This afternoon we had a special visitor in Year 2. Reverend Matthew, the curate for the parish of Radipole and Melcombe Regis, visited us to answer some questions and to discuss how Christians celebrate Christmas. In our previous RE lesson the children wrote a question each in preparation for asking Matthew, such as: Why did Jesus come to the world? How did Jesus teach people to be kind? How can you be kind to others if they are mean? How many people should you be kind to? Where is Jesus now? They were brilliant at listening to Matthew and discussed his answers with him very maturely. The children also told Matthew the different bible stories that we have learnt about in our RE lessons such as The Good Samaritan. We linked the teachings within Christianity to how important it is to be kind at school, and how we feel when we are kind to others.

Reverend Matt also brought in a traditional advent calendar that had different figures and animals from the nativity scene in each pocket. The children really enjoyed looking at this and helping Matt to put the figures in the right place. We discussed how we normally have a chocolate advent calendar, but that there are other advent calendars you could have.

We also looked at a candle wreath, and Matt explained that a candle is lit on each Sunday leading up to Christmas, and then on Christmas Day a candle is lit in the middle. He has given us some candle wreaths to colour, and the children are looking forward to doing those tomorrow.

Thank you Reverend Matthew for visiting, and thank you Year 2 for super listening and thoughtful discussions.