The Our World Journey

For Year 3

The Our World Journey’s aim is for every child to hear about Christian beliefs about our world; in particular focussing on the Biblical book of Genesis and hearing about Jesus and His miracles. The children will be encouraged to consider, question and explore the key questions: “How do Christians believe the world came to be?”, “Should we be responsible for looking after our world?” and “What do the miracles tell Christians about Jesus?”

During the Our World Journey the children will have an opportunity to hear three key stories from the Bible: The story of creation, Noah’s Ark and Jesus turning water into wine. They will have time to reflect on the topics raised and given time to consider how they think the world came to be, and whether they believe Jesus’s miracles signified anything.

The Our World Journey is completed in the classroom and lead by a teacher. There are three film clips for the class to watch. At the beginning of The Journey each child will be given a notebook which has activities for them to complete after each video. At the end of The Journey this notebook can be taken home to help the children remember what they have learnt and talked about.

The whole Journey takes approximately 1 hour 30 minutes. It is designed to be completed as one workshop session but could be split into three sessions of 30 minutes if preferred.

A FREE resources pack will be delivered to schools in advance of the Journey. Links to the film clips will be emailed to schools the same week. Schools will need to provide each child with a writing pencil, colouring pencils and access to a glue stick and scissors. The resources pack includes teacher’s Information booklet, pupil notebooks (one for each child) and additional material needed to complete the activities.

National Curriculum Links to the Hertfordshire Agreed Syllabus of Religious Eduction 2023-8: Key Stage 2 Programme of Study.

Beliefs and practices – What do Christians believe about how the world came to be? How do they express these beliefs through worship and celebrations – harvest to give thanks, baptism to welcome babies. What do Christians believe about Jesus? What other Bible stories support the belief that Jesus has power over creation?

Sources of wisdom – Show awareness, describe and interpret a range of stories, sacred writings etc. Develop an understanding of the impact on individual believers. What is the impact of beliefs about creation on Christians’ world view? What is the impact of Noah’s Ark on the Christian narrative? How does it change their view of God (moving from vengeful God to a forgiving God promising not to harm creation again). What does the miracle stories add to our knowledge of Jesus?

Human responsibility and values - Explain some of the beliefs and teachings about how people should treat each other and the world. How do Christians believe we should treat each other and the world as a result of these beliefs? Remembering Noah, do we have a responsibility to look after animals?

Ultimate questions - Respond to a range of challenging “if” and “why” questions about making sense of the world, expressing personal reflections. If God created the world what responsibility do you think humans have for the earth?

Justice and Fairness - Consider and discuss questions on matters that are important in the world including choices about what is right and what is wrong. Is it right or wrong that we should look after the planet? How can we do this?