Easter at school

"Jesus had a crown of thorns put on his head, he found it quite unpleasant shock" This is the desensitization I was talking about.

If, as a principle, we do not dwell on the detailed gruesomeness of many of life's ills and tragedies for primary school children, then that principle should apply to religion too.

Interesting OP. I went to a catholic school and Easter played a big part in the religious calendar, as it did for me at home because my parents were very catholic. On the run up to Easter we seemed to be permanently in church Maundy Thursday mass, Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, maybe there was something on Saturday and then of course Easter Sunday Mass. The Stations of the Cross deals stage by stage the agony Christ suffered before he was actually crucified which we knew to be a long an agonising death. In retrospect I do think young children should be spared such frightening details. At my school it wasn't only the crucifixion we were also subjected to gruesome deaths suffered by martyrs, one I particularly remember was a woman who was pressed to death by heavy stones in York, Tudor times, these were often related to us by nuns who seemed to relish imparting how agonising their suffering was, they left a feeling of anxiety, being of a young age and where it was almost suggested that this is what you must do "die for your faith" if necessary, my inner thoughts were "just convert to whatever" So yes I would have been more than happy to have an adult step up with a "thank you that's enough"

I think I went through a stage of deliberating whether to send my own children to a catholic school or not but I think my husband persuaded me that young children don't need to have the life frightened out of them, so we opted for a CofE school. I thought they got the balance right in the way they taught religion insomuch as not dwelling on the frightening and gruesome. Although my children did go to a holiday club attached to a church, can't remember which denomination, although they really loved it, kept them very well occupied with both sporty and arty activities, perfect for mine one liked sports and the other was very into art. I do remember one of my boys, aged about 5, unbeknown to me until he came home had been learning about the crucifixion, it was the Easter holidays, when he told me "Jesus had a crown of thorns put on his head, he found it quite unpleasant " an understatement if ever there was one.

luckygirl pretty much what I did say in assemblies. The curriculum in state schools includes teaching about all major faiths as information. Several parents over the years objected to children visiting synagogues, temples or mosques as part of the RE curriculum... we visited a local church too.

Chestnut

I'm a great believer that primary school children should be protected from the horrors of the world and these things should only be taught at secondary schools, by which time they are old enough to take on board the more gruesome things in life. Jesus died on a cross but no need to go into details about nails etc. at that age., and try to skip that and focus on the miracle of the resurrection which is much more the point.
Nails and suffering can be taught later on to help them understand the sacrifice that was made.

Given that many primary children have their own smart phones (whether they should or not, and at what age, is a whole other topic) - I'd be willing to bet that a fair percentage of them have already seen a good few 'horrors' and more besides!

I'm a great believer that primary school children should be protected from the horrors of the world and these things should only be taught at secondary schools, by which time they are old enough to take on board the more gruesome things in life. Jesus died on a cross but no need to go into details about nails etc. at that age., and try to skip that and focus on the miracle of the resurrection which is much more the point.
Nails and suffering can be taught later on to help them understand the sacrifice that was made.

With a little more detail I think but very simple like Luckygirl says. I used to begin by saying what a what a Christian is. I’d usually say it was a person who likes to go to church. All our children visited the local church for Harvest and Christingle so they were familiar with a church. Then continue the story something like Luckygirl suggests. We also had a few pictures but not of the actual crucifixion. The bit about new life, Spring, would be taught alongside.

I think that is an excellent approach Luckygirl. It contains all that is necessary for young children to know and leaves the way open for an eventual deeper understanding. It is far better than avoiding the issue altogether.

Here's an idea:

"Christians follow the stories in the bible. One of these tells of a good man, Jesus, who was killed by some very bad people. The story says that he came back from the dead, and this story is a way of showing that good can win over evil and that we should always try and be the good person. This is one of the reasons we have a celebration at Easter, the other being that for centuries Easter has been a happy time of new life and spring flowers" - or similar. What's wrong with that? - in a state school.

If individual parents want their children to have the full religious bit then by all means take them to church - thankfully we have freedom of religion in this country and they are able to do so.

I was another reading the papers from a very young age and listening to the news on the radio when i was under school age.

When we lived in Singapore in the mid 1950s, when I was about 9 the local paper was running a series of articles on the full horrors of the Japanese POW camps, my parents did their best to hide it from me, but without any success, if I wanted to read something, I read it. I knew about what had happened in Singapore and Malaya only 10 years previously and I wanted to know the details, terrible though they were.

There is a real difference between a minister or teacher, quite frankly wallowing in telling children horrible details of an event and straight forward news of awful things happening in the world at the moment or in recent years.

Even very young children can understand that people are sometimes nasty and it is better to talk to them and explain things in words they understand than try and hide it from them and have them pick things up in fragments and sentences, and end up terrified and too scared to ask an adult because they know it is being hidden from them and dare not ask questions.

More so because this is a state-funded school, it is her catchment school, she has no choice but to go there - it is a CofE school and it makes me furious that church is allowed to impinge on state in this way. I object very strongly to state-funded church schools.

This is what horrifies me, that a child is forced by the state to attend a Church school, that has to be wrong. Where I live there is a very good CofE school, and parents try all sorts of wheezes to qualify their children for admittance. It takes a proportion of Church going children and a proportion of non Church going children. It's always over subscribed, and takes children from all faiths and none. I know two Jewish children that attend and one Sikh boy.

Although how we can manage to keep the news from them these days is beyond me

Grandtante it just isn't possible. The news about Ukraine was on Newsround and as soon as children can read they can access news and information.

Now most of them have mobiles; before we had TV news I was reading the newspapers age 8.

Caleo

The Crucifixion is not central to Christianity: the Resurrection is central to Christianity.

No wonder people are leaving churches and all religious worship! Christianity is so badly taught by priests.

But you can't have one without the other.

Blondiescot I agree, sorry I misunderstood your post. would do away with any faith school. If parents want their children to be involved in a faith then they need to arrange it themselves. The law does say schools should have a daily act of collective worship mainly Christian in character. It is hard to have ' collective ' worship if those participating are not of similar faith! To believers worship is special and generic school assembly makes a mock of that!

Blondiescot I totally agree with you.

Having a catholic education, I grew up with the crucifixion and Jesus Christ on the cross, I just accepted it.

However I cannot ever remember any teacher or minister ever wallowing in the gore of the event. or of going OTT about the nastiness of the whole episode. The story of Easter we were taught was that Christ loved us so much he was prepared to die for our sins, without dwelling too much upon the details.

Like most children I accepted all kinds of events in my childhood, as normal and run of the mill, from constantly moving around and changing schools, to long periods in hospital without being able to see my parents as part and parcel of life.

The resurrection cannot be separated from the death by crucifixion.

The Crucifixion is not central to Christianity: the Resurrection is central to Christianity.

No wonder people are leaving churches and all religious worship! Christianity is so badly taught by priests.

It's cruel, sadistic, and unworthy of priests or parents to present to young children facts about a man being tortured to death.

Fortunately teachers know better than to do any such thing!

No small child should be told the details either of the Crucifixion or of the war in Ukraine.

Although how we can manage to keep the news from them these days is beyond me.

I am a practising Catholic, but have never given children all the gory details of the Crucifixition or any saint's martyrdom.

Older children can better understand that horrible things have been done in the course of history to those accused or convicted of crimes, in warfare, or by members of one or other of the world's religions. They should also be taught that the fact that these things were done, does not make them right, or less than horrible.

Forgive me for pointing out that the Resurrection is the point of the story, both Christ's and ours after death due to our faith in him. This is not hard for anyone, least of all a child to comprehend, unless you find it impossible to believe in the possibility or the hope of some form of life after our bodily death.

But none of this prevents me from believing that state run schools should not be affiliated to any organised form of religion, and that no-one should only have the option of sending their child to a school connected to a church, C. of E., or any other which they are not either members of themselves, or content to allow their child to attend.

I would imagine any child attending a catholic church would be familiar with the gruesome images of the crucifixion simply by seeing the statues and paintings displayed there.

I believe it is still part of the education curriculum that an act of collective worship is held every day.

Our GS, 9, who’s here this weekend had this yesterday in school, just asked him, he’s not fazed, nor were my children, nor was I.
‘History’ is barbaric and bloody in many instances, we see it now as it’s being made in the Ukraine, sadly little seems to learnt from it.

PECS

blondiescot I disagree. I think children & young people do need to know about religions, philosophies and ideologies that underpin cultural heritage across the world and the values and attitudes of today. They do not need to be involved in worship or to be directed towards one set of beliefs or grow up thinking their family's faith is " better" than somebody else's. Learn the similarities & differences, understand where / how religions incorporated existing cultures etc. General knowledge, cultural & social history..how can we learn from the past if we don't take the effort to study it?

Yes, I should have made it clear that I don't have a problem with it being taught in that context. What I do have a problem with is schools linked to a particular faith (and I include all 'faiths' in that) or worship being held as part of a school day.

It was a gruesome act and it was done to an innocent person,without sin,on our behalf. I think it is good that they don’t pull punches and sanitize what was done for all of us.

blondiescot I disagree. I think children & young people do need to know about religions, philosophies and ideologies that underpin cultural heritage across the world and the values and attitudes of today. They do not need to be involved in worship or to be directed towards one set of beliefs or grow up thinking their family's faith is " better" than somebody else's. Learn the similarities & differences, understand where / how religions incorporated existing cultures etc. General knowledge, cultural & social history..how can we learn from the past if we don't take the effort to study it?

When I was teaching Early Years children (Reception class) we told the story of the crucifixion, but without gory details. It was age appropriate. When I taught the Nursery class we discussed new life, flowers, baby birds etc but didn’t discuss the crucifixion at all. It was a non denominational state school.