Journeying Together in Faith
St Mary and St Peter is a Catholic school, originially founded for the education of children from Catholic families. About two-thirds of our current children are Catholics. We also welcome children from families of any faith or none. What is important is that you agree with our guiding principles which are based on the teaching of Jesus Christ:
- Cherishing the special nature of each child as a unique human being made in the image of God, providing the care to ensure enjoyment and success in learning, and meeting individual needs.
- Fostering children’s sense of personal responsibility, and their ability to stand up for what they know to be right.
- Enabling children to develop relationships through showing generosity, honesty, tolerance and forgiveness.
- Encouraging a concern to help others, both locally and globally, and to care for the environment.
Children learn to live by these principles through their daily life as part of the school community. There are frequent opportunities for children to show they care, both formal and informal. This is what we mean by ‘journeying together in faith’. Our aim is that, whatever their religious background, all our children should become ‘people of goodwill’ with a lifelong commitment to creating a more perfect world.
Other aspects of children’s experience are more specifically Catholic. Children learn about prayer and worship in their classes, in daily whole-school assemblies and, on special occasions, in our local parish church of St Peter. Worship is always presented in a way which is suitable to children’s ages. We are sensitive to the needs of our non-Catholic children, who are never made to feel ‘different’.
We hold regular celebrations of the Mass, where the whole school community can come together. We always welcome parents to attend, whether or not they are themselves Catholic as well as our local parishoner friends.
Religious education lessons are based on the syllabus drawn up by the Diocese of East Anglia. The syllabus encourages children to engage with ideas and the implications of faith. Topics are wide-ranging and include a study of other major world religions. Children also learn about sexuality within the context of Catholic teaching, in a way which is appropriate for their stage of development. We aim for children to accept their own and others’ sexuality in a positive light, and to develop relationships in which love, dignity and responsibility are central.
We support our two local parishes, St Peter’s and St Mary’s, in preparing Catholic children for the Reception of First Holy Communion and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The school was originally called St Mary’s Catholic Primary School. In September 2015 the school moved to it’s current name.
Learning about and from religion
This term we are focusing on developing our Big Questioning Skills in RE.
We have been working on some big questions in our school Big Question book. Here is some of the work that we are engaged in.
Learning about Other Faiths -Hinduism (June 2018)
The children across the school have been discovering a taste of what the Hindu Faith is about. Hinduism is one of the oldest religions of the world and is deeply rooted in the Indian culture. As well as discovering some stories, facts and practices the children have been considering how it compares to their own faith and the faith of others. They have found lots of similarities as well as differences. Our Pope encourages Catholics to find out about and be respectful of other faiths, “It is clear that, when we show respect for the religion of our neighbours or when we offer them our good wishes on the occasion of a religious celebration, we simply seek to share their joy…”
Here is a small taste of some of their learning…
Reception have been learning about the festival of light Diwali. They have listened to the story of Rama and Sita and tried to retell it, made rangoli patterns and even made and tried chapatti.
Year 2 have been learning about prayer at home and how prayer is part of Hindu life. They have looked at some pictures of Home Shrines and used it to identify the key features. they have then made their own model shrines and have written about what the different objects are for in the shrine. Here are some pictures of their shrines.
Year One and Two visit to learn about the Christmas Story
On the 6th of December Year One and Two traveled to Norwich to visit the Anglican Cathedral for a day discovering more about the Christmas Story.
Ascension Learning
Year Three have been exploring the story of the ascension of Jesus into Heaven. Look at the lovely models they made. They have taken them home to share the learning with their families.
Advent Learning
The children have been exploring things that the Church do during Advent. They have been thinking about things that they might want to do differently during advent.
Year Two are working together to explore the Christmas Story by making a joint class book. They are using Drama, Art and English learning. Here are some pictures of them working together at the background for their illustrations.
Here is some of the finished work.
Judaism fortnight
Across the school the children have all been engaging in learning about the Jewish faith. This culminated in a special assembly where we shared and celebrated the learning that we had been exploring.
