffodils to the church.
H- We thought of the people in Ukraine and prayed for them. We put Ukraine flags on a cross.
E- We sat on the pews.
J- Rev. Mark had a bowl made of melted toy soldiers which he put Ukraine flags in. He talked about wanting peace in the world, not war.
E- We had biscuits and juice.
O- Mr. Swallow showed us a kneeler with the Stanford badge and a cross on it.
K- Mrs. Brady played the organ and we all sang Easter songs.
A- The altar is a special table and it had flowers and candles on it.
A- I saw lots of crosses all over the church. Jesus died on a cross.
W- Jesus was on a stained glass window and there were pictures of people praying. I liked it, it was colourful.
F- I saw the font where the babies get christened.
P- There were lots of Bibles.
C- I stood at the lectern.
E- I saw the pulpit.
H- I enjoyed my trip there, it was so interesting!
Five Pillars of Islam
In our RE lessons this term we are learning about the life journey that Muslim's follow.
In our most recent lesson, we recapped the place of worship (Mosque), the religious leader (Imam) and the holy book (Qu'ran), which lead us to discuss the Five Pillars of Islam, which are the core beliefs and practices that Muslim's follow.
They are;
- Profession of Faith (Shahada). The belief that "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God" is central to Islam.
- Prayer (Salat).
- Alms (Zakat).
- Fasting (Sawm).
- Pilgrimage (Hajj).
We are excited to learn more about the Islam faith and to compare and contrast to Christianity and Hinduism as we continue our RE lessons in Year 6.
