We strive to recognise and celebrate the diversity within our school and local community. We learn about each other and develop shared understanding, tolerance and respect.

Reception

For ‘Our Cultures’, Reception enjoyed learning about Lunar New Year. In particular, Reception enjoyed learning about the different animals and how the rat managed to win the race to become the first animal on the Lunar Calendar. Reception made their own animal characters and enjoyed racing them. They also created their own cherry blossom trees using finger painting.

Year 1

For Thrive, Year 1 explored the religion of Judaism. The children took part in a virtual tour of a synagogue, where they learned about its key features and discovered many interesting facts about Jewish beliefs and traditions. The children also learned about Shabbat, an important weekly celebration in Judaism, which begins just before sunset on Friday evening and ends on a Saturday night. The children loved designing and creating their own Star of David.

Year 2

Year 2 welcomed Brother Khadim from Newcastle Central Mosque to explore one of the many cultures in our school. He told us about his typical day, places of worship, traditional dress and how festivals are celebrated in his culture.

The children learned lots of information about his culture by asking relevant questions. Afterwards, we compared the culture to our own. We noticed that in lots of the cultures we have explored in school and through our Thrive focus, light is important in all of them. The children made beautiful lanterns to show the similarities between all the cultures.

Year 3

For ‘Our Cultures’, Year 3 were visited by a Buddhist. He explained in detail his faith and how Buddhas hope to live. He explained some key words such as Metta, which means with love and kindness. He even showed the children how they meditate to find peace. Year 3 have also been learning about different faiths in their community during RE lessons. They had a discussion with the Buddhist about his roles and responsibilities in the community. An interesting perspective that Year 3 learnt was that Buddhist don’t do lots of promoting the religion in the community, it is more about welcoming people who are interested.

Year 4

Year 4 children enjoyed exploring bread from different cultures, tasting and talking about each one with curiosity and excitement. They noticed differences in shape, texture, and flavour, and learned how bread is an important part of meals around the world. The activity helped them appreciate cultural diversity while trying something new together.

Year 5

Year 5 investigated Bangladeshi, French, British and Syrian culture for their Thrive this half term. The children looked at the cultures traditional foods, celebrations, clothing, religion and sports. Year 5 then created informational posters about each culture that will be displayed around school. They even spent an afternoon completing a carousel of sports from different cultures. Lots of children were keen to share information and experiences from their culture.

Year 6

Year 6 enjoyed celebrating World Religion Day as part of their Thrive work on the theme of ‘Our Cultures’. Children worked together to research and learn about a range of different religions, such as Sikhism, Christianity and Buddhism. The children then designed wonderful posters full of facts, drawings and ideas linking to the religion they researched. Well done, Year 6!