Teaching Other Faiths
Other faiths are addressed as a consequence of, and in the context of, Catholic teaching. Catholic teaching about the action of God in the world requires an informed and respectful approach to other faiths. By a study of the action of God in these faiths, Catholics can come to a deeper appreciation of the revelation of God in Christ. Catholics can also learn from the practices of other faiths (e.g. patterns of prayer, fasting, pilgrimages etc.)

Respect for traditions and beliefs of other faiths is vital in our multicultural community. Each term, one week is given over to study another faith. We follow ‘Come, and See’ to help support the teaching of other faiths.

The school has chosen Judaism for the autumn term, and in the spring and summer term, we will alternate between Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism because of the wider community in which we live. Resources are bought for the whole school to be able to participate at the same time. In this way, the pupils are introduced to people of other faiths’ background and beliefs and recognise God at work in them.

Islam week

The topics and themes each year groups focuses on:

To celebrate Islam Week, the children learnt all about the religion of Islam.

Miss Misbah, who follows this religion, taught year one and two pupils all about her life as a Muslim. She showed us her prayer mat and explained how she prepares for her prayer, which takes place five times a day. Miss Misbah also showed us the Qu’ran, the Muslim Holy Book. She then answered many questions from the pupils, talking about her clothing and what languages the Qu’ran is in.

Miss Shamina, Miss Minara, Miss Bilkis and Mr Muzaffar also spoke to the other year groups from reception and year six about Islam. In addition, every year, the group had a workshop in which they participated.

The children in year 2 learnt about the signs of respect Muslims show when they pray. We created a Muslim person praying and spoke about the different movements used in their prayer. We learnt there are nine movements used to show they are humble and respectful to Allah. When we finished creating our person, we showed the different postures used during prayer.

Judaism Week

To celebrate Judaism week, the children participated in a variety of workshops, including a Zoom call with the Jewish Museum. The year two, children learnt about the celebration of Hanukah. They learnt all about the original story and how the Maccabees defeated the Egyptian King. This was the first miracle. They then learnt about the second miracle, of how the sacred oil lasted for eight days and eight nights. The children were able to ask many questions about this festival and compare it to festivals and rituals in our own religion. They also studied some interesting artefacts.

Our Jewish visitor, Nina Leigh, visits our school as part of our Judaism week at St Dominic’s. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, we had to think of a different way to learn about the Jewish faith, so each year group had a virtual Zoom call with Nina Leigh to learn about the Jewish faith.

The children in year two learnt about the Shabbat meal and role-played a Jewish family celebrating the Shabbat meal. They looked at artefacts and rituals, and we noticed that we say our school prayer before lunch, and during the Shabbat meal, Jewish families say a blessing before they eat.