Pupils had the chance to learn more about different religions and the positive impact of faith with a host of visitors to school.
Religious Studies teacher Martin Horne organised it and said: “It has been a superb success. Pupils have enjoyed experiencing different faith beliefs, perspectives and different spiritual expressions that exist in our community.
“The Catholic Church believe that Interfaith Dialogue is an extremely important part of our Social Teachings to encourage and engage in conversation to create a peaceful and harmonious society for the common good.”
Pupils engaged in activities from Buddhist and Christian Meditation and they heard about Humanist beliefs, building a good society based on reason and knowledge.
They also took part in Bollywood Dancing and Sikh drumming as expressions of faith and also heard about the fundamental importance of Catholic Social Teaching led by our own Pupil Chaplain Team.
Many sessions were held by external agencies but the sessions also included several internal members explaining their own faith beliefs.
Mr Hussain, who ran the Islamic session, said: "It's important that pupils can see that although it’s a Catholic School there are staff here who have different faith backgrounds and that's how society is made up."
Pupils also spoke highly of the day.
Year 9 Dexter, when speaking about the Sikhism and Bollywood dancing session, said: “Seeing the different items used, especially the sword (Kirpan), and learning about what it means to them was really interesting. Learning about the 10 Guru’s was good because you learn things about other religions you didn’t know before.”
In addition, Year 9 Ethan also spoke about Animal Aid: “It was unbelievable to learn how animals are treated in our society and the different types of farmers and methods.
“It was especially hard to learn that there are still farms today that will cage animals and treat them badly. It makes people think about where we get our food from.”
Year 8 James said: "I enjoyed learning about Islamic art and the idea of God having no beginning or end seeing how that belief influences their patterns."
Miss Gidier was in the Eco Group session run by the pupils in school. She said: “They had excellent information about recycling and looking after the environment. They had fun games and quizzes they were playing with pupils to engage them."
