Year 5 RE trip to Bristol

As part of their work in RE on Islam and on places of worship, Year 5 travelled to Bristol on Thursday to visit a mosque and Bristol Cathedral in order to develop their knowledge and understanding of the similarities and differences between the two places of worship.

Our morning was spent at the mosque, where the children were given a tour and learned about the different roles played by the mosque in the local community. The children also revisited their learning about the five pillars of Islam and about Ramadan.

After a picnic lunch on College Green in the sunshine, we then visited Bristol Cathedral, where we were given a tour and learned all about a number of important features inside the cathedral, as well as its architecture and history. The day was then capped with a brilliant workshop in which the children made some hideous gargoyles from clay.

It was a great day in which the children were able to consolidate their learning and ask some excellent questions.

Some quotes from the children:

• ‘I found it really interesting to find out some of the stories behind the stained glass windows.’
• ‘I didn’t know that mosques could hold weddings and funerals, and that they have a special room in a mosque for cleaning the dead body.’
• ‘A Muslim funeral is for the whole community, not just the family.’
• ‘I found it really interesting that during Ramadan some people choose to live in the mosque for the last ten days, fasting and praying together.’
• ‘Some of the people who helped to build the cathedral spent their whole lives doing it, and didn’t live to see the building finished.’
• ‘The cathedral roof is really high to help people look beyond their everyday life.’
• ‘I  liked the archways that help to hold up the cathedral roof.’
• ‘I liked the carved pictures underneath the seats.’