Reception: Class Worship
We started our worship with our trinity. Lisa from Blackburn Diocese then asked us to repeat a prayer after her- God is amazing, all of the time, Amen. We listened to a story from the Old Testament called God sends fire. It made our eyes go wide and our mouth go wow! Bishop Jill explained the meaning of the story. Fire is a strong image in the bible and it represents the fiery love of God. When we ask for God's fire from heaven, we are asking for our hearts to be filled with his love. It is the sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit. We prayed and learnt together the Makaton sign for fire. We finished our worship with a song we learnt yesterday in singing worship called 'Who is the king of the jungle'.
Year 1 - Year of Prayer
This week’s theme for the Year of Prayer is ‘Build Up’. Year 1 have been focusing on building each other up through collaboratively constructing a tower while saying something kind to their partner as they add a brick. We have had comments such as ‘I love your smile,’ ‘You are a brilliant mathematician,’ ‘You show respect by sitting nicely,’ and ‘You are helpful’.
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Year 3- R.E- A Sensory Story- The man lowered through the roof
During our R.E lesson today, we explored into a 'Sensory Story' about the man who was lowered through the roof to reach Jesus. To bring this narrative to life, the children engaged in a role-play. We used props such as stretchers, small figurines representing the friends carrying the man, and a blue mat symbolising the ground after Jesus instructed the paralyzed man, 'Get up and go home.' The children used their imaginations to fully immerse themselves in the story through a multi-sensory experience involving touch, sound, and movement. To express their gratitude and praise to God, the children joyfully waved colorful ribbons.
Whole School Worship - Who Is My Neighbour?
In our collective worship, we were considering the question, “Who is my neighbour?” We discussed what it means to love your neighbour as yourself (as mentioned in parts of the Bible such as Leviticus and the Gospel according to Mark) and that there are times when it can be incredibly difficult. In hearing about the life of Martin Luther King Jr, as today is Martin Luther King Jr Day, we discovered that, even when it feels impossible to love our neighbour, when we are mistreated, ignored or disrespected as he and other black people have been, we must try harder to follow God’s greatest commandment, just like Martin did. Our children considered this and spent some time reflecting on the Christian Values that Martin demonstrated and the ways that they would like to make the world a better place and make a difference. Some of the children’s examples included: protecting nature, making peace when we have disagreements, putting a stop to pollution and eradicating poverty. We finished with prayers thanking God for Martin Luther King Jr and all that he did to the make the world a better place and asked Him to give us the courage to stand up for what is right. Rev Ben finished with a special blessing and we sang 'I can make a difference'.
Year 4 - RE: What is most important in prayer?
Although we pray at least twice a day in class, sometimes it’s worth taking the time to look at why we pray, and our current Year 4 RE unit is giving us the opportunity to explore this. This week, each group was given 18 statements about prayer and the task was initially for the children to remove 5 statements that they considered unimportant to the act of praying. They then had to choose another 5 statements to remove. The final step was for them to read their 8 remaining statements and pick out the 5 statements they considered to be most important. Each group then had to present their final 5, stating why they felt these were the most important aspects of prayer. Most groups agreed that it is important to speak to God through prayer and ask Him for forgiveness.
Year 3- Class Worship- Pour your heart out with prayers
In our class worship today, we watched a Worship Together across the Diocese video with a story about Hannah from the Bible. This story teaches us that we can pour out our hearts to God in prayer, and he always listens. Some children prayed to be kind and helpful to others, to make good choices, to have the courage to try new things and for there to be peace in the world Bishop Philip also spoke about how prayer gives us hope.
Reception: The Role of the Vicar
Reception class welcomed Rev Ben into class to talk about how a vicar is special to the Church. Rev Ben shared a video with the children showing how Jesus’ disciples were ordinary people just like him. He brought a bible, a chalice and the oil used to baptise people to show how vicars help people to learn from the Bible and how they welcome people into the church family. Rev Ben brought in his stole that he wears in Church. The children all had a turn at trying it on if they wanted to. Thank you so much Rev Ben, we loved your visit!
Year 3- R.E- How did the arrival of Jesus change the world?
This afternoon in R.E, we explored the meaning of the word 'Emmanuel,' which means 'God with us.' We then listened to the lyrics of the song 'Emmanuel, God with Us' and created a list of what Christians believe about Jesus based on the song's message. We then engaged in a discussion about how Christians believe Jesus continues to make a significant impact on the world today. Some of the suggestions were, he provides us with hope, inspires individuals to live good lives and help others, and teaches us the importance of loving everyone. To further illustrate the concept of God's presence in our lives, we watched a captivating video of the traditional tale of Papa Pános, a heartwarming story that beautifully demonstrates how God is always with us.
Worship with Rev. Ben- God is always listening
Rev. Ben's worship began with an engaging activity exploring creative ways to get people's attention. The children enthusiastically shared their ideas, suggesting: making gestures, creating signs, standing up, dancing, doing something funny, shouting names and waving. Rev. Ben then transitioned to discussing how, in Jesus' day, people had various ways of trying to get God's attention. He explained that Jesus told his people that it was very simple to get God to listen. The children watched a short clip that highlighted some of the ways people believed they could gain God's attention. They concluded that God is always listening, no matter what and that Jesus taught there’s no need for special rituals to communicate with God. Instead, Jesus encouraged everyone to talk to God anytime, anywhere and to speak to God like a friend. Following this, the children engaged in a thoughtful discussion. They explored the question, "What did Jesus say we should do when we pray?" and shared their personal responses to the idea, "If you could ask God for one thing, what would it be?" This reflection helped deepen their understanding of prayer and the nature of their relationship with God.
Year 1 RE- The Calling of the Disciples
This week in RE, Year 1 explored the story of ‘Jesus Calls the First Disciples’ through a sensory story. We listened to this story whilst exploring various objects such as figures for Jesus and the fishermen, water to represent the lake, a boat, fish and fishing nets. After we listened and explored the story as a whole class, the children acted out this story in smaller groups. After the story, we thought about why the fishermen including Simon might have wanted to be Jesus’ special friends. We said that we thought it might be because the men could put their trust in Jesus, because he was powerful and could perform miracles, because he was a good person and because he was also very forgiving.
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Year 4 - RE: What is Prayer?
New year, new RE topic in Year 4. This half term we will be exploring prayer and what it means to different people of faith. We began our unit with a twist on the silent gallery. There were various questions posted around the classroom and the children had to walk around the room in silence and record their ideas. This activity gives a great baseline assessment of what the children already know and where we can take their learning. We will be using this tool again throughout the unit to help the children’s spiritual exploration.
KS2 Christmas Church Service
This morning, we had a special Christmas Church Service led by Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 to celebrate Advent. Year 6 lit the first candle for hope and shared their hopes and dreams for the future. Leonora and Daisy shared their dream of being a teacher to inspire others in the same way that they have been inspired in their own education, Alice shared her dream of being a paediatric nurse to support children in their time of need and suffering, Matthew shared his hope of travelling the world and experiencing the awe and wonder it can offer, Oscar shared his desire to be a kind and respectful citizen as he grows into adolescence and adulthood and Jake shared the hope of being like his parents who love and care for him and inspire him every day to be kind and positive. Year 5 then showed their beautifully crafted origami doves, symbolising peace and hope. They then read their heartfelt prayers, expressing their wishes for peace. Year 4 lit the candle for joy and shared their wonderful metaphors for Jesus through artwork such as Jesus being a torch and a lighthouse. This symbolised the joy Jesus brings us. Finally, Year 3 told us about the final theme of Advent which was love. They spoke about how we are able to share love by being kind and supportive of one another and shared some examples of how Jesus showed love through the miracles that he performed. The candle for love will be lit this Sunday. To end our collective worship, Mrs Ham gave us a few moments to reflect on how we can spread hope, joy, peace and love this Christmas time. We had examples such as smiling, giving hugs and kisses, giving a high-five, making and giving someone a card, encouraging others to challenge and overcome things, letting others join in with our games and giving our friends and family the precious gift of time. She thanked all of the staff for their outstanding commitment to our school family, our parents for their fabulous support and our amazing children for being so well behaved and working so hard. We then heard from Rev Ben who shared a lovely Christmas blessing and we had the pleasure of watching our fabulous Christmas video which showcased all of the Christmas fun we have had over the last few weeks and it brought lots of joy and laughter to the whole congregation.