Other Faiths

As part of our Catholic mission, we encourage our children to learn about and respect people of different faiths and beliefs. Through our Religious Education curriculum and special workshops, pupils explore a range of faith traditions, developing curiosity, understanding and respect for others while remaining rooted in their own Catholic faith.

Judaism Workshop

As part of our "Other Faiths" curriculum, we are study Judaism. We were delighted to welcome Leonard Silver, a guest speaker, who led engaging workshops for children in Years 1-6. Each year group explored different aspects of Judaism:

• Year 1: Jewish symbols and the celebration of Hanukkah.
• Year 2: The Torah and the significance of Shabbat.
• Year 3: The story of Abraham's covenant and the role of the synagogue.
• Year 4: Jewish naming ceremonies and the Bar Mitzvah.
• Year 5: The role of sacred texts and how Judaism influences daily life.
• Year 6: Jewish identity in the modern world, including a focus on the Holocaust and its impact.

It has been a meaningful experience for the children, providing them with a greater understanding and appreciation of Jewish traditions and culture. Here are some of the things the children had to say:

St David: He explained the importance of the Jewish symbol: the Star of David.  Mr Silver also showed us and lit the menorah, he sang the prayer and told us the importance of Hanukkah.  We all enjoyed Mr Silver's visit.”

St Joseph: We enjoyed taking part in the role play celebrating Shabbat as his family. We enjoyed Mr Silver’s visit today

St Teresa: We enjoyed the talk yesterday as I found it fascinating learning about other religions and comparing it to ours! We loved the answer that Leonardo gave us to our questions. The fact that Jewish people have different opinions was very interesting. We really liked the workshop because instead of learning just about Christianity. It gave me a chance to learn about different religions from all over the world.

St Elizabeth: Learning about the Torah was really interesting. I didn’t know how important it is to Jewish people and how it guides their choices every day. It’s like a special rule book that helps them know what’s right and wrong. We learned how the Torah teaches about kindness, helping others, and respecting family, which is something they still follow today. It made me think about how different religions have texts that shape their lives too

St Oscar Romero: Leonard gave our Year 6’s a chance to ask some great questions, with some of us asking why Jewish people didn’t believe in Jesus and how they were able to understand and read the Torah. At the end of our session, Leonard spoke about the Holocaust and why it was so vital that we learnt about it and never forgot that period of History.

Mr Silver also sent us a lovely message after his visit:

“I was so happy to be able to relate to all the pupils on the various subjects and to answer their excellent questions.  What a pleasure it was to see your disciplined and beautifully behaved children.  Their attention , keenness and interest was a breath of fresh air! It gave me great satisfaction imparting my knowledge of Judaism and our traditions  by role play and demonstration involving them  in “live action” both with Chanukah and Friday night Shabbat.”

Our recent workshop and learning session with Leonard Silver on Judaism has been truly inspiring, sparking our creativity and deepening our understanding of other faiths. Through this enriching experience, we've gained valuable insights into Jewish traditions and beliefs, which has inspired us to produce some wonderful work that reflects our growing knowledge and appreciation of different religious practices. This is a meaningful step in our journey of learning and embracing other faiths

 

Sikhism Workshop

At Our Lady of Grace we teach children to welcome and facilitate people of all backgrounds, including those of different faiths. This half term we have all been learning about Sikhism. Today, we were joined by Aman, a parent from our school community, who gave us a fantastic assembly about his Sikh faith.

The children learned about:

- The birth of Sikhism

- What Sikhs believe

- The story of Vaisakhi

- Places of worship

Aman was extremely impressed at the responses from the pupils when he gave them a quiz.

 

Hinduism - Pongal Festival

Pongal is a multi-day Hindu harvest festival celebrated in India and Srilanka. It is called by different names in different parts of India such as Makara Sankranti, Uttarayana and so on. Pongal celebrations lasts for 4 days in mid Jan every year.

• The first day of pongal is called Bogi Pongal. It is a day when the house is cleaned and the unusable things are burnt.
• The second day is called Thai Pongal. On that day, we wear new clothes, cook the food called pongal and worship the Sun God Suriyan.
• The third day is Maattu Pongal. We worship the cows on that day and thank them for helping the farmers in agriculture.
• The last day is Kaanum Pongal. It is a day when we get together with our family and friends and share sweets.

This year, for pongal festival, Nethra Kalirajan performed a traditional Indian dance called
Bharathanatyam.

Dancers wear a dress with loads of frills at the front. They also wear lots of jewels and a jada (extended hair). They put dance makeup on their face and wear mahendi on their hands. The dance is made up of graceful steps and beautiful expressions.

 

Other Christian Denominations - United Reform Church

Year 6 were delighted to receive an invitation to The United Reform Church. Reverend Andrew organised a lovely morning to end the Spring Term. Children in Oscar Romero and St Teresa were given a tour of the Easter Display. They were able to make links with their own Passion Service and some work they have done in R.E. We ended the visit by singing "Servant King" for Reverend Andrew.