Philosophy and Spirituality

TT482: Teaching Christianity Through Art, Marvin

Kate GompertzPhilosophy and Spirituality, Teaching and Training

I am both a class teacher and RE lead within my multi-academy primary school trust. In 2020, I showed my class two representations of Christ’s baptism, very different but both showing the Trinity being present at the baptism of Christ.  The children’s reaction to these paintings inspired me to see that artwork and religious paintings could be a good way into a new topic in class, or to illustrate a passage from the Bible, or to help the visual learners.  As part of my scholarship I have studied the work of Paul Tillich, a theologian in art. I have created […]

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TT472: A Toolkit for Primary Schools to Promote the Development of Spirituality, Gotheridge

Kate GompertzPhilosophy and Spirituality, Teaching and Training

This toolkit is intended to support you with the development of spirituality in your school. It is a practical tool which can be used in non-church schools as well as faith based schools, because it is important not to associate religion only with church schools and spirituality with community schools.  The ultimate questions children should be encouraged to answer are:  Who am I?  Where do I fit it? and Why am I Here?  This research (mainly done at Winster CE Primary), and the accompanying toolkit aim to enable our children to be the most spiritual they can be, to think deeply, to […]

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TT471 – How Can Achievement in RE be Attainable by All Pupils at Primary Level?, Pearce

Kate GompertzPhilosophy and Spirituality, Teaching and Training

I have always believed that RE is a subject which everyone should achieve in, however in my setting (predominantly white rural C of E school) there was a strong correlation between SEND pupils and pupils not achieving ARE in RE.  Furthermore, it didn’t take much research to see that this is a common scenario in schools across the country.  My research inside and outside the classroom has let me to make changes to our school’s pedagogy to incorporate new approaches which I have found to make a big difference in allowing SEND learners to access RE learning.  These include starting […]

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TT469: Character for Life – Palfrey

Kate GompertzPhilosophy and Spirituality, Teaching and Training

Have you ever met someone who just makes you feel comfortable?  Or at ease?  Someone who is dependable, wise, trustworthy, kind?  Maybe they seem to remain grounded even when they experience life’s challenges and storms?  There may be people we have encountered in our lives who show these traits and we might describe them as having strength of character. Knowledge and subject content is vital, however character development is the key to “living life in all its fullness” (John 10:10).  I have researched this area and have designed a short Character for Life guide to accompany my report.

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PS103: A Case for Merlin: Deeply Hindu, Serving the Christian Good – Desai

Kate GompertzPhilosophy and Spirituality, Teaching and Training, World Religions

The project sought to ally Hindu Adhyatma-yoga with the Christian contemplative tradition towards the welfare of the young.  Within a Hindu Faith School (11-18), 8 Contemplative Assembly protocols were developed, trailed, and appraised as promising.  Particularly, the meditational practice: enabled children to be still, dream, and be content suggested that self-understanding and God-understanding exist symbiotically; God signposts the ideal-self stimulated children to adopt a God’s eye view whilst reassuring them to find God within themselves. Furthermore, the Scholarship quickened envisioning an Interfaith Chaplaincy across all the schools in the MAT – pioneering work hopefully to be taken forward under Farmington’s continued […]

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PS102: Well-being Matters by Lynn Hudson

Kate GompertzPhilosophy and Spirituality, Teaching and Training

I worked with my colleague, Kathy Chapple (who has written her own report).  Together we mentored an ITT RE Ambassador from Liverpool John Moores University, helping her to become an effective RE teacher and, hopefully, a future RE lead. My role in this was to to help our student, Amy, develop the skills to deliver the ‘well-being’ remit of our school.   We worked on a creative, interactive and preventative programme to improve our pupils’ resilience skills, aspirations and attainment, by removing mental health barriers to their social, emotional and academic development.  Together we trialled a well-being programme within the school, using approaches such […]

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PS101: Improving mental health and well-being by Nic Baykaa-Murray & Alison Long

Kate GompertzPhilosophy and Spirituality, Teaching and Training

At Almondsbury Church of England Primary School, we believe that we are ‘Creating our Pathways’ for pupils to their future.  This is the core element of our vision. “Show me your way, Lord, teach me your paths” (Psalms 25:4).  We feel very strongly that not only do our pathways extend across the academic and social spheres but also personally and spiritually. In this, and with the help of the Farmington Scholarship, we want to enable our children with the skills to develop strategies to support their mental health, well-being and spirituality through the implementation of the Heartsmart programme.  It is […]

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PS100: Our Journey towards Peace in Our Community by Annika Eadie

Kate GompertzPhilosophy and Spirituality, Teaching and Training

This report is an exploration of how Restorative Practice and Systemic Leadership principles can be used to support a school to develop a culture of ‘Peace’.  Our school is under threat due to a falling roll.  Over the course of the last year we have faced a number of different challenges including possible closure or amalgamation  This report explores: the meaning of peace in the context of education the challenges that we faced during 2019-20 the use of EPIs to reflect on our own values and culture the use of Systemic Leadership Principles to reflect on managing change signs of […]

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TT447: Creating a Formation ‘Skin on Skin’ experience programme by Clare Hogg

Kate GompertzPhilosophy and Spirituality, Teaching and Training, Theology and Doctrine

Catholic schools today are for many families the new Church.  The Catholic education they receive may be the only time they hear or experience the Good News and think differently to society.  The traditional model of the past where home, Church and school developed a child’s spirituality and faith journey is not as strong in some areas of Britain so it is more important than ever that adults working in Catholic schools have time, space and invest in high quality formation.  The National School of Formation was created to provide opportunities for Catholic leaders to ‘kindle the fire’, to promote a renewed […]

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PS099: How Does Philosophy for Children (P4C) in Religious Education Create Effective Dialogue? by Kate McDowell

Kate GompertzPhilosophy and Spirituality, Teaching and Training

Philosophy for Children (P4C) was founded by Professor Matthew Lipman and has developed over 35 years and is practised in approximately 60 countries.  It has been influenced by educationalists and philosophers such as Vygotsky, Piaget Dewey as well as the tradition of Socratic dialogue.  Through a stimulus such as a story, video clip or image, the children are encouraged to develop philosophical questions, learn to listen to each other to explore differences of opinion respectfully and to value the ideas of others.  I have shared my experience of teaching P4C within RE lessons and produced resources to support the teaching […]

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