Our Year 7 and 8 students have been excitedly preparing their entries for the Spirited Arts Competition over the past couple of weeks. They had the choice of working individually or in groups. The annual competition has run since 2004 for RE pupils, with hundreds of schools from around the world getting involved, and entries coming from as far afield as Hong Kong, Australia, Thailand and Bahrain.

The competition accepts all forms of creative entries, such as art forms, sculpture, tapestry, music, dance, drama, videos – the more imaginative, the better! 

Religions – in their most dynamic phases of beginnings, growth and reform in particular – are powerhouses of creativity: giant sculptures and tapestries, amazing temples, cathedrals and mosques, Sufi poetry and Handel’s Messiah, the Sistine Chapel and the world’s most read and loved literature (Bible, Qur’an) are testimony in the present that religion and creative power go together.

Many of our students do their best work when they are creative, and we can’t wait to see all the different interpretations of the themes and what they come up with. This competition is a brilliant opportunity to display their rich knowledge of religion in a unique way, especially as all students will be presenting their projects in their RS lessons.

This year’s themes are:

• We have more in common than what divides us
• Green faith, green future? God’s good earth?
• Where is God today? 
• Faith in action, values in action
• Sacred space and holy buildings
• All God’s Creatures?

We have been delighted by all of the entries we have seen so far, they have been beautiful, creative and most importantly, very thought-provoking and relevant to the themes. In RS lessons over the next week, students will be presenting their projects – explaining the religious content and their creative process.

Mrs S Heptinstall

RE Teacher