Students at Highbridge’s King Alfred and Churchfield Schools have been exploring religious faiths during a special Religious Education Month.
The event started with a workshop at Churchfield when Year 8 students joined Emily Sanders from the sixth form in teaching the Year 5 students about Islamic beliefs.
“The workshop was a real success and was enjoyed by both the King Alfred students and Churchfield pupils. The year 5s created some lovely artwork and all learnt to write their names in Arabic,” Ali Jacobson, RE teacher at King Alfred School, told Burnham-On-Sea.com.
King Alfred School also hosted a debate among sixth formers about science and religion featuring St Andrew’s Church Vicar Rev Graham Witts, Lynne Smith from the Burnham Philosophy Group, and university professors James Ladyman and Dr Christopher Southgate.
“This was a really interesting evening which brought lots of different age groups of people from the local community together to discuss and debate religion,” said Ali.
And the Year 8 students have also visited a Hindu temple hand-carved from marble called the Mandir in Neasden, London (as pictured top).
During the visit, staff and students were given the opportunity to watch prayers, visit an exhibition about Hinduism and pose questions to a very helpful guide.
This week, the Year 8 pupils have returned to Churchfield with Ceri Plested from the sixth form to lead workshops with Year 5 students about Indian dance and Henna designs.
Ali said: “The workshops were great fun for everyone involved and Year 5 picked up the dance moves very quickly and designed some original and interesting henna patterns.”
The RE students will soon be visiting a mosque in Bristol, exploring student’s ideas about belief in a Graffiti workshop and leading more workshops with Year 6 students at Churchfield School about Christian and humanist beliefs.
