RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS

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1 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS SUMMER 2016 RE Subject Leader Meetings Primary & secondary teachers welcome Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes and Oxfordshire Please book with before the event Wednesday 8 th June Hazlemere CE Combined School Amersham Road Hazlemere, High Wycombe HP15 7PZ Time: pm, Topic: Godly Play: RE or CW? Thursday 9 th June: Weston Turville CE School School Approach Main Street, Weston Turville HP22 5RW Time: pm, Topic: Teaching Prayer in school. Monday 16 th May: Great Horwood CE Combined School School End Great Horwood, Milton Keynes MK17 0RG Tuesday 19 th April: Benson CE Primary School Oxford Road, Benson, Oxfordshire OX10 6LX Please phone this number if you arrive late and have trouble gaining access to the school. Tuesday 5 th July Deddington CE Primary School Earls Lane Deddington Nr Banbury, Oxfordshire OX15 0TJ Thursday 26 th May Carterton St John the Evangelist CE Primary School Bluebell Way, Carterton Oxfordshire OX18 1JF Tuesday 24 th May Church House Oxford Langford Locks Kidlington OX5 1GF Bracknell Forest Thursday 19 th May: Easthampstead Park Education Centre Wokingham, Berkshire RG40 3DB Phone: or education.centre@bracknell-forest.gov.uk or sue.shields@bracknell-forest.gov.uk to book a place. Time: pm Topic: This will be a session of sharing good practice in RE, activities and resources that have worked well. RBWM Please book through Elaine Norstrom on: norse001@rbwm.org.uk For All Berkshire Secondary teachers: Tuesday 14th June Maidenhead Mosque Holmanleaze Maidenhead Time:4-5.30pm Topic: Islam for GCSE open to all Berkshire Schools This session will be an opportunity for teachers of GCSE RE to ask Muslim representatives questions to address the content of the new GCSE. If possible, please let Elaine know the questions and topics you most want to discuss. Please book through Elaine Norstrom on: norse001@rbwm.org.uk Our thanks to the Mosque for being willing to host this event during Ramadan. For meetings in other parts of Berkshire, please see the Local Authority for information All the groups are NATRE affiliated, but to take full advantage of the resources that NATRE provides it is worth exploring whether school membership may be of use to you. They offer training events, webinars and purchasable resources, with discounts offered to members. We have moved! Church House Oxford Langford Locks Kidlington OX5 1GF

2 In conjunction with Oxford s Cathedral at Christ Church this course on 5th May will explore three religious centres in Oxford. Lunch will be provided in the Cathedral. The aims of this one day course are to: Explore some of the centres of worship in Oxford Discuss the advantages of visits over learning in the classroom Create some enquiry based units on places of worship Create opportunities to engage directly with some of the faith communities in Oxford Evaluate some of the available resources to support school visits Allow teachers to create some of their own materials on places of worship for use in the classroom (Bring camera or ipad for this part of the activity) By the end of the course participants will: Making the Most of Places of Worship Have an understanding of how to get the most out of a visit Have explored some of the places of worship available in Oxford Target Audience: Any primary school teachers who wish to offer trips to places of worship to their classes. N.B. this trip will involve some walking between the venues, so comfortable shoes suggested. Date: Thursday 5 th May 2016 Venue: Meet at Christchurch Cathedral Oxford OX1 1DP Course Leaders: Anne Andrews (Diocesan RE Adviser) Jacqueline Holderness (Education Officer at Christ Church Cathedral) Time: 9.30am 3.30pm Cost: Schools in Diocesan Service Agreement: 95 (+VAT) Schools not in the Diocesan Service Agreement: 125 (+VAT) If you would like to attend this training session please contact: Emma Nawrocki or emma.nawrocki@oxford.anglican.org SAVE THE DATE! RE CENTRAL A Diocesan wide RE Conference 17th March 2017 es pm The Oxford Belfry, Thame Enquiry Based Bible Teaching Day 29 delegates gathered on the 29th January for a day at Diocesan Church House to explore the Bible and how to teach it. The big story of the Bible was explored using an action based Meta-Narrative and lots of materials were shared to help teachers find their way around the Bible. We explored some of the key concepts of Christianity, looking at Bible passages and activities to use in class. This was linked to Enquiry Based Teaching by exploring Big Questions such as Is the Kingdom of God a good thing to be part of? and Is the wisdom of the Bible relevant today? There were activities using quotes from the Book of Proverbs and the story of Solomon from 1 Kings 3. Some suggested activities to explore wisdom were: Create a pyramid of wisdom using proverbs Drawing pictures to illustrate wisdom today Create parables that illustrate the wisdom Apply biblical wisdom to a current issue, using newspapers Being an Agony Aunt: could you use the wisdom of the Bible to answer a teenage question? Create a wisdom cake; what ingredients are needed for wisdom? What could you do with these verses from the Bible? All wisdom comes from God (Proverbs 2:6). Keep in tune with wisdom and think what it means to have common sense (Proverbs 2:2). Wisdom is worth much more than precious jewels (Proverbs 8:11). Respect and obey the Lord! This is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). Wisdom is shown to be right by what it does (Matthew 11:19). If you missed this course, keep your eyes on your s, as we hope to run it again in the southern part of the Diocese early in the autumn term. There will also be a publication containing some of the resources and activities from the course as well as additional materials on using the Bible in class.

3 How do you use art in RE? Do your pupils look at pictures? Do they paint or draw? In many of the RE subject leader meetings last term, time was spent looking at a variety of resources for using art in RE and thinking about how using visual images could inspire pupils and allow teachers to assess their understanding of stories and concepts taught. The resources looked at included several from RE Today: Picturing Easter, Picturing Creation and Picturing Jesus but other art resources are available. Follow this link to the current catalogue: display/ RE_Today_Catalogue_2015.pdf We looked at a variety of activities: Using Art in RE Comparing the religious story with its artistic interpretation spot 5 similarities or 5 differences Interpreting the picture before the story is known Adding thought or word bubbles to the picture. Write a poem, script or piece of music to accompany the picture 10 words to sum up the picture Write the catalogue entry for the picture in an exhibition Draw or write the before and after for a picture Add a quote from the Bible or saying of Jesus that is appropriate to one of the pictures Identify the Christian symbols in the picture Choose pictures with 3 characters or more and compare their thoughts, feelings and viewpoints. Find a turning point in a Bible story and depict it Make connections: What is most important to the characters? To Jesus? To me? The important thing about with any of these activities is to be clear about the learning objective: what you want the children to learn or understand? This will make it easier to assess the progress the pupils have made in their understanding. Have your pupils produced some great art? Scan it in and share it with us. Pentecost 15th May 2016 is Pentecost or Whitsun, one of the most important Christian festivals and one of the most overlooked by schools. For church schools in particular, however, it is one of the best festivals as it affords a perfect opportunity to explore the Trinity, especially the person of the Holy Spirit. The origins of the Christian festival of Pentecost are found in the Old Testament as the festival of Shavuot, 50 days after Passover, which Jews celebrate as the giving of the Torah. That festival is the context for the story found in the second chapter of the Book of Acts, with Jerusalem full of visitors. The disciples, having been more or less in hiding since the crucifixion, are empowered by the Holy Spirit, descending on them in tongues of fire and go out into the street. They draw attention to themselves by speaking in a wide range of languages, giving Peter the opportunity to make the first Christian sermon. This gives rise to Pentecost being known as the birthday of the church as 5000 people are added to their number as the result of Peter s speech and it is from that point in time on that the disciples begin to live openly as followers of Jesus Christ. Much Christian teaching about the Holy Spirit has its origins in this event, especially the teaching about the gift of tongues - the ability to speak in worship in a language unknown to the speaker. This is explored in the first letter to the Corinthians, written by Paul. It is the origin of the name Pentecostal for some charismatic churches, where teaching about the person of the Holy Spirit has been taken seriously, while some other parts of the church seemed to believe that the Spirit was no longer relevant. For more information about Pentecost look a bit nearer the time at the Bible in Worship Project. school-worship-bible-project/ The Diocesan Scheme of Work also has a unit entitled Are you inspired? which looks at the Holy Spirit in more detail and considers Christian views about the gifts of the spirit. If you celebrate Pentecost with your pupils, please send us some photographs or work samples, so that we can share good practice.

4 What can the Diocese do for you? RE Competition A new Service Level Agreement pack will have arrived in your schools by the time you read this newsletter, but I d like to expand on the specific RE support that the Diocese can offer you. What kind of RE support can we offer? Full school RE reviews Staff meetings Curriculum support Curriculum development Lesson observations Book scrutiny Cluster or partnership training Support with REQM preparation Regular RE network meetings (see front page for dates) SIAMS support and preparation Schools in the SLA have free access to the Diocesan RE Scheme of Work. Scheme of Work training...and anything else you need help with! Recent topics addressed in individual schools and clusters have been assessment, teaching about the Holy Spirit, recording and marking and British Values. For any enquiries, requests or comments, please make contact directly with me, but also check out the Diocesan website where you will find support for subject leaders, suggested resources, dates for training events and updates on the national RE scene. Anne Andrews, RE Adviser anne.andrews@oxford.anglican.org ODST Assessment Project Struggling with age-related expectations on RE? Unsure how to assess in RE? This term teachers from ODST schools will joining a project to explore these two questions. They will look at the core content that we teach in RE and together decide on some key performance indicators for each year group and key stage to serve as a basis for RE assessment. They will be drawing on the two national assessment projects: LTLRE and Salisbury Diocese, as described in the last newsletter and their finding will be shared across all our schools. Watch out for that information in September. The work submitted for the RE Competition has been of a really high quality and the question Do believers need a place to worship? has been answered in different ways. Activities undertaken ranged from visits to churches and other places of worship, interviews with believers to making worship boxes and forest school activities. In most schools pupils had a chance to reflect on the value of worship and explore the worship cultures of different faiths, giving them an opportunity to compare practices, beliefs and consider what individuals find helpful. The resulting work from pupils was really encouraging and shows that there is great RE happening across the Diocese. There was evidence of: Art DT High quality written work Discussion Creativity Forest Schools The best work will be showcased on the Diocesan website and the winners of KS1 and KS2 will be announced before half-term. One school used the question as a springboard for a day for gifted and talented children and here is their report: On the 21 st of March, a group of 7 schools were invited by Deddington School to take part in an Enrichment morning based on world religions and philosophy. The children were challenged to create a worship building that could be used by all faiths as well as those without a belief system. Considering if and how it could be possible to bring people together, the children designed plans that could be presented to Deddington Village council. All participants, who had been picked for their deep thinking skills, succeeded in creating a group presentation. Teachers and Teaching Assistants who accompanied the children were really impressed with both the sensitivity to be inclusive and the creativity to move away from traditional worship building. New technology was an integral part of all the designs, including art work that could be changed at a touch of a button and live feeds to enable people to worship at home. Three groups used the elements as a focus for reflection and a group even had an inside-out building to enable people to feel close to nature. Feedback suggested that the children felt the day had been effective because the groups were prepared to work hard together and valued the need for a religious space that could be accessible to all. An exciting day was had by all! If you have any RE work you would like to showcase, please send it and we will display it on the RE pages of the Diocesan Website.

5 Delivering the Core Christian Concepts: Sharing the Best of Diocesan Practice ONE DAY CONFERENCE FOR SUBJECT LEADERS OF RE IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS Thursday 30 JUNE 2016 The Hallam Conference Centre, 44 Hallam Street, W1W 6JJ Keynote session- Stephen Pett Main author of the new Understanding Christianity Project. This will be the first chance for schools to hear in detail about this project and how it will set expectations for church school RE. Keynote Session Theological Literacy: Primary and Secondary Gillian Georgiou Olivia Seymour Kathryn Wright Jane Chipperton Workshops Speakers so far confirmed (more details soon) Lorraine Abbott Steven Gallears Verity Holloway John Seymour For booking details contact: Gabriella Di Salvo Education Office, Church House, Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3AZ Tel: