• RE PGCE & UG: Sue Philips ‘The Island’ 1.3.19

    RE PGCE & UG: Sue Philips ‘The Island’ 1.3.19

    Sue Philips brought ‘The Island’ to the PGCE and UG trainees in an interactive session on experiential RE. Sue demonstrated with them how to lead ‘religion neutral exercises’, engage pupils in values and empathy and the power of pupils being able to ‘see’ and ‘hear’ in their learning. They all enjoyed getting in to the…

  • Dharma in Manchester

    Dharma in Manchester

    We were welcomed at the Jain Samaj Manchester by Suresh Mehta, the Chair of Trustees at the temple. They are just building a large new annexe which has cost £1M. The centre was opened 18 years ago by Gerald Kaufman MP Suresh showed us a picture of the huge temple complex at Palitana.  Jains have…

  • Merseyside Buddhism

    Merseyside Buddhism

    Year 2 QTS undergraduates spent a day looking at two forms of Buddhism in Merseyside. Our first visit was to the Triratna Buddhist Centre in Liverpool. Sumnadipa and Janet welcomed us and  offered us a drink. Sumnadipa explained her name meant graciousness and lamp, and she was given it when she was ordained. She reminded…

  • A Hopeful school experience

    A Hopeful school experience

    Year 1 Undergraduates QTS students gained their first experience of school with a day at Hope Academy.  We were met in the foyer by Rachael Critchley (Head of RE), Catha Seddon (Assistant Head of RE) and Jayne Cantwell (A very experienced RE Curriculum Mentor) and given a tour of the school. We met the Head…

  • Back to the Sixth Form

    Back to the Sixth Form

    Final Year Undergraduate QTS students visited Carmel  College to discover how it is different to teach in a Sixth form college.  We were met by Sarah Daley, who is in charge of 10:10 RE, the general RE provision for all students, and a Glenn Skelhorn, who is in charge of the A Level Philosophy and…

  • GCSE Expertise

    GCSE Expertise

    Year 3 undergraduates visited Lowton CE High school to spend a day looking at teaching GCSE. Having battled through the traffic, we were met by Heather Clare, a very experienced RE teacher and Senior Teacher at the school. Our first task was to look at the Specification (From AQA) and decide what religions and themes…

  • Fieldwork in Religion: Going Out and Finding Out

    Fieldwork in Religion: Going Out and Finding Out

    This last week has been very busy for our undergraduate students, who have benefitted from meeting and engaging with local faith communities. Year 2 Ethnography students are currently engaged in their own fieldwork projects, exploring a range of topics including witchcraft, perspectives on the after life in a care home, life in a convent, challenges…

  • A Level Experience

    A Level Experience

    Year 3 undergraduate RE with QTS students spent a day at Haslingden High school, looking at how to teach A Level RS in a school with a sixth form.  Ben Wood the Head of RE and the Chair of NATRE welcomed us and offered us pastries and coffee! We then were able to observe a…

  • “Speaker’s Corner” in Jerusalem during the Second Temple Era

    “Speaker’s Corner” in Jerusalem during the Second Temple Era

    Today, as part of the new “Abrahamic Traditions” module, the first year students from both Secondary Religious Education + QTS and Education and Religion programmes participated in a roleplaying game reenacting different major religious groups that were current during the Second Temple period (roughly around 0 C.E.). The students were stunningly dressed in makeshift costumes…

  • SEND at Harrop Fold

    SEND at Harrop Fold

    You may have seen the television series Educating Greater Manchester.  The Director of Inclusion at the school Miranda Rathmell is a former PGCE RE trainee from Edge Hill. We were delighted that she was able to give up a day to help our Year 1 QTS Undergraduate RE students understand SEND and spend some time…