Faith Week 2022
Sharing Similarities, Celebrating Differences
As part of our Religious Education we spent four afternoons in mixed-age groups, learning about Hinduism, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism having already found out about Christianity in classes.
Alice said: ‘Religion affects your life and the rules you live by.’
Oliver said: ‘Religion is a group of people.’ Benjamin added, ‘It’s about worship and prayer.’
It was lovely to see the older children helping the younger ones, and everyone working together to complete activities putting our curriculum value of being empathetic into practice.
Buddhism
The children explained how our curriculum values link with the ideas of right living in the eightfold path.
Knox said, ‘Right Action is like our thoughtfulness because you have to think about what you are doing.’
Beau said, ‘Right Effort is the same as our resilience because you have to not give up.’
One child said, ‘Right speech is empathetic because you have to think about other people’s feelings before you talk.’
Judaism
The children have been learning about where Jews worship God and where their beliefs come from. They have also found out about how and why Jews celebrate Shabbat and Hanukkah.
Summer said, ‘Jewish people believe that on the seventh day God had a rest [after creating the world] so on the seventh day, Jewish people have a rest from work.’
Jack said, ‘Jews celebrate Hanukkah because the oil was supposed to last for one day but actually lasted for 8 days. They light 8 candles to celebrate.’
Hinduism
William remembered learning about a Hindu story of creation last year, and said: ‘It’s the same story but a different video.’
Oli said, ‘Brahman picked petals off a flower to make the world.’
Kingfisher children remembered three names for Hindu gods: ‘Brahman the creator’, ‘Vishnu the protector’, and ‘Shiva the destroyer.’
Izzy said, ‘Brahman is in everything that is alive.’
Islam
The children have been finding out about the five pillars of Islam.
Wilson said, ‘ Almsgiving is like we’ve just done at Harvest Festival.’
Molly said, ‘Muslim beliefs come from the Quran which was written by Muhammed when the angel Gabriel appeared to him.’
Belle said, ‘Muslims pray five times a day – it is called Salah.’
Stanley said, ‘Muslims use their hands to pray.’
At the end of our four afternoon rotations, Beau said, ‘I’ve been curious because I’ve found out a lot!’
Harvest Festival
We used our learning from Faith Week to celebrate our harvest festival with the theme of ‘sharing’.
The Collective Worship Committee led the service, introducing each class in turn, leading the songs and sharing a prayer (click here to watch a video of our prayer).
Robins told us about some of their favourite fruits and vegetables.
Kingfishers told us about the Hindu practice of Langar – feeding anyone who comes regardless of social status.
Swallows explained that Jewish people also have a harvest festival called ‘Shavuot’ which celebrates the end of the wheat harvest.
Owls shared their learning about the Sikh langar or free kitchen – a practice introduced by Guru Nanak to make sure everyone had access to food regardless of religion or wealth.
Eagles told us about one of the pillars of Islam ‘Zakat’ – the obligation of almsgiving for those who can afford it.
Thank you for your kind donations to our Harvest Festival – we will be passing the gifts on to the Salvation Army for use in their food bank.
