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‘Are you sure about that?’

Five of the most powerful words in any teacher’s vocabulary. In my modest career teaching RE across a variety of settings and ages, nothing in my teaching toolbox has been more effective than casting doubt on a student’s knowledge. By ‘doubt’ what I really mean is finding creative and subtle ways to make students question their knowledge, but it starts by making them doubt themselves first.

One of my favourite ways to do this is in something like a card sort activity. I remember one I had set up providing the students with a range of quotes that were said by either Martin Luther King Jr. or Malcolm X. Their task was to match the quotes to the person using their knowledge of both. What I discovered was a very low level of learning and students not really engaging with their knowledge. I could hear lines such as ‘Malcolm X couldn’t possibly have said this, so it must be the other one’. On the face of it this is good stuff, that student knows enough about Malcolm X to know that he wouldn’t have said that. But that’s not what learning in RE is about. We want the students to go just that little bit deeper with their thinking. That’s what I wanted to achieve.

Next day, same activity, different class but this time (having reflected on my practice of course) I changed things up a bit. To make the students begin to really question their knowledge, I put a quote in there from a small green character from a well-known science fiction film. Except I didn’t tell the students. This changes the game completely, because now when students looked at that card they said ‘Well it can’t be Malcolm X but hang on, I can’t imagine Martin Luther King Jr. said that either. What is going on? Did we get this card by mistake? Could it possibly be one of them?’ Now we have it, the proverbial cogs are turning and the deep learning is happening. Plus, it’s always a delight to reveal at the end which one was the ‘outsider’.

Call this what you want, ‘the red herring’, ‘the odd one out’, ‘the elephant in the room’ but the principle is still the same. Include in their learning something outside the paradigm of what you’re asking them to learn in order to question their knowledge and get them really thinking about what you’re teaching them. The applications for it are endless – adding a quote from the Qur’an in with Bible quotes for example, or even replacing one of the 8 Fold Path with one of the Decalogue. If you’re really creative you can cast doubt on the student’s current knowledge by building in elements of their previous knowledge.

Don’t do this too frequently though. Recently a student of mine took one look at something and within 30 seconds said ‘That’s not right. Sir has put that in just to try and mess with us.’ He was right, I did. I was so proud of him.

We are in unprecedented times that offer new challenges for the teaching profession and our students. It has been difficult setting work that is worthwhile, easy to monitor, works with family commitments at home and is not going to create an excessive workload.

Keep it simple

Keeping it simple means bullet point instructions via an email sent each morning and resources in clearly labelled folders on our VLE. I am trying to balance working from home with family life and so I set up my emails the night before using delay send. We also have whole year groups doing the same tasks rather than individual teachers setting their own work. This reduces workload and keeps it simple in the event of staff absence. We need to remember that parents are often trying to help multiple children with one laptop in already difficult circumstances – now is not the time for experimenting with lots of new ideas.

Key Stage 3

I am going to say something now that is a tad controversial but I don’t think it should be – we like textbooks and I think that they can provide some of the solutions to the challenges of remote learning. Our Key Stage 3 students are doing textbook work in their exercise books which is then tested every 3^rd lesson using Sam Learning. I want to keep it simple and I don’t want teachers having to check that students have marked work accurately and so I have created or set pre-existing tasks that mark themselves – shockingly some students write “dunno” for everything and then award themselves full marks.

There are online platforms via which students can access electronic textbooks or part of a book can be scanned and placed onto your VLE. Information about copyright can be found here. (https://www.cla.co.uk/cla-schools-licence)

I have staggered the SAM Learning tasks so that teachers are not getting bombarded by reports constantly, this means that a full time RE teacher with 20 plus classes is only getting one or two reports emailed to them each day. When the report arrives we use SIMS to send a bulk email  for any student who has not completed the work. So far it has been very few. To minimise workload it is a copied and pasted email that politely says that we have noticed that your son/daughter has not completed their work and can we do anything to help. The student with the top score in the class gets a postcard home via sims and we give out achievement points for the top 5 in each class.

We are using this process to train students into good habits, when we have achieved this, we will consider using the excellent resources that have been provided by NATRE. http://www.natre.org.uk/about-natre/free-resources-for-you-and-your-pupils/

Key Stage 4 and 5

Most of our time and effort is going into Key Stage 4 and 5, we have small option groups and therefore the approach suggested may not work for schools that enter full cohorts for the GCSE.

We are using our existing PowerPoints and turning those into videos which we narrate ourselves using either the record slide show option in PowerPoint or screencast. https://screencast-o-matic.com/. These videos are then being uploaded onto YouTube and a link is sent to the student. We are not doing any live video lessons because this could trigger safeguarding issues. Prerecording videos is also quicker than streaming a live lesson because I am not waiting for students to complete tasks, they pause my video whilst they work. This flexibility also works for me as a parent with a young child at home because I don’t have to guarantee to be online at a certain time. Most videos are about 15-20 minutes long. The resources are all familiar to me and so it is rare that it takes me more than one take to record a video. If I don’t have time to make a video, I am just emailing students the existing PowerPoint with simple bullet pointed instructions.

In each lesson I ask the students to send something to me so I can check that they are keeping up. This is often just a screenshot of a quiz that requires a quick glance but about once a week an exam question. I have email folders set up for my GCSE and A Level classes so I can put their exam questions straight into a folder and then come back to it when I have time to look at them properly.

I am trialling whole class feedback using a recorded PowerPoint in which I will include samples of work and talk through strengths and weaknesses as they annotate their work – just as we do in class.

I am keen that any resources that we make can be used in future years as revision resources, we are working hard and this must have an impact on future cohorts.

Rewards

We are a department that recognises the power of the carrot and we don’t want to lose this when the students are working from home. We send home and tweet a merit league table each fortnight (just the top ten) and we will continue to do this because teachers are still giving out merits and sending home postcards from SIMS.

We also have a department twitter account from which we share examples of student work and we will continue to do this.

Enrichment

We all have those students who love RE and want to go that extra mile, those students are our GCSE and A Level students of the future and so we need to keep them engaged with enrichment activities.

We will be inviting students to take part in the Spirited Arts competition at home.

http://www.natre.org.uk/about-natre/projects/spirited-arts/introduction/

We have also published on our twitter feed a guide to RE related programmes they can watch on TV or stream. I am also planning to share on our twitter feed links to virtual trips to key sacred sites around the globe.

Being born in the Midlands I was aware of and very comfortable with diversity from a young age. I was interested in particular by the different foods and colourful cultures which just seemed so vibrant and celebratory. This early interest has stayed with me throughout my life. So, when I moved down to the Bournemouth area aged 13, I was surprised to find a much more monocultural situation. However, being 13 I had plenty of other things to concern me, so I just got on with being awkward and trying to work out who I was and what I wanted to be.

Fast forward 10 years and I began teaching at a secondary school in Poole in a department of 1 and trying to introduce seriously apathetic students to the faith of Islam. I realised that what I really needed was a ‘wow’ factor or a connected human factor.

Could I visit a mosque? No, the nearest one was over 30 miles away and with no budget or likelihood of gaining permission for a trip this clearly wasn’t going to happen. Add to that the absence of any nearby Muslims I felt rather stuck…

So, when three years ago the opportunity arose to be involved with RE:ONLINE I was thrilled. Not only because of the teaching resources but because of ‘Email a Believer’.

Here you will find 10 believers from the following religions and worldviews

• Baha’i
• Buddhism
• Christianity
• Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter-Day Saints
• Hinduism
• Humanism
• Islam
• Judaism
• Paganism
• Sikhism

Each believer is available for you to ask questions about their faith or worldview.

These answers are all quality controlled and the service is completely free.

This would have helped me when I was teaching so much. Let me give you an example:

When I was teaching GCSE Islam, I was totally comfortable with the knowledge aspect of the hajj pilgrimage but I would never be able to say how it would feel as a Muslim to walk around the Kab’ah or stand on the Mount of Mercy.

As a non-Muslim I would not even be allowed anywhere near Makkah however our Muslim believer has performed the hajj and can give that personal connection. So, if you live in an area without many opportunities to connect with different faith communities personally ‘Email a Believer ‘ can help provide some missing answers and personal insights.

Our believers have already answered many questions on a variety of topics, these can be found on the webpage. Some are now also being turned into resources which can be accessed in the RE:ONLINE teaching resources, just select the theme ‘lived experience’ to see them all.

Sometimes teachers use ‘Email a Believer’ to set a homework task.

The homework could be ‘ think of 5 questions each that you would ask a believer about an aspect of their faith’. Then bring all the questions back and have a class discussion before submitting some to the believer. We aim to get the questions answered within a few days. I would always suggest asking a question that would involve the impact on daily life or lived experience. If you also mention the age of your class, we will try to answer in age appropriate language.

I hope this will encourage you to engage with ‘Email a Believer’. Personally, I know that reading the answers has helped me develop my personal understanding of the faiths and worldviews. I hope it will help many others too.

Throughout the first part of my training I believed that a good teacher was someone with a good PowerPoint. I remember planning every single aspect of my lessons on a PowerPoint, believing that I must absolutely rigidly stick to the sequence of slides, otherwise the lessons would go off plan. Two years into my career and thankfully I have seen the light, the PowerPoint doesn’t make the teacher, in fact it is often liberating to teach without one!

For a long time, Microsoft was the only technology I exposed myself and students too. All my lessons were planned on and delivered through PowerPoint, it wasn’t until this year I started to look into the many existing and also new and emerging technologies that can be used to digitally enhance learning in the RE classroom. I believe that RE can often be a subject not linked with using technology much. It all started with the trusty visualiser, I love using this piece of kit, it allows me to live mark, plan and answer exam questions right in-front of my students, giving them an opportunity not only to open up the exam specification but also to see the thought process behind answering a GCSE style question. This new addition to my teaching and learning got me thinking of the many different ways we can integrate technology into our classrooms not only with the aim of supporting pupil progress and collecting assessment data but also with the hope of engaging pupils with the subject.

My next step was to set up a departmental website on Weebly, with revision guides for KS4 and homework support for KS3 classes. As a department we were able to create QR codes which were stuck in planners, meaning pupils could scan and access all of the information they needed on their phones or tablet devices for additional support which has so far proved successful. This was also linked to other blogs created by members of the department so that students have a wealth of resources available to them.

Recently, I completed the Apple Teacher qualification which opened my eyes to the potential apple technology can have in the classroom. It’s ability to allow me to teach with apps, such as Quizlet and Nearpod, which not only allow me to assess learning in real time and collect and store formative assessment data, but they also afford me the opportunity to open up the real world from within my classroom. An example of which would be, Nearpod which allows you the opportunity to walk your pupils through the Sistine Chapel, so that they can see the Creation of Adam painting in all of its wonder and glory, the way it was intended. Technology gives us the opportunity to instil a sense of awe and wonder in our pupils, that perhaps other teaching styles cannot.

However, probably the most revolutionary aspect of technology I use regularly to enhance my teaching is twitter! Twitter is full of dedicated and knowledge rich-

practitioners with tons of ideas that they want to share with others in the profession. I use twitter every day, and often signpost other teachers that use tech in the classroom, and whilst I’m fairly new and still finding my feet in the world of digitally enhanced teaching I am sharing my research and evidence via Twitter. You can follow this journey via @tjones_m.

My final thought is this, technology without pedagogy is useless. In order to properly integrate technology into the classroom successfully first ask yourself the question “what is the purpose?”. If the answer is because it will genuinely enhance your teaching, then great go for it, however, sometimes sticking to a PowerPoint and a whiteboard is ok too.

Bahá’i visitors to schools are often asked if they have artefacts which can be used in RE lessons about the Bahá’i Faith. There are not many things which could be put into a conventional artefact box:  there is no specific Bahá’i item of clothing, no Bahá’i statues or icons, and no rituals which are linked to certain objects.

Some Bahá’is use prayer beads for their daily invocation, ninety-five utterances of “Alláh’u’ Abhá!” – “God is Most Glorious”-   but although the verse is a requisite, the beads are not.

A photograph of Bahá’u’lláh – Founder of the Faith – exists but is viewed only on pilgrimage to the Bahá’i Holy places in Haifa, Israel. Most Bahá’is will have a picture of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (Bahá’u’lláh’s son, regarded as a ‘Perfect Example’) but again, this is not compulsory.

One of few items of specific significance is the Bahá’i burial ring – a simple ring bearing the inscription, ”I came forth from God and return unto Him, detached from all save Him, holding fast to His name, the Merciful, the Compassionate.”  Just how appropriate it would be to show to a Reception class would have to be the teacher’s decision!

The focus, then, becomes the teachings and scriptures themselves rather than artefacts. Bahá’u’lláh wrote thousands of passages on spiritual and social matters, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote many more. Copies of Bahá’i prayer books, illustrated and suitable for young children, make a tangible resource.

What else could be used to give a visual representation of the spiritual teachings? Though not artefacts in the usual sense, certain objects can help to illustrate some key Bahá’i concepts:

Gemstones

“Regard man as a mine rich in jewels of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its splendours.”

According to the Bahá’i teachings, every one of us has talents and faculties innate within us which must be drawn out by identifying, recognising and practising ‘virtues’ – qualities such as kindness, honesty and compassion. For one lesson, I covered a large many-faceted glass gemstone with mud. After discussing virtues and the need to practice them with the children, we polished the gemstone until it shone, drawing parallels with the soul, potential, and treasures within.

Flowers

“Ye are all fruits of one tree, the leaves of one branch, the flowers of one garden.”

One of the key teachings in the Bahá’i Faith is that of the unity of mankind, and specifically, unity in diversity. The metaphor of flowers of many colours, shapes and forms is found in many Bahá’i passages.

 “Consider the flowers of the rose garden. Although they are of different kinds, various colours and diverse forms and appearances, yet as they drink from one water, are swayed by one breeze and grow by the warmth and light of one sun, this variation and this difference cause each to enhance the beauty and splendour of the others.” – ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

A well-known children’s song amongst Bahá’is is “We are Drops of One Ocean”, an easy one to share, and which teaches this principle of the oneness of humankind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsDHH5T5B5M

Lamp

Light is a central image in most religions. One of the simplest Bahá’i prayers for children says, “O God! Guide me, protect me, make of me a shining lamp and a brilliant star. Thou art the Mighty and the Powerful.” (‘Abdu’l-Bahá)

There are many layers of meaning to be explored with the use of light: light is used to refer to the Almighty, and the Divine Educators are likened to perfect mirrors. It is used as a metaphor for the soul, for goodness, for love.

The sun is the life-giver to the physical bodies of all creatures upon earth; without its warmth their growth would be stunted, their development would be arrested, they would decay and die. Even so do the souls of men need the Sun of Truth to shed its rays upon their souls, to develop them, to educate and encourage them. As the sun is to the body of a man so is the Sun of Truth to his soul. (– ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks)

Glass lanterns can illustrate the ‘light within’ with young children: talk about the need to keep the glass clean to allow the light to shine out; sit in near-darkness, save for the light of the lamp, and reflect on the feelings evoked by having a light to reassure, guide and comfort us.

These are just a few examples of themes in the Bahá’i faith which can be easily included in RE lessons and made accessible to even the youngest children.

Teaching about the parable of the Good Samaritan is standard practice in RE, and for good reasons. It encapsulates essential elements of Jesus’ teaching in a memorable and adaptable story. That’s why pupils are often asked to show their understanding of it by making the Good Samaritan into a modern-day character, but sometimes the process misrepresents the parable.

More attention is needed to who, exactly, the Samaritans were (and are), and this is where research helps. The differences between Jews and Samaritans were religious. The Samaritans accept only the Pentateuch as authoritative, have their own version of it and did not accept Jerusalem-related traditions (they have a commandment to build an altar on Mount Gerizim, near modern-day Nablus).

The open-access journal Religions has a 2020 special edition on the Samaritans, prompted by the fact that despite the fame of the parable, people tend to know little about them. We’ve reported one of the articles on Research for RE. [i] Let’s turn to its key findings. Part of the interest is that some of them are very unexpected.

• The Samaritans of today are a community of about 810 people split between Mount Gerizim, their holy place near Nablus (West Bank) and Holon (Israel).
• According to them, their name comes not from the province of Samaria from which they originate, but from the Hebrew word Shômrîm, which means “the keepers” and, by extension, “the keepers of the Law.”
• The researcher, Fanny Urien-Lefranc, states that although there is debate over their origins, Samaritans are now considered Jews by the Israeli state.
• Kyriat Luza, their village on Mount Gerizim, attracts more and more tourists each year, particularly on the Samaritan Passover, during which about fifty sheep are sacrificed. The ceremony brings together Palestinians, Israelis, and many foreign tourists curious to attend a ritual supposedly representing a centuries-old heritage.
• ‘Cultural entrepreneurs’ make full use of this: there is a market in ‘authentic’ Samaritan foods, amulets, texts, music, etc.
• There are now about 300 Brazilian ‘entrants’ into Samaritanism (there is no concept or method of conversion). This movement began in 2015. Many members have Jewish links and seek an authentic, pure, ancient form of Judaism.
• Migration is not a part of this spreading of Samaritanism out of its historical / geographical roots: it tends to be fuelled by the internet, e.g. a way of identification is to post a Facebook photo of yourself holding a laminated amulet containing a verse in Samaritan Hebrew.

How might you make use of these findings in classroom teaching? Well, they don’t add up to a lesson plan, unless you particularly want to teach a lesson about the Samaritans. They’re more likely to give you ways to refine teaching about the Good Samaritan parable, bringing your teaching into line with what is known about Samaritans.

• Use the findings to explain to pupils the religious differences between Jews and Samaritans.
• If you are adapting the parable to a modern-day setting, or asking pupils to do so, make sure that the religious differences are those reflected. Generic enmity (e.g. supporting a different football team) doesn’t really capture the point. Focusing on the real differences will help develop religious literacy.
• Explore with pupils why Jesus would champion outsiders. Are there other cases where he is an outsider himself? Pupils may be able to identify these, as links with previous learning, or you could supply them. [ii]
• Later, open up more general questions on the basis of learning about the Samaritans. Should religion be a form of tourism? [iii]
• And: are pupils surprised to find Samaritanism spreading in Brazil – or religion moving via the internet, in ways that don’t relate to countries of origin, or people physically migrating from one part of the world to another? Are there clues about the future of religion here?

[i] The Good Samaritan: what was his religion and does it still exist?

The original article is Fanny Urien-Lefranc, From Religious to Cultural and Back Again: Tourism Development, Heritage Revitalization and Religious Transnationalizations among the Samaritans: Religions 2020, 11, 86,  available open-access at https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11020086

[ii]E.g. John 1:46, Luke 6:20-26, Luke 9:58-60.

[iii] See e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDxy795P_gU, which also provides a visual stimulus on Mount Gerizim. Youtube has a range of video materials on Samaritanism.

Change is not something humans do well. Starting a new job is listed as one of the most stressful events in our lives, so when the new Norfolk Agreed Syllabus called for a new curriculum and new pedagogy in RE, it was a revolution that would require empathetic leadership and lots of planning.

At the heart of the new Syllabus is a multi-disciplinary pedagogy (often called Balanced RE). The approach explores suggested key questions through three lenses: theological (thinking through believing and studying sacred texts), philosophical (thinking through thinking) and the human & social sciences (thinking through living). Students apply each of these lenses equally over the course of a year, using all three lenses to a greater or lesser degree within each unit. The new Syllabus gives suggested units and key questions with a focus on comparing and contrasting religions and to foster “informed conversations about religions and world views”.

To begin our revolution, I firstly – and most importantly – made clear the reason for change: using Balanced RE as our pedagogy supported the aims of the new Agreed Syllabus and would enhance our teaching. I was honest about the challenges ahead and how I would be supporting staff to overcome them as this would be a major change from what we have done before. Risk assessing the change and planning ahead not only negates issues but also reassures staff you are thinking about them.

Talking the talk was easy, now staff had to walk the walk. I gave out sample units so staff could use the new pedagogy without the added work of designing new lessons. Staff were invited to adapt current units to the new pedagogy if this better suited their long-term plans. Giving staff a choice garnered support for the change. For 6 months we trialed units and met regularly to share successes and improve subject knowledge through CPD. Whilst this change was for the benefit of pupils, it was the staff delivering the revolution, so my time and budget was concentrated on them.

With the start of a new academic year, it was time to fully launch the new curriculum. Communication is key: I regularly updated the Curriculum documents, so staff had a single central source to refer to – especially after CPD to include new content or to address questions. Between the various guides, curriculum maps and unit templates these writings are at 12,000 words and counting! We continued to meet each half term for staff to share their success and for me to share what I had been less successful with in my own lessons. A little humility won a lot of support and allowed me to highlight points for development for the staff whilst using my own teaching as a talking point.

Staff training became key. I developed training in conjunction with our school’s vicar (who just happened to have previously been a Secondary RE teacher) and another member of staff with a Theology background. There was not a ready supply of external agencies to provide Primary RE CPD so we designed and built our own. Yes, it was scary to do – but it was also really successful.

Two years in the revolution is still going strong. Staff are confident in the new pedagogy and have taken the new curriculum in great directions I had not expected. I am now more the “guide on the side” than leading from the front. This revolution has been full of smiles and accomplishment which has shown me the importance of teaching our own teachers.

If you would like to read about how Matthew used John Kotter’s 8 Step-Process for Change Management to support this revolution, you can find his article published in TES https://www.tes.com/magazine/article/how-lead-curriculum-revolution (paywall).

Having heard so many promising comments about Strictly RE through social media, I was delighted to attend this year as an NQT. I was looking forward to experiencing the spirit of comradery and receiving some fresh inspiration and practical ideas to take back to my school.

In the first keynote Dr. Kathryn Wright opened our eyes to see the treasures that exist in our local school communities and challenged us to consider whether we are offering treasure in our curricula or something more like plastic.

I will certainly be implementing the ‘Summariser, Questioner and Clarifier’ roles, advocated by Angela Hill, when it comes to engaging with sources of wisdom and authority in the classroom. This activity acts as a natural differentiator and encourages curiosity which helps implement a curriculum which is “ambitious for all” (OFSTED, 2019).

Dr. Greg Barker’s session reminded us that we ARE philosophers and our students are too! I will be implementing the ABCD skills building exercise in my classroom. Rather than practising full essays, students can also build these exam skills through regular low-pressure paragraph tasks. In one paragraph they can demonstrate the skills required for a full essay: answer the question, back it up with evidence, challenge it, decide.

The session on using meta-ethical language at KS5 by Dr Rachael Jackson-Royal equipped me with a clear and concise overview of the content, fantastic lesson activities and a sense of confidence as I plan this unit for my own students.

There were, of course, freebies! The Bible Society provided card sorts which were a great time-saver. I collected a couple more Examining Religion and Belief magazines as well as a highly recommended book entitled More Than 101 Great Ideas which offers a wide range of practical strategies to get students acting, creating, enquiring, reflecting, talking, thinking and writing.

I left Strictly 2020 refreshed and ready to take these precious jewels out of the treasure chest and into my classroom.

2020 is one of the most crucial years of my life regarding my teaching career, as I will be graduating in July from Edge Hill University having completed my undergraduate degree, Secondary Religious Education with QTS, and begin teaching as an NQT in September. I could not think of a better way of starting this year than being surrounded by such inspirational and passionate RE professionals at NATRE’s Strictly RE Conference.

‘What is the point in RE?’ A question I myself have all heard a thousand times over; I feel for those who have been in the profession for several years. A question I find myself speculating how I should respond; how I can get a fourteen-year-old to fathom something that they have such trivial perspectives on. The ideas presented by Greg Barker, who delivered a session on the ‘Top 10 media to connect students to theory at GCSE and A Level’ really highlighted the idea that religion can be taught in diverse ways.

Presenting an image to a class that shows an image of a celebrity – they are hooked. A screenshot from a Marvel film – they are hooked. It invites for discussion amongst pupils, allowing their views to be expressed and promotes a passion or at least an understanding of why the study of RE is beneficial to their understanding of the world. Greg presented 10 images which he faced us with the challenge of identifying the relation to religion; the images were from a range of media outlets such as the news, advertisements, films, and art. One example that I really appreciated, was the painting “Poppy Field in a Valley near Giverny” by Claude Monet. We were asked ‘how many flowers are there?’ If you are not familiar with this painting, see here: https://www.claude-monet.com/poppy-field-in-a-hollow-near-giverny.jsp Monet can be used when teaching the Biblical creation story; a literalistic approach to Genesis, where one can ‘count’ the flowers.  In comparison, a metaphorical approach, a non-literalistic approach, whereby Genesis gives solely an impression of the truth and shows the goodness of the material world. I would have never linked these ideas together; maybe I am naïve, nevertheless I was very impressed by this idea presented to us by Greg. Another example I was impressed by, was a Diet Coke advert which raises issues about cultural images of perfection, the questionable benefits of dieting and the oppression that comes with it. You can see this advert here: http://propproject2k14.weebly.com/commercial.html. Taylor Swift is pictured, with the slogan ‘stay extraordinary’ next to her. This slogan was identified by Greg to be a religious connotation calling to Durkheim’s definition of religion as the movement from the profane, the ordinary, to the sacred, the extraordinary, and then back to profane. However, the advertisement promotes the idea that one stays forever in the sacred sphere.

The first thing that struck me when I arrived at Strictly RE was the buzz of genuine excitement and enthusiasm. It was lovely – and felt empowering- to be part of a community of people with obvious commitment and passion for RE.

We were warmly welcomed by the inspirational Fiona Moss who introduced the guest speaker, Kathryn Wright, CEO from Culham St Gabriel’s. Kathryn spoke to us about ‘opening up the treasure box’ and looking at the various jewels we had available to us: our own world views, our childrens’ world views, context, the intent of our school curriculum, our subject and our curriculum content. She really made me consider my school’s context, something I’ve often thought about in a negative way due to the lack of diversity. However Kathryn made me reconsider and appreciate all the ‘jewels’ our community has to offer and how I can use them to benefit our children. She talked about ‘falling in love with our subject again’; the love for RE was certainly transparent throughout the day in everybody I met.

Julia Diamond-Conway’s Workshop: ‘Big World, Big Ideas: Religion and Science’ was a great workshop where I felt my subject knowledge was deepened and I found lots of practical activities that our children would love to use and share with colleagues. It also made me consider opportunities for our Year Three pupils to begin to think about how science and religion can work together in their Stone Age lessons on Mary Anning, ahead of looking at this in greater detail in Year Six.

Stephen Pett lead an informative workshop on ‘helping pupils to remember what they have learnt in RE’. This session really made me think about the opportunities our children have to retrieve and commit learning to their long-term memory. I loved the activity we did ‘Will Amir go on Hajj next year’ which would give pupils four opportunities to process information about Hajj through active learning which embeds this theory. I have passed this activity on to our Year Five teacher to teach during the unit on what it means to be a Muslim in Britain today. As coordinator I will look forward to seeing how this impacts on their understanding of Hajj and its importance to Muslim people.

My final session was again with Julia Diamond-Conway on ‘Implementing Effective RE for 5-7s:Sticky RE.’ Again, this workshop gave me lots of practical ideas to use in my teaching and share with colleagues.

Ben Wood was our final key note speaker who talked about impact and RE and how we see the impact of this subject in our classrooms and young people. This gave me chance to consider what the impact of RE is for pupils in our school, how successful this is and how I can demonstrate this for OFSTED and SIAMs.

So was the day worth giving up a Saturday for? Well for me a massive, resounding YES! I had spent a day with dedicated teachers and other RE professionals sharing their passion for the subject; been given lots of excellent ideas and resources to support our children’s learning and aid teaching in our school; had space and time to consider the bigger picture for RE in school through the inspiring key note speakers and had been regularly feed. I certainly don’t get given mid-morning and afternoon cakes during my usual Saturday cleaning frenzy.