What does Religious Education look like
What does Religious Education look like at West Minster Primary School?
Coming soon…
1st Dec – 24th Dec – MAF Advent Adventure (Accessed in school and via Class Dojo)
Term 2
What will your children be learning?
EYFS – Celebrations
Year 1/2 – Who is a Muslim and what do they believe? (Islam)
Year 3/4 – Why are festivals important? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Humanism)
Year 5/6 – Is it better to express your religion in arts and architecture or in charity or generosity? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Humanism, Sikhism, Buddhism)
Religion of the month
November – Buddhism
December – Judaism
Whole School
MAF Advent Adventure
West Minster is very lucky to have been selected to take part in the MAF Advent Adventure for free. Every child in the school received an advent calendar to take home with them and each class received a pack full of exciting goodies.
Everyday in December the children will be following MAF as they fly around the world helping some of the poorest and most isolated communities. On our journey we will be learning exciting facts about each country and discovering how religion is at the core of the aid and support each community receives. Also the children will be learning about how Christmas is celebrated around the world.
27 November – The children took part in a MAF Advent Adventure Launch zoom assembly.
1st – Ecuador, 2nd – South Sudan, 3rd – Papua New Guinea (Part 1), 4th – Papua, 5th – Brazil, 6th – Papua New Guinea (Part 2), 7th – Kenya, 8th – D.R. Congo, 9th – Suriname, 10th – Mareeba, 11th – Chad, 12th – Kalimantan, 13th – Arnhem Land, 14th – Tanzania, 15th – Lesotho, 16th – Haiti, 17th – Uganda, 18th – Angola, 19th – Madagascar, 20th – Bangladesh, 21st – Mozamnique, 22nd – Timor-Leste, 23rd – Liberia, 24th – Myanmar.
Reception
This term the children spent a week looking at a variety of religions and celebrations. The children read different stories about each festival and made models of religious artefacts and artwork.
Hanukkah – The children made hand print menorah candles.
Diwali – The children made Diva lamps.
Chinese new year – The children made Chinese lanterns and tasted Chinese food.
Noahs Ark – We made animal masks and colouring pictures.
Term 1
What will your children be learning?
EYFS – Celebrations.
Year 1/2 – Who is a Christian and what do they believe? (Christianity)
Year 3/4 – Why is Jesus inspiring to some people? (Christianity)
Year 5/6 – What do religious say to us when life gets hard? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Humanism, Sikhism, Buddhism)
Religion of the month
September – Christianity
October – Hinduism
During Term 1 our main focus was to help your children readjust to attending school after such a long time away. During our RE lessons we focused on our feelings and what gives us hope. The children were given lots of opportunities to discuss their own beliefs and the beliefs of other people, while thinking about how religion for some people gives them hope.
Term 5 – learning at home
What will your children be learning on Class Dojo?
EYFS – All creatures great and small
Year 1 – What does it mean to belong to a faith community? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam)
Year 2 – How and why do we celebrate special and sacred times? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam)
Year 3 – Why are festivals important to religious communities? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism)
Year 4 – What does it mean to be a Hindu in Britain today? (Hinduism)
Year 5 – If God is everywhere why go to a place of worship? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Humanism)
Year 6 – Is it better to express your religion in arts and architecture or in charity or generosity? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Humanism, Sikhism, Buddhism)
Religion of the month
April – Christianity
May – Islam
All work from this term has been uploaded on to ClassDojo by parents and pupils as part of our at home learning provision.
Year 3
The children have been discovering different religious festivals and why they are important to each religion.
Year 4
The children have been discovering what life is like for Hindus in Britain today, by finding out what values are important to them and how this affects their daily life.
Year 5
The Children explored Islam, particularly the start of Ramadan. While they researched Islamic pray they compared it to they way Christians and Hindus pray. Here is what they discovered…
Year 6
The children in year 6 were set the task to create a comic book strip to retell the Christian story of Easter. Here is what they created…
What does good and bad mean to you? How does religion affect how you see good and bad? What is similar and different between religious views? This is what the children discovered…
Term 4
What will your children be learning?
EYFS – All creatures great and small
Year 1 – How and why do we celebrate special and sacred times? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam)
Year 2 – How and why do we celebrate special and sacred times? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam)
Year 3 – Why do people pray? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Humanism)
Year 4 – Why do some people think life is a journey? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Humanism)
Year 5 – Can we live by the values of Jesus in the 21st century? (Christianity, Humanism)
Year 6 – What does it mean to be a Muslin in Britain today? (Islam)
Religion of the month
February – Buddhism
March – Hinduism
Some work from this term has been uploaded on to ClassDojo by parents and pupils as part of our at home learning provision.
Reception – Year 4
The children in Reception to Year 4 were treated to an Easter show by the Family Trust. Using puppets, songs and acting the Christian story of Easter was shared with the children.
Ivy Centre
Here is what the children have been discovering about Christians…
Year 2
The children visited a local place of worship – ‘The Community Church’ in sheerness and met some lovely people who spoke to them about Judaism particularly the festival of Passover. We discovered what a Seder plate is and why it is used. They also heard from a lady who has been working with schools in Uganda to help ensure the children there also get a good education. She showed the children lots of artefacts and spoke about the Uganda people’s beliefs.
Year 3
Year 3 were planning to visit a local place of worship this term – Islamic Community Center. Although this was not able to happen because we needed to start learning from home the children will not miss out on this experience. The trip will be reschedule as soon as it is safe to do so.
In Year 3 they have been finishing off our big question from last term: Why is the bible important to Christians? Here is what the children discovered…
The children retold the Christian story of Easter while working at home.
Year 5 & 6
The children were due to take part in a Easter Workshop to explore the Easter story and what that teaches Christians. Unfortunately, this needed to be cancelled due to the requirement to learn from home.
Term 3
What will your children be learning?
EYFS – Celebrations
Year 1 – How and why do we celebrate special and sacred times? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam)
Year 2 – What can we learn from sacred books? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam)
Year 3 – Why is the bible important to Christians? (Christianity)
Year 4 – Why do some people think life is a journey? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Humanism)
Year 5 – Can we live by the values of Jesus in the 21st century? (Christianity, Humanism)
Year 6 – Is it better to express your religion in arts and architecture or in charity or generosity? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Humanism, Sikhism, Buddhism)
Religion of the month
January – Islam
February – Buddhism
Whole School
Colourful Fun to celebrate the Hindu festival of Holi.
The Hindu festival HOLI (also know as the festival of colour) was celebrated at West Minster with a whole school dance workshop by K’z Dance Entertainment. The children took part in Bollywood style choreography in small groups throughout the day and then joined together on the playground at each school to showcase their new dance skills led by Kalpesh Zalavadiya.
The spectacular finale was the throwing of coloured powder paints which is a worldwide Holi tradition.
Miss Simpson – PE coordinator: ‘We had so much fun, the children loved covering their friends and teachers in bright colours.
Mrs Brewer – Head Teacher: “It was lovely to see everyone come together and visually display the wonderful and colourful atmosphere we have here at the federation”.
Here is what our parents had to say about what their children got up to…
Year 4 parent: “Kids loved it thank you all!”
Year 3 parent: “My Riley loved it and has shown me the dance moves he’s learnt”.
Year 2 & 4 parent: “The boys had a great day”.
Year 2 and 6 parent: “Girls enjoyed themselves now stuffing their faces for having a shower”.
Visitors
During assemblies this term we were visited by a member of the Isle of Sheppey Islamic Community Centre. He spoke to the children about what life is like for him as a Muslim and answered lots of questions that children wanted to find out.
We were also visited by the ‘Family Trust’ and they sang songs with children about being kind to ourselves and others.
Reception
World Religion Day – Christianity
During World Religion Day the children in reception discovered the story of ‘Noah’s ark’. They created their own animals and then rein-acted the story. A recording of the performance was played to parents during our ‘WRD Parent/ Carers celebration’.
Year 1
World Religion Day – Buddhism
During World Religion Day the children in Year 1 listened to stories from the book ‘Buddha at Bedtime’ and discovered why a Lotus flower is an important symbol of the Buddhist religion. The children were also given opportunities to mediate which they really enjoyed taking part in. Their work was shared with parents/carers at the ‘WRD celebration’.
Year 2
World Religion Day – Judaism
During World Religion Day the children in Year 2 listened to the book ‘ Sammy Spider’s first book of Jewish holidays’, discovered the Jewish festival Tu Bishavat and researched where Judaism originated. Here is what they shared with their parents/ carers at WRD celebration…
Year 3
World Religion Day – Hinduism
During World Religion Day the children in Year 3 discovered the story of Holika & Prahlad and learned how it influenced the festival of ‘Holi’ – The festival of colour. During the day the children discussed the reasons Prahlad was burned in the fire and how colour makes us feel, they also were able to paint their hands (on cling film) in the style of traditional Hindu dress and lastly researched where the religion originated from. Parents/carers were invited in to school to share in the celebration of WRD.
Foxglove (Ivy Centre)
The children re-capped what Christians believe by looking at the display of past learning. The story of ‘The Fall of Jericho’ was shared and the children acted it out. As a class they discussed how it is important to be strong and keep trying with our work.
World Religion Day – Hinduism
During World Religion Day the children in the Ivy Centre (Foxglove & Clover) found out about Hindu weddings and took part in Hindu celebration dancing. This is what the children shared with their parents/carers…
Year 4
World Religion Day – Sikhism
During the day the children designed and made ‘Kalgis’ symbols of royalty, usually decorated with ornaments which are worn on the front of the turban with a single feature or a cluster of feathers. We also looked at where Sikhism originated from and used the internet to research facts. This is what the children shared with their parents/carers…
Year 5
World Religion Day – Islam
During the day the children researched special places to the Islamic faith and where in the world they are – particularly mosques. Here is the artwork they shared with their families…
Year 6
World Religion Day – Humanism
During the day the children researched the world views that underpin Humanism, discovered which famous people they knew who are Humanists and looked at there hopes for the future. The children wanted to redesign the Humanism logo to better show the key values they stand for, here is what they shared with their parents / carers…
Term 2
What will your children be learning?
EYFS – Celebrations
Year 1 – What makes some places sacred? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam)
Year 2 – Who is a Jewish and what do they believe? (Judaism)
Year 3 – What do people believe about God? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Humanism)
Year 4 – Why are festivals important? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Humanism)
Year 5 – Why do some people believe God exist? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Humanism)
Year 6 – Is it better to express your religion in arts and architecture or in charity or generosity? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Humanism, Sikhism, Buddhism)
Religion of the month
November – Buddhism
December – Judaism
What have the children been up to?
Whole School
Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukkah.
To celebrate the start two religious festivals ‘Christmas – Christianity’ and ‘Hanukkah – Judaism’, every class created images relating to either festival. We put these together to create a welcome display in our main reception area.
Family Trust – Nativity performance
The whole school was treated to a puppet show nativity performance by the ‘Family Trust’.
Reception – Frankie – “It’s good, I loved angels”.
Year 1 – Mrs Teddy – “I was really good, it kept the children interested and they loved taking part and singing the songs”.
Year 2 – Dolly – “The nativity show was great”.
Year 3 – Archie – “It was fantastic”.
Year 4 – Shay – “The puppets were funny. The nativity showed Jesus was born and 3 wise men visited Jesus bringing gold. The star showed them where to go”.
Year 5 – Lily – “It was really good and funny. We learnt more about Jesus, he was born in Bethlehem on Christmas day. Shepherds, lambs, a donkey, angel and wise men came to see him.
Year 6 – Kian – ‘It was good and quite funny”.
Mrs Brewer – “I thought it was really good and the children really enjoyed taking part. It is nice for the whole school to be able to watch the nativity and lots of children to join in”.
KS2
The children in Year 3, 4, 5 & 6 all went a local church (Trinity Church Sheerness) for our Christmas Carol service where the children we singing and signing Christmas songs. During the service the children were treated to performances from a professional Harpist and a year 4 class played Silent Night on instruments. Our school choir performed to rest of the children and a selection of Year 6 children retold the nativity story. It was a lovely morning and made everyone feel very festive.
KS2 Children were given Christingle packs to take home so they could make their own Christingle at home with their families. Each pack contained: a donation envelope for the children’s society, Instructions & meaning of Christingle sheet, A candle, 4 Cocktail sticks and a red strip of card.
Here are some photos of the Christingles the Children made at home with their families…
Nursery
The children took part in the ‘ Wiggly Nativity’ and enjoyed performing it to their families.
Christingle making charity fundraiser for ‘The children’s society’, supporting young carers in our local community
During the Nursery end of term parent ‘Stay & play’ day, the children and their families were given an opportunity to make Christingles and discover the meaning behind them.
Reception
The children in Reception have been exploring types of celebrations: Diwali, Hanukkah & Chinese New Year.
Throughout the week the children took part in lots of activities to experience different family customs and routines.
- Rangoli patterns,
- Diwa lamps,
- Menorah hand painting,
- Food tasting.
- and many more.
The children took part in the ‘ Wiggly Nativity’ and enjoyed performing it to their families.
Clover (Ivy Centre)
How do people celebrate different festivals?
Making Diva lamps
Playing Dreidal game
Year 1
All term we have been learning about different celebrations from different religions, and other celebrations we have taken part in. We have talked about things that are the same and different in each celebration. We finished this topic off by learning about and making our own Christingles.
We have been learning about Judaism, in particularly focusing on Shabbat. To help the children understand they were given the opportunity to prepare their own snack and then sat together and shared stories with candle, wine and Challah bread in the middle of our group.
Christingle making charity fundraiser for ‘The children’s society’, supporting young carers in our local community
We enjoyed making our very own Christingle to take home. We learnt the history of the Christingle within the Christian church. Before we found out the meaning of each part, we tried to work it out. We were right that the orange represents the world. Ask us about the Christingle, we can tell you how to make it and what it means to Christians.
The children took part in a nativity performance which was shared with their families.
Year 2
To celebrate the Jewish holiday of Hanakkah, the children in Year 2 have been discovering Driedels.
Year 2 have been exploring the similarities and differences between what is special to their own families and to Jewish families.
The children have been finding out what a Jewish home is like…
Christingle making charity fundraiser for ‘The children’s society’, supporting young carers in our local community.
The children discovered what each part of a Christingle means and why they are lit at Christmas. They watched a video showing other children making Christingles to discover what they mean to them.
Foxglove (Ivy Centre)
The children in Foxglove class have been discovering the story of creation.
Year 3
Year 3 have been making their own Driedels to celebrate Hanukkah. They then played the game.
The children have been discovering what different people believe about God. Here is what they have discovered…
Year 4
The children have been thinking about the ten commandments and considering the importance of each commandment to their own life.
The children have been creating freeze frames to represent The Beatitudes blessings. Here is how they got on…
How do Jewish and Christian people use stories to teach lessons?
Year 5
During their RE lessons Year 5 have been taking part in debates to think about key issues surrounding religious beliefs. Here is some of the areas they have been exploring.
As part of our Judaism month the children were spoken to be one of our TA’s about his religion. He brought in to school personal religious artefacts and explained to the children what they are and why they are important to Jewish people. As part of the lesson the children were given the opportunity to explore each artefact and then attempt to write in Hebrew.
Year 6
During RE lessons the children have been thinking about different beliefs regarding what happens after life.
Term 1
What will your children be learning?
EYFS – Celebrations.
Year 1 – Who is a Christian and what do they believe? (Christianity)
Year 2 – Who is a Muslim and what do they believe? (Islam)
Year 3 – What do people believe about God? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Humanism)
Year 4 – Why is Jesus inspiring to some people? (Christianity)
Year 5 – Why do some people believe God exist? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Humanism)
Year 6 – What do religious say to us when life gets hard? (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Humanism, Sikhism, Buddhism)
Religion of the month
September – Christianity
October – Hinduism
What have the children been up to?
Clover (Ivy Centre)
How do Christian’s believe the world was made? What do you think God looks like?
Year 1
The children went on a trip to Trinity Church in Sheerness to find out what it is like in a Christian place of worship. During the visit the children took part in singing and had the opportunity to pray if they chose to. One of the children’s favourite thing they discovered was all the stain glass windows, which inspired the children’s art work upon returning to school.
Year 2
Year 2 have been discovering religion within the local community. Here is what they have discovered…
What have the children discovered about the 5 Pillars of Islam?
Year 3
Year 3 have been discovering what people believe about God. During one of their lessons they had the opportunity to find out about the Qu’ran.
Harley – “The Qu’ran is important to Muslims and has different languages inside. Young children learn the languages even if they are little”.
Gary – “People are not allowed to touch it because it is rude and disrespectful to Muslims”.
Chelsey – “Muslims only touch it with the Wudhu”.
Chloe – “It goes on a special stand”.
Ross – “Everyone must be clean to be near the Qu’ran as they use it to pray”.
Year 5
While thinking about why some people believe God exists, the children considered if it is possible to live by Gods values in today’s society.
