Pocklington School Pre-Prep children celebrated Faith Day last week. During the day they spoke to special visitors on zoom who talked to them about a variety of different faiths.
Reception class had a zoom call with Lekmo, a Buddhist teacher from York Kadampa Meditation Centre and asked questions about her faith. Lekmo talked to the children about her daily life and how she became a Buddhist 28 years ago after training to be a social worker. She told them about her beliefs and how the Buddhist faith has taught her to be compassionate towards others and how to live a happy and fulfilling life. They ended the zoom lesson with a meditation session.
The children in EYFS have been learning about the Buddhist Faith. They listened to a story about the Buddha and how Buddhism originated in India. The class learnt about the five morals that Buddhists strive to live by and they created their own Mandala and Vesak lantern.
Year 1 learnt about Hinduism and had a zoom call with Mr Banerjee; he introduced Hinduism and read them the story of Rama and Sita. They made lanterns, watched a henna video, and created their own designs.
Year 2 spoke to Zainab, a lady from Iraq, to learn about Islam. They learnt an Arabic song about family and Zainab wrote their names in Arabic. They looked at Islamic art and how it portrays pattern and not humans or animals as only Allah can depict them. They also looked at the five pillars of Islam and why they are important to Muslims.
Prep School teacher Romney Walton said
“Learning about different religions in Pre-Prep develops an interest in the world around us both globally and locally by asking questions. It helps children to make connections with others through awareness of how people of other faith and no faith express their beliefs and live their daily lives differently and similarly to us. It helps children to make links with what they already know and experience to those ideas and thoughts outside of their daily lives, broadening their understanding and developing their knowledge as a global citizen and becoming confident with their own place in the world.”