RE Archives - Penwortham Girls' High School

Year 7 CaREers: Book Illustrator

Posted on June 4, 2024 by Michelle Murray

One of the most wonderful things about learning RE is all the interesting careers the subject can lead to. Here at Penwortham Girls’, we think it’s crucial that students experience first-hand how their knowledge and skills are useful for real life careers.

This term, Year 7 have enjoyed stepping into the shoes of book illustrators to demonstrate the story of the Prophet Muhammad’s life, without using images of God or Prophet Muhammad. In the first lesson of the topic, ‘What Unites Muslims?’ students discussed what is needed for a religion to begin and why Muslims believe that it is disrespectful to picture Allah or Prophet Muhammad. Students followed the school’s core value of ‘Dignity’, by not picturing Allah or Prophet Muhammad in their drawings. Picturing Allah or Prophet Muhammad is known as shirk, which is a sin in Islam. The most important belief in Islam is the belief in one God (tawhid), therefore, Muslims do not associate any pictures with God or Muhammad.

Using a storyboard, students read the story of Prophet Muhammad’s life and created drawings to illustrate His life. The teachers were blown away with their creative drawing skills and it is clear that we have some budding book illustrators in Year 7. They should be very proud of their work. Here are some amazing examples:

Miss Buckle

RE Department

Year 9 RE

Posted on June 4, 2024June 4, 2024 by Michelle Murray

In Year 9 RE, we have recently begun the fascinating topic of Crime and Punishment. The students have discussed potential causes of crime, including religion. The girls completed a research project exploring different religious people who have broken the law. They evaluated the link between their crime and their religion to consider what extent religion can actually cause a crime. There were lots of really interesting projects to read. In particular, some explored religious people who were inspired by their religious teachings of equality and the religious practice of ‘treating others how you wish to be treated’ to break laws in order to gain equality for others. Well done, Year 9 on the great research. Here are some examples:

Alongside teaching substantive knowledge, we think it is crucial that we enhance student’s personal development by informing them about caREer choices that link to RE.

Miss Buckle

RE Department

Year 7 RE

Posted on June 4, 2024June 4, 2024 by Michelle Murray

One of the highlights of this term in RE, has been the Year 7 Trinity artwork project. Every student had to design a piece of artwork to demonstrate their understanding of the Trinity.

The Trinity is the Christian concept of one God in three forms/roles. This is such a tricky concept to grasp and throughout history, people have used various analogies and symbolism to gain further insight into what it means for Christians. Many artists have tried to demonstrate this through their artwork like our year 7s. We were so proud of the effort and the artwork produced!

So many students achieved Head’s Commendations for their Trinity artwork. There were beautiful canvas designs, t-shirts and even a design made in the sea! Here is a collection of the Trinity artwork from our budding artists:

Miss Buckle

RE Department

RE at PGHS

Posted on March 25, 2024March 25, 2024 by Michelle Murray

RE at PGHS

Download (pdf)

Year 10 Mosque Trip

Posted on March 25, 2024March 25, 2024 by Michelle Murray

On 23rd February, Year 10 visited the Masjid E Saliheen Preston Muslim Cultural Centre as part of their drop-down day. Students walked to the Mosque where they were greeted by the Imam. Year 10 were shown around the Mosque and given a demonstration on how to perform ablution (ritual washing before prayer). Students then listened to multiple talks by men and women from the Mosque on topics including prayer and Ramadan.

Once students returned to school, they spent the rest of the morning making a mini Mosque model and annotated the Mosque with information they had learnt whilst at the Mosque.

“I really enjoyed learning about the features of the Mosque, such as the Minaret. This helped me complete my mini Mosque model. I also enjoyed looking at the architecture and repeated patterns in the Mosque such as on the carpet.”

“The Mosque trip was really interesting and cool. It felt really calm and like you could feel God with you. I liked the glass, marble stairs, rugs and white walls with Arabic quotes written on them. We all wore headscarves and were shown how Muslims wash before prayer. We watched the Imam pray and we learnt about Ramadan. A fun fact I learnt is that the Quran is read from right to left rather than left to right.”

Miss Buckle

RE Department

Soroptimists

Posted on February 5, 2024February 5, 2024 by Michelle Murray

So far this year, the Soroptimists have been very active in fund raising. Each year, the Soroptimists fund the Education of Fisokuhle, a 14 year old girl from Eswatini (formerly Swaziland). Sadly, Fisokuhle’s parents are unable to care for her and so a family has adopted her but they cannot afford her education. Fisokuhle is a brilliant student and is always at the top of her class. She needs our help to fulfil her dream of becoming a doctor or a pilot. Here is some of the things the Soroptimists have done so far:

Christmas Markets:

In December, the Soroptimists contributed to the Penwortham Christmas Markets. The tombola stall was organised and run by the Student Leadership Team along with Miss Buckle. The stall was a huge success and it was lovely to see parents, students and former students visit us. We raised £215 to help fund the education of Fisokuhle. Thank you again for all your kind donations towards the tombola stall.

Christmas Music Video:

Throughout December, the staff at PGHS were busy filming a Christmas music video. The song of choice was ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday’ by Wizzard. Plenty of staff got involved, including the Science department, the Maths department, the English department and many more. Mrs Hall and Mrs Pomeroy also feature in the video.

Once the music video was completed, it was shown in assembly and to forms on the last day of term. Although the singing was impressive, the 3-minute section of bloopers was definitely the best part! Students were asked to bring in a donation of 50p to contribute to the Soroptimists. Thank you to all staff involved!

Upcoming events:

Bake sale: Our next fundraising event will be a bake sale on the 7th February for St. Catherine’s Hospice.

Easter Egg Hunt: The Soroptimists are currently planning the annual Easter Egg Hunt that will take place next half term. It was a great success last year, so we are looking forward to doing the the hunt again. Here are the prizes that were won last year:

Miss Buckle

RE Department

RE G.C.S.E. Top Tips

Posted on February 5, 2024February 5, 2024 by Michelle Murray

Important dates and exams:

Year 10 April Mock: Christian Beliefs and Islam Beliefs (1 hour)
Year 11 March Mock: Paper 2 (Relationships, Life, Peace and Conflict, Crime and Punishment – 1 hour 45 minutes)
Year 11 REAL paper 1: Thursday 9th May
Year 11 REAL paper 2: Thursday 16th May

Reminders:

What does a paper look like?

The best revision resources:

YOUR BOOK

Your past papers

Revision Guide

Work Book

https://8884332.sharepoint.com/sites/GCSERE

Miss Hollier’s top tip.

“The best way to revise for R.E is to practise, practise, practise! Whether it’s a question from your revision guide, work book, online or from class, the best thing you can do now to revise is to practise in timed conditions and give your answers to me for marking and feedback.”

Miss Hollier

RE Department

Year 9 RE

Posted on February 5, 2024February 5, 2024 by Michelle Murray

Year 9 are currently studying Buddhism. The students have been exploring the life of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha and how his life changed after he witnessed suffering in the world. Once Siddhartha found out about the suffering, it consumed him for the rest of his life. Siddhartha’s obsession with suffering eventually caused him to become the original Buddha.

The first thing Buddha sees outside the palace is an old person. Though this is something normal people see every day, Buddha is shocked by this. He realises that old age is unavoidable and all people eventually lose their youth.

Buddha then sees an ill person and again, he is shocked. This makes him realise that suffering is part of life.

Buddha then sees a dead body being carried as part of a funeral procession. He realises that death is inevitable and life is impermanent.

Finally, he sees a holy man. Holy men at that time, lived simple lives without money or many possessions. Buddha realises living this life may offer him a way to resolve the problems of human suffering.

After reading the Buddha’s story, the students wondered what sights and examples the Buddha might have seen if he existed today. This inspired the students to write a diary entry or story board from a modern perspective, questioning what four sights would be in modern times. Here are some of their examples:

Miss Hollier

RE Department

Year 8 RE

Posted on February 5, 2024February 5, 2024 by Michelle Murray

One of the highlights of this term in R.E has been the Year 8 Snakes and Ladders games. Every student had to design a Snakes and Ladders board to demonstrate their understanding of the Karma, Moksha and Samsara.

Moksha is freedom from the cycle of death and reincarnation (Samsara).

Snakes and Ladders is an ancient Indian game. The children in India played it to understand the effects of good deeds and bad deeds. The ladders represent values such as kindness, faith and humility. The snakes are the bad deeds, such as anger and murder.

The aim of the game is to attain Moksha by performing good deeds and climbing the ladders to the top. If you perform bad deeds, you will fall down the ladders.

Students were given the task to design a Snakes and Ladders game explaining a Hindu’s journey to Moksha. In squares containing a ladder, they wrote an action that would help a Hindu achieve Moksha. In squares containing a snake, they wrote write an action that would give a Hindu bad karma and would not help them achieve Moksha.

Here is a collection of the creative games designed by the Year 8 students:

Miss Hollier

RE Department

Year 7 RE

Posted on February 5, 2024February 5, 2024 by Michelle Murray

In Year 7, students are currently investigating who the prophets Abraham and Moses are and how they both feature with the 3 Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

This topic explores the two prophets from a Jewish perspective and this week, students have enjoyed listening to a clip from the film, “The Prince of Egypt”. The lyrics to the opening songs helped the students to understand who Moses was and why he was important.

Take a look at the interpretations of the lyrics from one class below:

Miss Hollier

RE Department