Archived RE 2022-2023
Opal Learning Zone
Opal’s Harvest Journey – This half-term the children had the opportunity to visit St. Thomas’s church to take part in a wonderful Harvest Journey. The children completed several activities which included creating clay pots, tasting bread and weaving clothes. The children had an amazing time and here is what they had to say: Nathan said, “I liked the story about the fish. If we fished all the fish there would be no more fish.” Theo said, “Bread is made from flour.”
Thank you to all the church staff, the activities were very inclusive and we had a fantastic afternoon.
Amethyst Learning Zone
What do Christian’s believe God is like? – This week the children were introduced to our RE Topic. We started the session by reading the Creation story after challenging the children to explore the outdoor area to try and find things that God made. The children were able to retell the creation story and also made connections to why we should look after God’s creations.
Sapphire Learning Zone
The Birth of Jesus – Our topic in RE this term is Incarnation and our enquiry question is ‘Why does Christmas matter to Christians?’ We checked the children’s prior knowledge by asking them to order the story of the birth of Jesus. Then we asked the children questions about each character in the story. We also identified as a class, which people from the story knew that Jesus was important.
Ruby Learning Zone
Creation in Christianity – Our topic in R.E. this term was the concept of Creation in Christianity and how modern Christians beliefs and shaped by this. We studied the story of Adam and Eve and looked at the themes of disobedience and how this story shaped the events of the old testament. The children were brilliant at showing their understanding of how these events would be interpreted in a range of ways.#
Incarnation and the Trinity – During the second half of the Autumn term, the children in Ruby have learned about the concept of Incarnation and the Christian belief in the Holy Trinity. They have looked at how the different parts of the Trinity (The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit) are all different representations of God and identified how these different facets are represented throughout the Christian faith with different symbols.
Emerald Learning Zone
Incarnation – During out Incarnation topic the children are looking at the birth of Jesus and how it is told in different chapters. We have searched for key words and tried to understand the messages given to us by the different disciples. We have then linked this back to our own understanding of the birth of Jesus.
Rev. Michael Visit – We welcomed Rev. Michael into school to talk to us about his thoughts and feelings towards Incarnation. We asked him a range of interesting questions and he shared more information about how Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas time.
Diamond Learning Zone
Creation and Science: Conflicting or Complimentary? – The children have been working hard to understand the story of Genesis, Evolution and Cosmology. They have focused on the different views of people, found out about a scientist who is also a Christian and whether science and religion can answer all questions or just offer a way of thinking and responding.
How can following God bring Freedom and Justice? – This half term we have been learning about the events in Moses’ life. The children were tasked to think of the reasons why Christians believe that the ten commandments are important today and role play different scenarios to show when Jesus’ commandments were being followed and when they were not.
Archived RE 2021-2022
Opal Learning Zone
Our fantastic Amethyst Year 1 children have become teachers as they have been informing all of the Opal children about the Easter Story. The children retold the story using images they had created to give further details. The children of Opal showed a fantastic understanding of the story and were able to provide some very mature responses.
Esmae said, “It’s a sad story but has a happy ending.”
Amber said, “It was unkind for that to happen to Jesus.”
Amethyst Learning Zone
God’s Creation – In the Amethyst Learning Zone the children have been covering the Creation story. The children have thoroughly enjoyed understanding the story and how that impacts the. We were also delighted to welcome Rev. Claire McClelland into school who helped us unpick the sequence of the story through Godly Play. The children then had the opportunity to create a picture about what they most related to. This is Alfie’s painting and here is what he said,
“I did a painting of the day God made the sea and land. I love the beach and all the fish that are in it.”
Sapphire Learning Zone
Why do Christians eat Hot Cross buns at Easter? – To answer this enquiry question we invited members of our local Bread Church (St. Thomas’) into school to work with our children in the Sapphire Learning Zone.
Rev Tony (also a baker), Mrs Stancliffe (author of The Christian Aid Book of Bread) and Dr Haynes (Chair of our Academy Council) came into school on Thursday 17th March 2022 and taught the children how to make Hot Cross buns. While the buns were left to rest and rise, the children literally grilled Rev. Tony! They asked really thoughtful and probing questions about why Holy Week is so important to Christians and they discussed the events of Holy Week and how Christians remember Jesus today.
This was a cross-curricular lesson which covered areas such as weighing and measuring; writing and following instructions, food technology and RE.
The children had a fantastic time and were very proud to take home their Hot Cross buns which they’d made for their families.
Dr Haynes was very impressed with the knowledge such young children have about some very deep and spiritual concepts.
We would like to thank Rev. Tony, Mrs Stancliffe and Dr Haynes for giving up their time to spend with us.
Salvation – In our unit on Salvation, the Sapphire Learning Zone have learnt that ‘salvation’ is about Jesus rescuing people. We have learnt where salvation comes in the Big Story of the Bible and have explored what rescuing people means. We have considered why Easter is important to Christians and how people felt when Jesus arrived in Jerusalem. We made our own Palm Crosses – which was very tricky and learnt how Judas betrayed Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. We then moved on to look at how Jesus asked God to forgive those who had crucified him and whether we would find it easy or hard to forgive others for things they do. Finally, we considered how we could show forgiveness when people make the wrong choices or make mistakes and the children wrote their own ‘Forgiveness’ poems.
RE – Sapphire 2022 – Forgiveness Fingers RE – Sapphire 2022 Making Palm Crosses
Incarnation – The children have been learning about Incarnation and what Christmas means to Christians. As part of our journey we looked at the Advent wreath and the symbols it carries. We invited Reverend Sawyer into school to tell us all about the meaning of advent and its importance in the lead up to Jesus birth.
God’s Creation – The children have been looking at God’s Creation. We have investigated the natural phenomenon’s God has created by exploring the school grounds looking for natural items and then creating artwork to reflect our findings. We have understood the importance of giving thanks and we were able to visit our local Chapel to take part in a Harvest festival, to give thank for the Harvest. This made us think about what we can do to help those less fortunate than ourselves and what we might be thankful for in our lives.
Reverend Claire came in to deliver a hands-on Godly Play workshop for the Year 1 children, based upon our theme of The Creation. The children again had chance to reflect upon the story and what it meant to them.
Ruby Learning Zone
Five Noble Truths – In R.E this term we are studying the faith of Buddhism. The children have enjoyed learning about the life and teachings of the Buddha, Siddartha Gautama. They have learned how he came to be enlightened and how he set out the teachings of the Buddhist faith that are still followed today. As part of that, the children enjoyed creating a document sharing the ‘Five Noble Truths’, which we then antiqued to make them look as if they were created 2,500 years ago at the dawn of Buddhism!
‘Why do Christians call the day Jesus died Good Friday?’ – Our RE topic this term is Salvation and we are building up to the events of Easter. As a class we are working to answer the question ‘Why do Christians call the day Jesus died Good Friday?’ and are considering how Christians today base the way they live on the events of Holy Week.
God as Creator – Children learned about how Christians view God as creator. They thought about Him as an artist and looked for the colours he used to create the world around us. They went on to learn about his creation of humans and how Adam and Eve gave into temptation. The children themselves were tempted by a mysterious button on the board, which allowed them to understand how Adam and Eve felt.
Emerald Learning Zone
Salvation – This term the Emerald Learning Zone are learning about Salvation and we have used a range of different teaching and learning activities in our RE lessons with Mrs Cross.
We have looked at Biblical text to consider why Peter denied knowing Jesus; we have debated who the children think was responsible for Jesus’ death and they created a ‘responsibility pie’ to show what they thought and why.
We have used artwork to work empathetically in considering how Jesus might have felt facing death, how Christians today feel about his death and then children have made a link with their own lives and how they feel about it too.
The children really enjoyed using drama to understand the sequence of events in the Garden of Gethsemane and children have also created their own artwork to show how feelings about Easter change for Christians – from feeling sad when he died to being joyful when he rose again.
Next half term we will be welcoming Dionne McCreedy into school to work with the children on What Holy Week Means to Christians.
RE – Emerald 2022 RE – Emerald 2022 RE – Emerald 2022 RE – Emerald 2022
Incarnation – The Emerald class have been studying Incarnation in RE and discussing if Jesus is the Messiah. They wrote a fantastic radio advert on the hunt for the chosen one. We have also looked at the meaning of Christmas and why it is important for Christians to focus on the birth of Jesus at this time.
Diamond Learning Zone
‘What did Jesus do to save human beings?’ – This half term the children have focused their learning on the enquiry question, ‘What did Jesus do to save human beings?’ To kick this off, the children read and analysed the text from Isaiah 53 to find out what signs suggested that the suffering servant was a sacrifice. The children then drew an outline of a human and wrote all of the things the suffering servant had done on the inside and all of the things that happened to him on the outside.
What does it mean if God is holy and loving? – This half term we have been looking into the enquiry of, ‘What does it mean if God is holy and loving?’. The children have explored passages taken from the Bible to reflect on the things that God disagrees with and reasons why we should forgive others. We have researched the Community of the Cross of Nails (CCN) to gather information about the Coventry Blitz. The children found out how they helped spread the message of love and forgiveness.
Archived RE & PHSCE 2020-2021
Opal Learning Zone
Independence – Recently, we have spent a number of circle times discussing what it means to be part of the Opal Learning Zone and how we can achieve our super power of independence. Our class discussions have allowed the children to understand what it means to be independent and how can accomplish this. Each week an Opal Ambassador is awarded a certificate for their excellent independence. The lucky pupil can wear the Superhero outfit for the day and be a fantastic role model to their peers.
Amethyst Learning Zone
Why we should be proud of ourselves – Collective Worship has played a vital role in our daily discussions in the Amethyst Learning Zone. This week our discussion was centred around confidence and why we should be proud of ourselves. The children were given a time to think about something they have achieved whilst been in the Amethyst Learning Zone and then informed their peers.
Lana told the group, “My reading is better now. My Dad said I am such a good reader.”
Edward added, “I am more independent because I get myself ready for me for PE easily.”
Sapphire Learning Zone
Important People in our Lives – As part of our RSHE, we have been looking at important people in our lives. We have discussed people who inspire and motivate us. The children thought carefully about a specific person they would like to choose and then shared it with the class. We had a wide range of people from our parents to David Attenborough and The Queen! The children were confident to share in their ideas and explain their reasons for their choices.
Play and Learn – The children have begun working towards their superpowers collected in the Sapphire Learning Zone. They have been exploring their new learning environment, spending time to play and learn alongside others engaging in child led activities. The children use ‘Super Sapphire’, our class mascot, to help guide them through different situations they might need support with.
Ruby Learning Zone
Buddhism – This term our topic has been to look at the Buddhist faith. The children have learned lots about how Buddhists live their lives and the history of how Buddhism started. They used what they have learned to perform a drama activity about the life of Buddha. They then wrote their own scripts based on this and recorded their final ideas to make a short film using the iPads.
Emerald Learning Zone
Sikhism – In the Emerald Learning Zone we have been learning about Sikhism. The children have discussed the 5 K’s (Kesh, Kangha, Kara, Kachera and Kirpan). They have also been learning about the 10 Guru’s, in particular Guru Nanak who was the founder of Sikhism.
Diamond Learning Zone
The Kingdom of God – Our focus for RE this half term was the Kingdom of God, the children looked at two songs (The Lord of the Dance and Down to Earth). From this, they were able to think about what kind of king Jesus portrayed himself to be as well as what kind of kingdom he would have. The children then created and produced their own songs to reflect on this.
September 2020- February 2021
Class 1
The Christmas Story – In R.E. this half-term, we have focused on the Christmas Story. We read and acted out the story. We thought about why Christmas matters to Christians and what made baby Jesus so special. We have learnt about advent, and found out how Christians count down to Christmas.
RHSE – This half-term, we have covered a lot of areas. We learnt a lot about Remembrance Day during “War Week.” We have also learnt about Bonfire Night, anti-bullying and road safety.
Christian Creation Story – In RE this half-term, we have focused on the Christian Creation Story. The children have read, watched and acted out the story. We found out what God created on each day of the week and made a wheel to help retell the story. We also took part in a class-based harvest festival, thanking God for food and everything else He provides.
Here we are – There has been a strong focus on settling the children back into school this half-term. We took part in a whole school integration topic, ‘Here We Are.’ We focused on integrating the children back into school and finding out about themselves and the ever-changing world that they live in.
Class 2
Friendship – In Character development, we have been working on our friendships. We have investigated the qualities needed to be a good friend and have looked at our differences.
Incarnation – In RE, the children have been looking at Incarnation. We have looked at the Christmas story and unpicked the different characters and the roles that they played. We have asked why Jesus was a special baby and looked at people that are special to us. We have discussed what gifts we can give for free this Christmas, like the gifts the Wise men gave to Jesus.
We have also visited our prayer space, taking the time to be quiet and reflect upon someone we might want to give a special prayer or thought to.
Christian Creation Story – In RE this half term, we have looked at the Creation Story. The children have acted out the story and thought about their favourite day and given reasons for their choices. We have thought about God’s planet, his creation and how we can look after it for him. The children took part in a class-based harvest festival and we gave thanks to God for food and many other things that the children are thankful for.
The children wanted to give back to the local community so have made cards and pictures for the lonely and vulnerable people who aren’t able to get about due to Covid restrictions.
Feeling settled – In Character Development, we have been using a range of texts to help the children to settle back in school life. We have looked at how we are all unique and the special qualities that we all have.
Class 3
Christian Creation Story – This half term, Class 3 have focused on the creation story in RE. We looked closely at the main parts of the story and decided why these were important to Christians. The children had some great explanations and have all worked very hard.
Feeling settled – There has been a big emphasis on settling the children into their new classes this year. We have worked a lot on: self-confidence, changes and our feelings. The children had great fun thinking about their family tree and what each person means to them. The children were able to talk openly about this and had some great ways as to why their family is important to them.
Class 4
Incarnation – We have been learning about the Incarnation in RE. In this lesson the children spent time reading passages from Matthew 1:18 and Luke 1:26. The children found key words linked to the Holy Trinity in their text and discussed the context they were used in. They were able to locate words such as Father, Son, Holy Spirit, King.
How we are all different – In Character Development, we have been exploring how we are all different. This included our anti-bullying week when we discussed different types of bullying including cyberbullying. The children participated in mature discussions and were able to identify adults they could go to, to report bullying in school.
The Ten Commandments – In RE, we have been looking at God’s instructions (The Ten Commandments). The children took it in turns to be an ‘instructor’ in groups and had to describe a picture for their group to draw. Jack did a great job of describing his picture to the rest of the class.
Class 5
Anti-Bullying – Since coming back to school, we have focused on the mental health and wellbeing of children. We have looked at how bullying can affect others and what we can do if we are being bullied. We had a great discussion about this and the children were able to recall the different forms of bullying.
Bible Stories – Due to the current COVID-19 restrictions, the children have been participating in class assemblies. They have really enjoyed listening to Bible stories read by a range of different people. They have had the opportunity to participate in class discussions and reflect on the stories they have heard.
Lily’s Poem – Lily wrote a beautiful poem on “How does God feel about His wonderful creation:
The Big Picture – In RE, Class 5 will be working on Christianity during this academic year. We will open our learning by looking at ‘The Big Picture’ where we will be studying main events in the Christian calendar. We will begin by doing work on ‘The Creation’ whilst asking the question ‘What does it mean if God is Holy and Loving?’.
Policy: PHSCE Policy
Staff Co-ordinator: Mrs. D. Cross
Link Governor: Ms. S. Ingwersen
Statement of Intent:
Class 1
1.10.19- In RE we have started to think about the creator of the world. We understand that many people have different beliefs about how the world was made and that this is ok. Today we looked at breath-taking pictures with a beautiful music video to accompany them. We were so amazed by the beauty of the earth that it really got us thinking about what kind of creator could make this earth. We agreed it would have to be a kind, clever, powerful, calm and happy creator. As you can see by the pictures – we were truly mesmerised.
Class 2
PHSCE- We were lucky to have Zoo lab come in to visit us again this half term. The children love to find out all about animals and having the opportunity to get up close to them. Some of the children were a little unsure, but overcame their boundaries to get a little closer or to even touch some of the animals. This was a great achievement and the children were very proud of themselves.
PHSCE- During Thrive sessions we have been working on feeling special. We have discussed things that make us special. We enjoy using puppets in our discussion so we have made our own.
Each class has been working on exploring a Safe Place. We have thought about somewhere that makes us feel calm and safe when we are dysregulated. Our safe places are unique to us and are up in the classroom for us to use whenever we feel like we need to. There were some amazing ideas and art skills used to produce them.
PHSCE- The children all took part in Prickly Hay. There were songs, dancing and acting galore. The children all joined in and loved presenting their play to their friends and family.
In RE, we have been looking at Incarnation. We have recapped the Christmas story and what we can remember from it. We have looked at the important roles the people in the story played and who is important to us. We have learnt that Jesus wasn’t a normal baby and the children have explored reasons why. The children have learnt that Jesus was God in the flesh and was sent to save and help people.
We have made Christmas cards for our local residential home and local elderly residents, spreading the Christmas message to those who might not receive a card at this time of year.
PHSCE- We raised money for the Butterwick Hospice, a local hospice in our area. We made Rudolph masks and were sponsored to run around the yard 10 times. We talked about how donating to a charity in our area is important to those in need.
PHSCE- Pudsey bear came into see us to help us to learn about Children in Need and why we donate. We made out Pudsey bears and thought about how we could make them different. Pudsey loved our creative ideas.
PHSCE – Our focus in PHSCE has been our feelings and emotions. We have been working on showing our emotions and investigating how they make us feel. We have spent time looking at other people’s faces to see how they are feeling.
We have taken part in World Mental Health Day and talk about ways we can stay healthy and look after ourselves.
We have been taking part in a mindfulness activities and yoga to help us relax and take time to be still and quiet.
RE- We have been learning about the Creation story. We have enjoyed learning about the different days and have thought about how God might have been feeling. We are very grateful for many things and have given thanks to God. We have discussed what makes God special and who is special to us and why.
We are looking forward to celebrating God’s Harvest in the Church.
Class 3
06.03.20- At the end of our celebration assembly on Friday 6th March 2020, Miley from Class 3 joined Mr Myers at the front and led the whole school in The Lord’s Prayer.
27.01.20- We have been recapping the Chinese New Year story as well as learning about the year of the rat. We also created some Chinese lanterns to take home!
07.01.20- Children worked in groups to think of and record ways in which water can be represented. Children came up with some great ideas of how water can be dangerous but also refreshing. We then linked this into the reasons why water is used for Baptism.
5.12.19- We designed our own Rudolph masks to complete a Rudolph run around the school yard. This was in aid of raising money for the Butterwick Hospice charity. The children really enjoyed completing their laps and raised lots of money!
2.12.19- Today in PHSCE, we focused on the importance of having different connections with our peers. The children used a ball of wool and threw it to someone they had a connection with in the class. Once everyone had a turn it made a tangled web to show that everyone was connected in some way. The children had some great ideas.
26.11.19- In RE, we have been learning about the importance of God’s rules for Christians. The children were tasked to colour in a picture of how Miss Hepple would like it without any rules/instructions. The children found this very difficult. After, they were given rules/instructions of how to colour it which lead on to a class discussion about how God provides guidance.
01.10.19- As we have begun to understand the importance of creation, children were tasked to think of what God created that is wonderful in the world. We drew and labelled a lot of wonderful things such as; nature, animals and the solar system.
RE-PHSCE – Class 3 – Creation 2019
Class 4
PHSCE- The theme this term has surrounded New Beginnings. We have had some fantastic discussion based lessons where we have focused on our feelings and the feelings of others, strategies to help understand feelings, health and wellbeing, problem solving and understanding the impact and importance of rules and responsibilities inside and outside of school. The children have created an informative poster, where they have displayed their knowledge of mental health, for World Mental Health Day. The children have also enjoyed taking part in yoga sessions.
RE – The children have been learning about The Big Picture and specifically this half term we have been looking at Creation. They have thoroughly enjoyed creating their own version of God, and as a class have analysed the meaning of the words included in Christian songs. This then led to the children creating their own Christian song.
Class 5
Why is the Resurrection important to Christians?- This Spring half term we are considering the above question in Class 5. We have watched interviews given by Christians who explained what the Resurrection means to them; we have considered evidence found in the Bible and we have looked at how Christians celebrate Easter.
In this activity we looked at different photographs related to the Resurrection. In groups we had to think of questions we would ask about the pictures; what we found interesting about the images and what they could tell us about how Christians feel about the Resurrection.
The Lord’s Prayer- This term (Spring 2020) we are learning all about the Lord’s Prayer and what messages it gives us. We are exploring how relevant those messages are to our everyday lives. On Friday 24th January 2020, Dailey (Year 6) proudly led our whole school in prayer.
A Grilling for Rev Bruce Sawyer- On Wednesday 13th November 2019, Class 5 invited Rev. Bruce Sawyer into their lesson. The children have been learning about Creation and have analysed Genesis Chapter 1. In science, they have also been learning about Evolution. We have had some very mature and thought-provoking discussions about science versus religious belief. We have explored how Christians have different beliefs about Genesis and decided to invite Rev. Bruce Sawyer (our Methodist Minister) to come into school to help us to work through some of our questions.
Rev. Bruce was challenged about his own interpretation of Genesis and whether he believed the world was created in 6 days or not. He was asked why dinosaurs were not mentioned in Genesis and what he thought Heaven would be like.
The standard of questioning was amazing and Rev. Bruce said that the questions had really made him think about his own faith and how to explain his beliefs to others.
Dailey (Year 6) said that this was one of his favourite lessons as he enjoyed discussing and debating issues because it really made him think.
We are very grateful to Rev. Bruce for giving us his time and sharing his beliefs and experiences with us.
Durham Fire Service Safety Talks- Just before Firework night, Durham Fire Service came into school to speak to our children about keeping themselves safe around fire works and bonfires. They gave a Powerpoint presentation and answered lots of questions for the children who were very mature and sensible, showing a good understanding of safety at this time of year.
RE-PHSCE – Class 5 – Understanding Genesis 2019
RE-PHSCE – Class 5 – The Big Picture2019
