Our RE curriculum is enriched by the multi faith work we do in school. Every class studies Judaism in every year group, for one week each year. The classes spend a second week studying Islam. As a result of this, our children are respectful and celebrate differences, believing that all people are made in the image and likeness of God.
Diwali
Our Reception children have been learning all about the Hindu festival of Diwali also referred to as the Festival of Lights. They have produced lots of amazing work! They have created Rangoli patterns in lots of different ways, made Diya lamps and created Mehndi patterns on photos of themselves.
Today our Year 5 and 6 children were connected via zoom to the Faith Belief Forum. This enabled our children to connect with people of different faiths and beliefs. The children prepared questions to ask the speakers and gained a valuable insight into their beliefs. We talked to a Muslim, Hindu and a Humanist.
The sessions were really interesting and the children really enjoyed listening to the speakers.
The feedback from the forum was-
"We had some great feedback from our speakers on the quality of the students’ questions and I could tell that you and your staff did some amazing preparation with them beforehand, which was lovely to see"
Islam
Today Imran Kotwal returned to St Peter's to teach us about Islam.
This week the whole school will be learning about different aspects of this religion.
Imran delivered an assembly all about Ramadan and Eid and talked about his experiences of fasting and prayer. He taught us about those who have to fast and why giving to charity is important to him.
After the assembly Imran worked with Year 5 learning about Hajj and he told them about his own experiences.
Imran then finished the day working with Year 3 learning about what you will find inside a mosque and how people behave inside a mosque.
Thankyou to Imran for explaining everything is such an interesting and enjoyable way. We learned so much and really enjoyed your visit.
Holocaust Memorial day
Today Martin Hyman, a volunteer speaker for the Northern Holocaust Education group visited school to talk to Year 6.
Martin Hyman shared with us the story of his grandparents Max and Rosa Beres and their daughter Ilse, Martin's mother.Max and Rosa Beres left Ukraine in 1897 for a better, safer life in Austria. Max fought for the Austro-Hungarian Empire in WW1. Max and Rosa had what they thought was a safe, secure and happy life. They were now Austrians, living in the European, cultural capital as Jews. Their only child, Ilse, was born in Vienna in 1924.However, their lives were turned upside down with the arrival of the German Army and Nazis in March 1938 and the Anschluss [the joining together of Germany and Austria]. Almost immediately the persecution of the Jews started.Martin shared their story from leaving Ukraine through to the impact the Holocaust had on their lives.
Martin really enjoyed his visit and said " A massive thankyou to the staff and especially the amazing pupils. They were wonderful and a massive credit to St Peter's. I loved their questions"
Year 5 Visit to Manchester Jewish Museum
What a fascinating trip we had this afternoon to Manchester’s Jewish Museum!
We explored the oldest synagogue in Manchester and learnt more about personal stories of those who lived in Manchester as part of the Jewish community.
We studied and handled artefacts from the museum’s collection and learnt about the personal stories of those who lived in Manchester and were part of the Jewish community.
The children even had the opportunity to become filmmakers and record some of their findings from our visit!
We were so proud of the children’s behaviour in representing the school I know they all had a great time!
Year 3 Visit to Manchester Jewish Museum
Today, Year 3 visited Manchester Jewish Museum. We have been learning all about Judaism in Religion lessons so we wanted to see a synagogue in " real life". We went on a treasure hunt around the museum finding significant objects and answering questions about them. We then went into the synagogue and talked about its significant features. We finished our visit by handling some of the artefacts from the museum.
Lara, our guide, was very impressed with our knowledge and our behaviour and we learned so much more about Judaism from our visit.
Islam
Imran kotwal, from Muslim Learner services in Bolton came to visit our school for the day. He did a whole school assembly where he taught us all about the Five Pillars of Islam. He had lots of interesting artefacts to show us.
After that Imran did workshops in each of the KS2 classes. The children learned about how Muslims dress and pray. He talked about pilgrimage and fasting. The children really enjoyed Imran's visit and asked him some very interesting questions.
Imran was very impressed with the children's behaviour and commented on how respectful the children were on his visit.
He would love to come back soon.
Please see Imran's letter below.
Dear Mrs Clinch
Judaism Talk
Year 5 and Year 6 have been learning about the Jewish Passover celebration in Religion and the story of Exodus.
Today we were very lucky to have two visitors who were able to share the symbols of their religion with us and teach us more about some of the customs of their faith.
