World Religions – Farmington Institute

TT449 – How Can We Use Stories to Deepen Children’s Understanding in RE?

October 6, 2020October 6, 2020 Kate GompertzTeaching and Training, World Religions

As subject leader for RE in my primary school, I noticed that neither the children nor the teachers were particularly enjoying the subject, which was being taught by following the local syllabus for the Wirral. We needed to improve the profile of the subject as well as the learning for the children. I knew from my Literacy lessons how well children respond to stories and could develop skills in English by approaching texts in different ways. I wanted to see how I could use stories effectively to improve RE lessons with my own class and then across the school. In this […]

TT446: Tuning in to Mother Earth

September 3, 2020September 4, 2020 Kate GompertzPhilosophy and Spirituality, Teaching and Training, World Religions

I work in a school for children and young people who have severe learning disabilities. My first Farmington scholarship (2017-18) was an exploration of sacred singing in different faiths, and how, in a special school, children might access spirituality and experience something of those faiths, through singing. This time I wanted to take that further and see whether, through singing, we can tap into the energy, or current, that underlies all faiths When we strip the singing of religious references, what remains? Not, as some might imagine, something secular, but instead something deeply sacred, that leads us into experiencing and […]

TT434: Meet Jamila – My Muslim Friend

February 11, 2020 Kate GompertzTeaching and Training, World Religions

I teach RE in a two-form entry Church of England primary school in a small town situated between Liverpool and Manchester in the borough of St Helens in Merseyside. Approximately 97% of the 420 children in our school are white British. I noticed that the year 2 children I taught, whilst interested in learning about faiths other than Christianity, had few, if any, experience of mixing with other faith or cultural groups and had many misconceptions, seeming to perceive Muslim children as ‘foreign’ and very different from them. My aim for the project was for our children to understand that […]

TT431- Developing a Creative Approach to Religious Education in Primary Schools Through Visits and Visitors

December 10, 2019 Kate GompertzTeaching and Training, World Religions

Little Leigh Primary School is a one form entry village school with approximately 156 pupils and a creative ethos of topic-based learning through the arts. RE, however, is predominantly taught by HLTAs during teachers’ PPA, and although it has taught a broad and balanced curriculum, I felt the lessons lacked enthusiasm, excitement and a deeper moral meaning. I wished our children to experience religion in its 3D form, with visits and visitors from a diversity of faiths, to make religion ‘real’ with experiences they could relate to. Visits to Chester and Liverpool Cathedrals were transformational and led to a series of curriculum days, where children worked collaboratively […]

TT421: What is the Value of RE Within Catholic Schools?

September 24, 2019 Kay WebbTeaching and Training, World Religions

During my time researching this year I have been able to pause, sit back and reflect about my role as a facilitator and educator of RE. I have been able to meet and discuss with students, teachers and other professionals about the value of RE and I have taken time to study national reports published on its status within our schools. “Why do we have to do RE sir?”, a question I am sure many of us have been asked on multiple occasions over the years. This was the start of a discussion I had with a nurse, who was […]

TT419: An Embroidery: Peace

September 17, 2019 Kay WebbPhilosophy and Spirituality, Teaching and Training, World Religions

Schools can be full of noise, activity and demands with little time set aside for peace and quiet. SEN pupils, especially those with literacy, numeracy, working memory and processing weaknesses, can often feel bombarded by noise. In addition, for many, the ‘noise inside their heads’ is frenetic as they try to keep up, try to absorb and make sense of the information coming their way. Noise can be negative if their thoughts are always on catch up. For autistic pupils with social and communication difficulties, constant noise including instructions and discussions can be overwhelming. This project looked at the concept […]

WR73: Inter Faith Dialogue for young people: Innovative ways to allow for encounter in areas lacking in cultural/religious diversity

May 26, 2017 Kate WilsonWorld Religions

Summary: The study has arisen from an awareness of the real need for young people throughout the country to engage in inter-faith dialogue across different cultural and religious boundaries. It builds on work already done at Coopers’ Company and Coborn School with models of dialogue which include video-conferencing, the Inter-Faith Forums, and visiting of communities/places of worship, all of which students have been participating in for several years. The research includes also two innovative models of practices in two schools in the South-West. Each model has been evaluated according to the same overarching criteria, but each has the strengths and […]

WR72: Baha’i Resources for RE Teachers

May 26, 2017 Kate WilsonWorld Religions

Summary:The aim of this project is to provide accessible and freely available resources for teachers wishing to include a study of the Bahá’i Faith in their RE lessons. It follows on from the work of Scott Murray, Farmington Fellow 2008, whose work provides a very clear and concise introduction to the Bahá’i Faith and its inclusion in the Scottish RE Curriculum. The pitch is upper-Primary / lower-Secondary, with the information building from the introductory level to more in-depth study. The range covers the history of the Faith; key figures; principles and teachings and places of worship. It occurred to me […]

WR71: Religion in Contemporary Society: Turkey

May 26, 2017 Kate WilsonWorld Religions

Summary: This project arose originally out of my own interest in the relationship between religion and secularism in society, and the inclusion of this as a topic in some recent A Level and GCSE syllabuses (in particular the new OCR GCSE syllabus C and the AQA Religious Studies A level). My aims in this report were to research and describe Religious Education in an unfamiliar context, and to try to understand the relationship between religion and society that lay behind it; to produce some background information for teachers and students as material for study and debate; to help students and […]

WR70: The Importance of Music in Different Religions

May 26, 2017 Kate WilsonWorld Religions

Summary: The report first deals with the history of music and its importance in five of the world’s main religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism: these being the religions which are usually covered in schools. I have then concentrated on the themes of ‘Spirituality’, ‘Greetings’, ’Celebrations’ and ‘Blessings’, using the similarities between the religions to suggest ideas for listening, composing and performing. It is hoped that children will celebrate the similarities between the religions, helping them to express their own beliefs, empathise with other faiths whilst, at the same time, helping them to develop their own spirituality. There are […]