Brentwood Preparatory School Incipe 2017-18

The Baptist Church Year Five walked to the Baptist Church in Brentwood, to learn about what Christmas means to Christians. When we arrived, we sat in the entrance hall and we watched a powerpoint about Christmas, we also were given some booklets, which included a fun quiz about the Christmas story. Then we learnt about Advent, it was really interesting. We looked at Advent wreaths, candles and calendars, I found that the candles all mean different things. We open a new window everyday in Advent. We regularly have chocolate in our Advent calendars, but we learnt that people used to have the nativity story in it. My group went down to the front of the church, to learn about some Christmas traditions, and the meaning of some common things that go on at Christmas. There was a turkey, christmas trees, mistletoe and much more. Then we went to ice some delicious gingerbread men. Overall, this trip was super fun, and I learnt a lot about Christmas. I spent some time at lunch, singing the rap that came in our booklets. My favourite part was the biscuits: eating and icing! Gurdwara Year Five travelled to a Sikh temple called the Karamsar Gurdwara, in Ilford. As we arrived we put on headscarves to be polite and made sure we were silent. As soon as we stepped outside the bus, we could see the stunning Sikh temple. The temple looked almost like gold as the sunlight shimmered around. Once inside we quickly took off our shoes and washed our hands. We walked up four flights of stairs and reached a stunning room with decorations everywhere. We sat down cross- legged to show respect and so that our feet were not pointing at the holy Guru Granth Sahib, then two men talked to us about the 5 Ks and a few more things, like the building and much more. While we were having a discussion a couple of people came in to pray. It was unusual to me how they prayed but also interesting, so I kept watching them! It was very interesting to find out about the 5K items. I love how they keep a bracelet on their wrist to remind them they are either doing a good deed or a bad one. When we had finished talking we slowly walked backwards (because you can not face your back towards the holy book) and headed back downstairs. By this time we were all very hungry! They were so kind and gave us food as part of their religion. To show we are all equal we sat on mats on the floor together, even adults. This was a fun trip and very educational. I have learnt a lot of things from this trip. My personal favorite thing was learning about the 5 Ks, they were very interesting! Neasden Temple Our visit to the Swaminarayan temple in Neasden was a fantastic experience for me to learn more about my fascinating culture, from the wonderful exhibition to the delicate, detailed shrines of the most well-known Hindu gods, like Krishna and Shiva. The Swaminarayan temple is the largest Hindu temple in the whole of Europe. We found out that it took 3 years to build, starting in 1992 and finishing in 1995. Most of the marble and wood carvings were completed in India and had to be shipped to England and placed into this intricately designed building.. We watched a video about how the temple was hand carved by volunteers, who very carefully chipped immense pieces of stone into the most detailed structures we had ever seen. We learnt that there were 100 full time volunteers and over 1000 part time volunteers who built Neasden Temple. We saw some incredible handcrafted carvings on the walls, some outstanding gods and goddesses and some of the most brightly coloured rooms we had ever seen. We learnt some amazing facts about the temple and how the gods are dressed twice a day. In the upper sanctum of the mandir we watched a ceremony called the Arti ceremony, with priests waving candles over the gods. This part of the mandir was carved with the most intricate patterns on the walls, pillars and roof. It was an amazing trip and we learnt a lot about the Hindu faith. Remembrance In November we commemorated those fallen in service to this country with a special assembly led by our School Chaplain. Prep 7-11 observed an impeccable two minute silence in the playground at 11am and our younger pupils had the wonderful opportunity to pay their respects at the Brentwood War Memorial alongside veterans from all three of the armed forces. The children also enjoyed a visit from Mr Bryer, Chairman of the Royal British Legion, Brentwood Branch and asked him lots of questions. British Values Brentwood School Preparatory 37