RE News Welcome to the Sixth Edition of RE News
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Diocese of York RE News Welcome to the sixth edition of RE News. Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far. We would love to hear about what is going on in your school and welcome any feedback about the newsletters. If you have any ideas for future editions of RE News or you would like your school to feature, please contact either Olivia Seymour [email protected] or Celia Roberts [email protected] Our Feature School: Archbishop Sentamu Academy, Hull Year 7 reflection week To help celebrate the Archbishop’s birthday we wanted to do something special with our Year Seven students. We decided to create our own reflection week. Our reflection week consisted of four days out of the Academy with a wide variety of activities led by different members of our RE team. The main objective of the week was to allow them to reflect on their religious community and their role within it. Our Academy is made up of five Houses each named after Abbeys and Priories within the Diocese. We took the entire year group to visit Whitby Abbey for them to experience the awe, age and sheer beauty of it. It was also an opportunity for them to grasp firsthand the size of the Diocese. Each group was given a different starting point in the town to allow them to experience the area and not just each other. Our visit to Whitby Abbey was much more powerful than we had expected as for some of our students it was the furthest way they had been from where they lived. To see their faces brighten up and comment on how amazing they thought the place to be, to what we as a team tend to take for granted with our own families, provided us with the opportunity to reflect ourselves. The other three days enabled us, our students and our Academy Chaplain to visit more key sites within our diocese. York Minster was chosen as an obvious link with the Archbishop. We also managed to link in the current topic within the schemes of work ‘Places of Worship’ by taking advantage of the Education Centre at the Minster. ‘The Minster as a place of worship’ sessions and tours were extremely useful and really allowed them to appreciate the building itself. For the majority of students this was the first time they had entered a place of worship. The guided tours were a great opportunity for them to ask questions which we wouldn’t have been able to answer as easily. The day really added to their sense of belonging to the diocese and their understanding of the importance of being named after such a figure as Sentamu. The local church was that of our Chaplain. Here they could see where his parish is based, this is a stark contrast with the Minster as it is not just a place of worship but a also a community centre used for a variety of reasons. The focus of the day was how the students felt towards those not as privileged as themselves. It allowed them to reflect on what they take for granted and the positives that they have in their lives, to question why What’s inside? people’s opportunities and circumstances are different and what if anything they think they could and should do about it. The day created a very positive attitude to helping others Primary feature 2 and set a few groups off actually implanting plans to do some charity work for less Church School Links developed countries. 3-4 Spiritual Development feature 5 continued overleaf Network Groups 6 SIAS briefing Barnabas RE Training (The Bible in RE) Training and Events update 15th September 2010 1-3.30pm 13th October 2010 Diocesan House, York Bishopthorpe Palace, York Autumn 2010 Minsitry through Schools Foundation Governor Training (Christian Governors serving community schools) 12th October 2010 6.30-8pm 12th October 2010 6.30-8pm Diocesan House, York Diocesan House, York For more details please contact our administrator Anita Ranyell at [email protected] or go to www.dioceseofyork.org.uk Choosing the Hull Kingston Rovers ground for the remaining event was because of the high regard and passion the vast majority of the students have for the local team. It is hard not to be brought up a rugby fan living in Hull and even if it is for the other team, Hull FC, the grounds are a sacred place to many. Stirring up these feelings and linking them to religious faith worked well. The activities here were based on church community and the importance of the different roles/positions people have within it. This included a focus on St. Paul’s teaching of the Church being the body of Christ. They also explored the important role Church of England Academies have within the Church. As a team we were very pleased with the week’s events and the quality of reflection it created for the students. It was personalised to our students and hopefully created everlasting memories for themes. The experience was very tiring for staff but well worth it and we have already agreed to be doing it all again next year! Kelly Bowen RE Team Leader Primary RE Focus Forest of Galtres (Anglican Methodist) Primary School Spirited Arts At the beginning of this year children and teachers in all year groups began to explore questions in RE through selecting a theme from the NATRE 2010 ‘Art in Heaven’ Spirited Arts competition. They spent time discussing themes throughout the term for example year 2 worked on ‘Celebrating Life, Celebrating Love’. They looked at the work of Bonnie Ferrill Roman, an artist who works to produce natural sculpture and created their own pieces from various materials which symbolised their lives, loves and their relationship with God in the natural environment – a complete natural progression. The children all wrote about their sculptures and set them around the school grounds in special, significantly spiritual places; the friendship area, in daffodils to represent new life. Year 3 children looked at the story of Noah and the Ark but delved into hopes and fear both our own and those of others around the world in areas of conflict, creating inspiring pieces of art that included colours of the rainbow representing hope to all Christians. Year 5, having visited a mosque, continued to think about sacred buildings and what is needed for a connection to be made in a spiritual space. This included art on what Mohammed took to the cave to make that connection comparing it to a local mosque in 2010. Reception children looked at Bible stories and talked about where is God? They produced some beautiful pieces of art exploring their ideas. Spirited Arts has been an exciting way to use RE to encourage the children in our school to ask and explore the big questions that RE poses with creativity and imagination. We have all enjoyed some great teaching, learning and working together on an exciting whole school project. Rachel Oates RE Co-ordinator Find out more about spirited Arts and opportunities to use it in the RE classroom at http://natre.org.uk/spiritedarts/ index.php Church School Links West Heslerton CE (VC) Primary School Involving the community in exploring our local churches West Heslerton CE Primary School, near Malton has 4 churches in its catchment area. We have 50 children on role, organised into 2 classes. This provides small groups and ample opportunity to explore a range of churches. It also means a lot of hard work on our part to be involved in church life in a way that is fair to each church and congregation! Read on for details of our most recent projects…… Create a Treasure Hunt for St Andrew’s Church, East Heslerton. The children of keeper wood started this project by walking to church along the ‘Priests’ Trod’, the path used in the past by clergy to access each village church. Classteacher Sheryl Woodward took the whole class round the church. They looked at the finer details in the windows and other art work and were given factual information about the church. The children then explored the church yard to find the oldest and newest graves. They found families of graves and discussed the ages of some of the adults and children buried there. The children then devised ideas on paper and took photos of items they thought would make into interesting questions. Back in class, each pair of children typed up their question and added a photo if needed. The children also worked in small groups to create story sacks based on bible stories for younger children who may be attending the quiz at East Heslerton church. Keeper Wood children invited parents, all children from the school and the community to a celebratory event. A Community lunch was held in school before we walked the Priests Trod to East Heslerton church. Many guests had a go at the quiz. Badger Wood children (aged 4 to 7) revealed each quiz answer by popping balloons and finding the answer hidden inside. Those people attending were invited to buy goods from the Fairtrade Stall that school had organised. Copies of the quiz are kept for visitors to enjoy. St. Andrew’s Church, East Heslerton is a closed church and not always used for services yet can be visited by borrowing the key locally. Create a Guided Tour of All Saints’ Church, West Heslerton. The children of Keeper Wood Class began this project by investigating a range of guided tours.