Hinduism and Buddhism Workshops

As you know, this week is World Religions Week at both Yardley and Denton. We have been lucky enough to welcome several visitors into our school and have enjoyed whole school assemblies about Sikhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism and Judaism.

On Tuesday, we were given the opportunity to take part in a workshop to learn more about Hinduism. Sunita Prasad led our session on Diwali, the Hindu festival of light. What a colourful and vibrant session it was! After the interesting video and talk, we had the opportunity to try some things for ourselves. We all had a fantastic time trying on the beautiful coloured clothes. We also made our own rangoli (sand art) and had the opportunity to examine some of the other objects Ms Prasad had brought with her. These included completed rangoli, Diwali cards, statues of Hindu gods and rudraksh (dried fruits made into beads). ‘I loved the dressing-up and all the lovely clothes worn for festivals’ said a year 6 girl.

On Thursday morning, we welcomed Mr Roy Leighton. He led a workshop where we found out more about the Buddhist way of life. We learned about the four main lessons from the Buddha – courage, compassion, energy and wisdom. We were encouraged to reflect on what it means to live in the present and took part in a brief meditation. ‘The meditation made me feel very calm and in the moment’ said one year 6 boy.