St Bernadette Catholic Primary School: RE Newsletter

The staff and children would like to wish all the parents a lovely half term. We hope you find time to make some special memories and enjoy the sunshine.

Ends of the Earth

This term the title of our RE topic has been Ends of the Earth.

‘Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’ (Mt 28:19).

In this branch, children looked at the events that flowed from the Resurrection and Ascension in the coming of the Holy Spirit and the work of the apostles and early Church. They also learnt about the Catholic Church today as the apostolic Church and how its liturgy and structures flow from the early Church.

Come, Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle in them the fire of your love.
Amen.

During this half term, the children took part in an assembly from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Aid to the Church In Need are a Catholic Charity, standing up for religious freedom. They work in 140 countries and give practical assistance and pastoral care for people who are refugees.

Year 3 and 4 took part in a special workshop. They discussed the importance of prayer and why we pray the Rosary. They also looked at some of the important work ACN do to help those less fortunate than ourselves. This contributed to our Catholic Social Teaching topic. The children learnt about the importance of being treated with dignity and especially the dignity of workers. It can be difficult in some countries for workers to be treated fairly and paid accordingly. This half term we remember all those workers around the world who are struggling and pray that God will give them the strength to continue and be treated with dignity, equality and respect.

Catholic Social Teaching

Our faith calls us to love God and to love our neighbours in every situation, especially our sisters and brothers living in poverty. Following in the footsteps of Christ, we hope to make present in our unjust and broken world, the justice, love and peace of God.

The Catholic Social Teaching (CST) we have been focusing on this half term is Dignity of Workers.

To celebrate this theme. The children have all taken part in CST lessons.

KS1: Thought about what it means to be treated with dignity. They decided that it means being treated fairly and with love. God loves everyone and wants everyone to feel loved and respected. He wants everyone to feel loved and respected everywhere they are and that includes when they are at work. They discovered that foods with the Fairtrade sticker on them mean that the people who made the food are given a fair amount of money.

Year 2 told us all about the importance of treating workers with dignity in their class assembly. They discussed the importance of treating everyone fairly and being respectful.

LKS2: Thought about what the word dignity means. A job is more than just a way to make money. A job is also a way to live happily and find something that you are good at.

They discussed the question 'Why is it important for everyone to feel like they are needed?' and looked at Bible passages from Genesis. Children understood that Dignity of Workers is not a modern idea – it is spoken about in the Bible.

UKS2: The children thought about how a job is more than simply a means to make money – it gives people purpose and helps them feel like they have an important role in society.

They read Bible passages from Genesis and moved on to learn about the London Dock Workers’ Strike. Understanding that workers didn’t always have rights. The fairness workers experience today had to be fought for and demanded.

Chocolate for the staff: This term to highlight the importance of Dignity of Workers, the Faith Leaders visited every classroom and gave all the teaching staff a bar of chocolate. It was very much appreciated and made everyone feel included, respected and appreciated. Thank you Faith Leaders.

‘By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.’

Genesis 2:2-3

EYFS

In RE the nursery the children heard that Jesus said “love one another as I have loved you”. Jesus tells us to be kind to our friends and family. We then spoke about how we can actively live the Gospel message in our lives today. Our activity today was to write on a hand print different ways that we can be kind to each other. The adult scribed what each child said. We then ended our lesson with a lovely kindness song.

Reception: In Reception we have been learning about Ascension Day and Pentecost. We wrote a thank you love heart note to God, thanking him for giving us his son Jesus. Then we learned that Jesus sent his disciples a special friend called about the Holy Spirit. We talked about how it came like the wind and flames on the disciples’ heads. The children acted out the story and made props too.

Our Catholic Social Teaching lesson (CST) was the dignity of workers. We talked about people who help us and why they are important.

Year 1

This half term, Year 1 began their learning by focusing on the Catholic Social Teaching principal of Dignity of Workers. They thought about what they would like to be when they grow up, and how they could be treated with dignity, and why they should be treated with dignity. They learnt lots of stories, including the Road to Emmaus, the Ascension and Pentecost. They reflected on how Jesus’ disciples felt during different events following the Resurrection. A lot of our learning focused on the Holy Spirit, learning all about who and what the Holy Spirit, how it is represented and why it is represented in these ways. The children created their own crafts to show 3 key representations of the Holy Spirit: as a dove, as wind and as fire.

Year 2

We started this half term with the CST theme 'Dignity of Workers'. We explored how important it is to treat everyone with respect and the responsibilities employers have to ensure their employees are treated well. Year 2 also explored examples of artwork which represented the Holy Spirit. The children discussed how the Holy Spirit was represented in each piece of art and made links to scripture. The children discussed their opinions about each piece, supporting their ideas with a valid reasons and listened to the different points of view. The children made their own pictures/artwork to represent the Holy Spirit.

We also thought about the Fruits of the Holy Spirit and made pledges to help improve how we live. Some children pledged to be kinder, some pledged to be more generous and some pledged to show a little more patience.

Year 3

At the start of term, Year 3 and 4 visited the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Temple. We learnt how the Temple was built by volunteers and observed a worship ceremony. The children asked lots of insightful questions and could see some similarities between the Christian and Hindu faith.

Our topic this half term has been on the life and mission of the early Church in The Acts of the Apostles and the letters of St Paul. We have explored how the Mass today follows the same pattern as the first Christian communities, particularly through St Paul’s account of the Eucharist and the Emmaus story. Year 3 have deepened their understanding of the Trinity as a mystery, especially through the epiclesis in the Mass and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. We have studied Pentecost as the revelation of the Spirit and reflected on Mary’s role in prayer and her continuing intercession within the life of the Church.

Year 4

Our topic this half term has been on the Apostles of Jesus and how the church is apostolic. We made posters on what an apostle is. We studied the Apostle’s Creed and how it connects to the trinity, the father , the son and the holy spirit which are all represented in the Creed. We learnt how Peter became the leader of the church and that he was the first Pope. We also participated in a dance festival where the theme for the dance was ‘peace’ which brings you closer to God.

Year 5

This half term, we have looked at the presence of the Holy Spirit and how the Holy Spirit was received by the Messiah. We acted out how the disciples would have responded to this. We looked at different artistic representations of the Holy Spirit being received and discussed how these representations were a true reflection of the event that had taken place. We designed symbols out of clay to represent the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We then focused on the Sacrament of Confirmation and what happens during this. We made posters that discussed the benefits of this sacrament. We then looked specifically at the vocabulary that is used during this sacrament and created confirmation books which can be used to teach others about the symbols that are linked to the Sacrament of Confirmation. To finish off this half term, we looked at discipleship and what this involves. We researched different saints and created presentations that informed others about how saints are examples of discipleship.

Year 6

This half term, we looked at the Catholic Social Teaching principle of Dignity for Workers. We thought particularly about how we could use more Fairtrade products in school and wrote letters to the Co-Headteachers with our suggestions for supporting this worthy cause.

Through our further study of John’s Gospel this half term, we looked at the authorial intent and messages that John shared with us about Jesus through His Resurrection and His appearances to Mary, Thomas and the other disciples. We explored why Jesus was called ‘the New Adam’ and made links to other scripture in Genesis. Finally, we discussed the Christian belief about the Resurrection as the work of the Trinity and looked at how Saints and martyrs bore witness to Christ through their lives.

May: The month of Mary

Prayers for the Month of Mary

Pope Leo XIV has frequently expressed deep devotion to Mary, emphasizing her role as a mother who walks with believers, offering her intercession and love. A key theme of his is that, "God’s love is so great that Jesus does not keep even his mother for himself, giving Mary to us as our mother, in the hour of the cross"

THE OUR FATHER: Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

HAIL MARY: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

GLORY BE: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

FATIMA PRAYER: Oh my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell; lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy. Amen.

HAIL, HOLY QUEEN: Hail, Holy Queen, mother of mercy; our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn, then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us. And after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be madenworthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.
O GOD, WHOSE only-begotten Son by His life, death and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life; grant, we beseech Thee, that by meditating upon these mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

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