February 2018 Christ at the Centre of Living and Learning Introduction by the RE Subject Leader As we have now entered into the Christian season of Lent and there is great focus on giving up bad habits, it is then ironic that I am largely giving up on this term s newsletter! Our term 3 RE newsletter has had a student take over! You will read the following articles and find our students reflections of engaging with RE as both a subject in school and being a part of the wider Catholic life of the school. It is hard to believe that our term could be any busier than the previous one, but so it was! Amongst the buzz of Year 11 PPE s, the Year 10 change in specification, school trips and marking into the small hours of the morning, our department has once again been defined by the hard work and dedication of both staff and students alike. I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank our school governors for giving up their weekend to come and participate in the Catholic Life training. Lead by both myself and Jane, the training day helpful to paint a clear picture of what it means to work in a Catholic school, the principles and history that define out education. As with many parts of our school, the training session was defined by our students. Only this time they came together to make a movie which summarised all the wonderful work that goes on in school. 11 minutes of sheer outstanding brilliance! (If I do say so myself!) That s all from me in this newsletter! I hope to reprise my role in next term s! Wishing you all a reflective and blessed Lenten season. Miss Á Lyons Subject Leader for RE
Year 7 RE: The Sikh temple Trip By Finan and Sasha One Wednesday 17 th January, 40 Year 7 students went on a trip to the Sikh Gurdwara in Southall, London. When we arrived we took our shoes off so to respect and keep the Gurdwara clean. All visitors do this. We were given orange headscarves as it is a holy place so our heads were covered as a mark of respect. This has been a Sikh tradition for many years. It was interesting to learn that for Sikhs, their hair is a gift from God and they never cut their hair. We washed our hands first and then went to a place called the Langar and the kitchen. It is a place where visitors can receive free food. Many homeless and poor people go here, the people who cook the food are volunteers who spend their own time cooking for others. Upstairs in the prayer hall, or Diwan, is where pray took place. It was a grand room with a beautiful canopy and the end of room. Under the canopy lay the Sikh holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib. We walked up to the holy book, bowed and walked around it always with our right side. This is because usually important things rest on your right hand side. We had lunch in the langar and some us tried the food. Only vegetarian food was served but we could all have as much as we liked. They even had free chocolate and bananas. Our tour guide told us all about the Sikh religion. They believe that people are reincarnated after death. What we are reincarnated into depends on the good life we have lived. For example, if you stole 1 million pounds and never paid it back, you could end up as an insect in your next life. You might even be reincarnated on another planet! Putting our shoes back on and giving back our headscarves finished the day as we journeyed back to school. We really enjoyed our visit.
Year 8: Covenant and Judaism By Katie and Ciara Our lessons are always quite interesting, we do lots of different activities, I think my favourite one is walking to different sides of the room during our debates. When we came into class on Wednesday however, I never thought I would be having an aperitif before lunch! We have been learning about Judaism and its history. We watched the Prince of Egypt which told us about the story of Moses. In our lesson we learned about the Passover and the Seder Plate. This is the meal Jews have to remember how through Moses, God saved the Jews. I think the symbolism behind each of the foods is clever. For example, Jews mix apples and nuts together to form a mixture called Charoset. This reminds the Jews of the cement their ancestors made in the boiling Egyptian sun in order to make the buildings for the Pharaoh s. Horseradish is another ingredient of the plate. It recalls the bitterness of the Jewish slavery in Egypt. Mrs Miller asked us if we would like to try any. Several of the boys in our class tried to be brave, but their faces after they had taken a spoonful had all of us laughing! Year 9: The Jewish Museum By Luqman and Rebecca We are starting to study for our GCSE RE after February half term, so in preparation for this, we went on a school trip to the Jewish Museum in London. When we were about the enter the museum, the staff members were welcoming and kind. The interior of the entrance was surrounded by pictures, quotes and leaflets about Judaism. We were directed to a room where we out our coats and bags away. We sat down and were given a brief introduction to the sects of Judaism. Our worksheet that we were given was very helpful. The first part explored the Jewish beliefs about the nature of God, we learned that the Jewish faith is monotheistic and the Jewish beliefs about God can largely be found in the Torah. We also learned about Jewish festivals such as Shabbat, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. It was very helpful that our tour guide was open to questions and helping us further understand the Jewish faith. The whole trip was definitely amazing and was beneficial especially for GCSE RE. An experience we would recommend!
GCSE RE: Busy Studying for Pre Public Examinations! Disclaimer: Revision starts after half term! Tuesday lunchtimes and Friday after schools! Sixth Form: The Explore Experience By Olivia and Will We have chosen to be part of a Catholic school and so we attend RE classes from Year 7 to Year 13. This term during our General RE class we were surprised to find three guest speakers. We were told that they were retired folks who gave up their time to work with a charity called Explore. We watched a clip from Disney s Up which summarised the relationship between a man and wife. We discussed the importance of finding a good person to marry and then we were allowed to ask the couple any question about their relationship. It was a very different lesson! After the session, I think a lot of us had been influenced positively and it made us seriously consider what we want to get out of a relationship. It is amazing to hear how different couples have made their marriages last for so long! Really inspirational! RE Termly Awards Term 3 award winners below! These students have been model students this term both in terms of their own personal achievements and the effort that they have put into their work! Fantastic examples of how hard work can pay off! Well done!
Chaplaincy News Light Fever Friday and now Morning Prayer during Lent to look forward to It started in September and it s still going strong! The flame of faith has been ignited in quite a number of people in our school, staff and students alike! In light of the popularity of this type of prayer, Lenten services will be held in the Blessed Sacrament chapel every school morning during Lent. This short liturgy will provide reflection and a peaceful start to the day for all of those who attend. Greg Squad! Building on the superb work completed during term 2 and term 3, Greg Squad continues to inspire and spread the Catholic faith and traditions. Our connection with St Augustine s is set up so that all Year 5 and Year 6 students receive the Greg Squad workshops on a rotation. Chanelle from Greg Squad said, I love playing the music at Greg Squad! Issey also said, It really fun working with the young children and teaching them about what the Catholic Church believes. Marking the start of Lent, even when Lent has not begun! Ash Wednesday this year fell during our half term so we did not have an ashes service in school. Instead we came together in Year groups to have a liturgy. Led by several students, we listened to the readings for that day and joined together in saying offering up the bidding prayers which have been designed by our Chaplaincy team. Harry from Year 10 said that watching the video which explained Lent as a computer software programme was helpful. It helped me understand that Lent is a time to clean out all the unwanted files and restart myself by trying to have a better relationship with God. Nikola said bringing up our Lenten promises that we had written that Monday during Review was nice and brought more meaning to what we had done in Review.
Photos of RE: Term 2 Light Fever still going strong! Sixth Form organise a charity tie day in aid of the mental health charity, CALM The RE Department Angels and their books for World Book Day Mr Stone s Review Group s Reflection Board is really beautiful! Year 10 enjoy playing One Pen One Dice and using their PLC s for Revision Olivia and Issey are the St Gregory Finalists for the Catenian Public Speaking Competition