Religious Education at St Margaret's contributes dynamically to children's education by;

• Provoking challenging questions about meaning and purpose in life, beliefs about God, ultimate reality, issues of right and wrong and what it means to be human.
• In RE pupils learn about religions and beliefs in local, national and global contexts, to discover, explore and consider different answers to these questions.
• Pupils learn to weigh up the value of wisdom from different sources, to develop and express their insights in response and to agree or disagree respectfully.
• Teaching equips pupils with systematic knowledge and understanding of a range of religions and beliefs, to enable them to develop their ideas, values and identities.
• RE develops an aptitude for dialogue so that pupils can participate positively in our society, with its diverse religions and beliefs.
• Pupils  gain and deploy the skills needed to understand, interpret and evaluate texts, sources of wisdom and authority and other evidence. They learn to articulate clearly and coherently their personal beliefs, ideas, values and experiences while respecting the right of others to differ.

The principal aim of religious education is to explore what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live, so that pupils can gain the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to handle questions raised by religion and belief, reflecting on their own ideas and ways of living.

RE explores big questions about life, to find out what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live. RE helps us to make sense of religion and belief and reflect on our own ideas and ways of living.

Bringing RE to life

Why does Christmas Matter to Christians?  (Incarnation)

As part of this half terms RE big question, Year One have been searching our village for signs of the Jesus story in the run-up to Christmas.

Experiencing Christmas

The whole school has visited different stations around Stoke Golding to take part in 'Experiencing Christmas'.  We went on a journey (to reflect the journey Mary and Joseph may have travelled) and spent time listening and reflecting on the events leading to the birth of Jesus.  There were opportunities for the children to share their thoughts and complete different activities.

Interfaith Week

As part of our learning for  @InterfaithWeek , Year 3 have shared their learning about the Hindu faith in our assembly. 

The Proudest Blue

This was a wonderful stimulus for Y5 to consider what’s ‘true & beautiful about themselves’ as well as providing great opportunities to recall & reinforce RE learning. The beautiful video by  @IbtihajMuhammad  &  @SajidahWrites  promoted thoughtful discussion. @NATREupdate

Remembrance is...  

Y6 reflecting on what remembrance means to them with watercolours: #respect #gratitude #sadness #honour #hope

Diwali

Today, Year 2 explored who celebrates Diwali and why, using the book ‘The Best Diwali Ever’. Via a  @scholasticuk  live recording, the children listened to author  @SonaliShah  read the story and then drew along with  @chaayaprabhat  to create their own rangoli patterns. Party popper

This term...

Year Six have been thinking about whether religion can help to reduce racism. They have designed some striking church ‘welcome’ posters to demonstrate their learning around St Peter discovering that ‘God has no favourites’.  @RE_Today   @NATREupdate

Today Year Six...

have been making human bar charts to respond to key quotations about slavery, justice and racism using excellent resources from  @NATREupdate  They made some deep, thought provoking and insightful points that made staff very proud.

This morning...

one of our Year Six pupils brought in some artwork she had chosen to create at home; we are not only impressed by her thoughtful words, but also her beautiful artwork.

Today...

Year Two have been wondering what Heaven looks like: they had some very thoughtful ideas. This picture shows Earth at the bottom, the top shows ‘that Heaven is a big window that allows people who have died to watch over us.’

Year 4...

getting creative, representing the Holy Trinity in different ways this afternoon.

Spirituality

The children have been thinking about how to be a shining light to others this Christmas.  They shared their thoughts whilst making decorations for our school Christmas tree. #shininglight #christmasdecorations #kindness #spirituality

Year 3...

have written the most wonderful poetry to commemorate Remembrance Day. We sent them to Mrs Taylor’s daughter who said the whole troop loved reading them and were very grateful to read their heartfelt words.  #RememberanceDay #britisharmy #PoppyDay #LestWeForget

Today...

 Year Five have welcomed two students from  @RedmoorAcademy  who spoke to them about ‘What it means to be a Muslim in Britain today’. Our guests spoke to us about their faith and how it impacts on their life. Thank you both for helping us to understand your faith. #community 

Collective Worship

This week’s collective worship theme is humility.  Miss Steele was far too important to crawl under the stool to collect the much wanted chocolate.  She proved she was humble in the end!  #collectiveworship #humility. 

We are so proud...

of our children who have independently baked at home for the Salvation Army drop in centre. They felt ‘moved’ by their Collective Worship ‘Enough for All’ and wanted to ‘help people that don’t have enough to eat’. #community #inspiringworship

This morning...

 staff and children enjoyed Collective Worship with a new member of our Collective Worship Team, Reverend Patty. We thought about respect for our world and each other, taking our inspiration from Genesis 1. #community #Britishvalues #respect

Year Six...

enjoying a visit to St Margaret’s Church to find out about key local historical figures. #community #localhistory 

Prayer Labyrinth

On the afternoons of Monday 9th, Tuesday 10th and Wednesday 11th May children from all year groups had the opportunity to experience a prayer labyrinth in our school grounds.  The activity gave children the chance to reflect on different aspects of The Lord's Prayer as they followed the Labyrinth pathway.  There were times for discussion, reflection and personal prayer.

"I like the maze because it taught us more about God and prayers." Ben Year 3

"I thought the labyrinth was very nice and I liked answering the questions with my partner.  It was fun and felt good."  Freya Year 3

"I enjoyed doing the prayer labyrinth because it made me think about how lucky we are that God created the World for us.  I also enjoyed doing it because it was like a maze."  Gracie Year 4

I enjoyed the prayer labyrinth because I liked thinking about what we take for granted and what we do to celebrate God and Jesus. "  Sam Year 4

"I enjoyed reading the cards because it gave you something to think about carefully.  However, it made me feel guilty because I remembered we have above what we need and some people don't know when their next meal will be.  I think the prayer labyrinth is a great way to teach younger children about God and older children how to reflect."  Poppy G  Year 5

"I enjoyed how it was quiet and peaceful in the prayer labyrinth and how we could talk as much or as little as we wanted.  They prayer labyrinth has made me feel differently about the Lord's Prayer and I now know that it says more than just 'Dear God.'  Thank you very much for doing this!"  Gia Year 5

Year 6 were challenged with designing and creating a multi faith display.  They researched 6 of Leicestershire’s main religions and considered how best to inform other pupils in our school.  They then created a board and hope our pupils and visitors enjoy reading and finding out about different people in Leicestershire’s beliefs and values.

Fenny Drayton - Angel Festival

Year 5 are very proud of the display they made for Fenny Drayton Church, our quote was,

"Where there's a rainbow, there's an angel".

This half term, in their RE lessons, Year 1 have been learning about 'Belonging.'  Today they evaluated the topic and were asked the question, 'Which part of belonging is most important to you?' 

Aimee said, "If you were alone you would be sad and lonely and to make me happy is my mummy."

Libby said, "I belong to God and he makes me happy."

Haydn said, "Belonging to God is important because he can help us with our big problems."

Jaime said, "Our hearts, our families, God and Jesus and my sister.  I love belonging."

They were then asked, 'What is the most important thing you have learnt about?"

Jaime said, "When we haven't got any friends or any families it makes you sad."

Aimee said, "Belonging to God because he is special.  Belonging to God makes me feel happy, safe and special."

Libby said, "I know God loves me because I love him."

Haydn said, "Being part of a religion, being part of religion makes me feel happy."

Bread Making for the Salvation Army

This term, Year 4 are investigating, ‘The deeper meaning of our celebrations.’  As part of our learning about the Muslim celebration of Eid ul-Fitr we discussed ways in which Muslims remembered and helped the poor.  We considered ways in which we could help people who are less fortunate than us and decided that we would like to make bread for the drop in centre at the Salvation Army in Nuneaton.  They were very grateful and are looking forward to the next batch!

Friday 9th October 2015

Today, Year 5 have been learning about The Holy Trinity and the ways in which the three persons of the Trinity are the same yet distinct. 

First, we took the Jaffa cake challenge to help us to learn about the Holy Trinity.  Next we listened to a mystery, a mystery at the heart of the Christian faith: The Trinity.   

Afterwards we considered to following questions:

Which part of the three parts of God do you think is most important to Christians today?

Can a person can be a true Christian if they keep their seed inside and don’t let it grow?

We then asked our RE Governor, Mrs Nelson, some very thought provoking and considered questions about what the Trinity meant to her as a Christian.

We listened to the song Glory Be and then wrote down our thoughts on what made the three persons of the Trinity distinct.  Finally we shared our knowledge with Year 1 and taught them about the Trinity, by making friendship bracelets and art work. 

We were really impressed with the depths of Year 1’s knowledge.  These are what Year 1 were able to tell us 2 weeks later:

Haydn said, “The Trinity has no end because God goes on forever, no beginning and no end.  The persons are, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is inside you and grows by you being a good friend.  The Holy Spirit helps our friendships.”

Jaime said, “The shamrock represents the Trinity because it’s got three leaves.  One of them is God the Father, one is God the Son and one is God the Holy Spirit.  God the Father made us, Jesus loved us and he died for us and the Holy Spirit is like a little seed that grows up inside us to make us nice and be good friends.”