1. Wiltshire RE Starter Stimulus
Starter ideas for the following key question from the 2011 Agreed Syllabus:
KS2 10 Why do some people believe in life after death and what difference does it make?
This resource aims to provide some stimulus images and ideas to help pupils begin to address the above question.
It links to the following learning outcomes from p58 of the syllabus:
Pupils can:
Identify some mysterious and puzzling questions that religions help some people to find answers to.
Ask questions and suggest answers to the question, “What happens when we die?”, in the context of religious and non-religious beliefs
Explain how different beliefs about what happens when we die may cause people to live their life in different ways
Many of the slides have notes to give suggestions for use. Look at the slide show in Normal mode and look for the notes at the bottom of the page.
Appendix U in the Wiltshire Agreed Syllabus 2011 gives a careful outline of classroom activities to support this unit. This starter resource complements the activities found there.
Note the need to be careful with any pupils who may have been bereaved recently, but also that this is a sensitive subject.
Some possible learning outcomes from this resource: L3
I can describe Hindu belief in reincarnation and Christian beliefs about life after death.
I can ask some questions of my own about life after death and suggest two different answers to the questions. L4
I can describe how belief in life after death might have an impact on the way someone lives their life.
I can express my own ideas about life and death referring to tow ideas from religions or beliefs I have studied

2. Look at the picture on the next slide. Pause for a moment:
How does it makes you feel?
What does it make you think about?
Feelings
Thoughts
The purpose of this stimulus is to provoke pupils into raising questions.
Giving pupils a few minutes of silent reflection to record thoughts and feelings

3. Give pupils time to reflect on this image
Give pupils time to reflect on this image. You may have a discussion as a class. Give pupils the option of not contributing if they prefer. Use this discussion to lead in to the raising of questions.

4. Are they big questions or little questions?
Questions, Questions…
Write down any questions you have, following your thinking and talking.
Are they big questions or little questions?
Which two questions are your class’s BIGGEST big questions?
Pupils to work individually, then in pairs to share questions and begin analysing them.
Sort them into little questions (Where is this? What is it? Who is it for? – ones with straightforward answers, even if you don’t know the answer) and big questions (e.g. why do we have to die? Does anything happen after we die? Why do people remember with stones like this? – questions that do not have simple answers, perhaps ending with a mystery that we may never be able to answer definitely).
Pupils choose their two most important BIG questions; then groups of 4 to select their top 2 out of the 4; then share them with the rest of the class.
Note down the big questions – ask pupils for any answers they might have.

5. Gone to the great ……… in the sky Gone to meet her Maker
People don’t always like to face the idea of death directly. They use euphemisms – terms that make “death” sound slightly better. Below are some euphemisms. See if you can add any more ideas:
Passed on
Popped his clogs
Gone to the other side
Kicked the bucket
Gone to the great ……… in the sky
Gone to meet her Maker
Breathed his last
Gone to heaven
Ask pupils to see if they can sort the statements into groups. Two key groups are those that suggest there is something else that happens after death, and those that suggest this life is it. Some more brutal euphemisms include “feeding the worms” or “dead as a doornail”. These suggest that death is the end. Use these differences as an introduction to the next slide.

6. ? RIP Does anything happen after we die? Is there “life after death”?
What do different people think about this? ?
RIP
Ask pupils to think about some of the different ideas people have about life after death.
E.g. Nothing happens – no life after death? Heaven? Hell? Come back as something else? Be with God? Meet with loved ones who have died?
Talk about why people might think these things.

7. Here are some beliefs about life after death
Here are some beliefs about life after death. Can you match them to the person?
Person A is a Christian
Person B is an atheist
Person C is a Hindu
I believe nothing happens after we die.
I believe that we go to be with God.
I believe that heaven is real, although I am not sure exactly what it is like!
I believe that our body dies but our soul does not.
These are general statements that most Christians or atheists or Hindus would agree with – but it is difficult to say that “all Christians/Hindus. Etc” believe… something”. Some of these statements could apply to more than one person.
Eg some Christians and some Hindus might agree about the body dying but the soul not.
All three may agree with “we need to face the reality of death”.
I believe that ideas about heaven are made up to make people feel better.
I believe that heaven is a good place, where there is no evil.
I believe we need to face the reality of death and not waste time.
I believe that my soul will return in another body.
I believe it is better if my soul is free to return to God, not return to earth.

8. Here are the answers, although some statements apply to more than one person! Remember that not all Christians agree with each other, nor do all atheists or all Hindus.
Person A is a Christian
Person B is an atheist
Person C is a Hindu
I believe that we go to be with God.
I believe nothing happens after we die.
I believe that our body dies but our soul does not.
I believe that heaven is real, although I am not sure exactly what it is like!
I believe that ideas about heaven are made up to make people feel better.
I believe that my soul will return in another body.
I believe that heaven is a good place, where there is no evil.
I believe we need to face the reality of death and not waste time.
I believe it is better if my soul is free to return to God, not return to earth.

9. What difference does it make…?
How will someone behave if…
…they believe that there is a God and that there is a way to have eternal life after they die?
…they believe that their good and bad deeds are weighed and will have an impact on how they are reincarnated on earth after they die?
It is important to consider what effect beliefs about life after death have on behaviour. Ask children to think of some specific actions people might undertake. Note that the idea of life after death may not have huge importance in the way people actually live their lives. For many Hindus, for example, their faith is part of their everyday living and their tradition – it is not so much about what they believe.
Think of three things these people might do.

10. Can you express some of your own ideas in a poem?
Use your thoughts, feelings and questions from this unit.
Try a haiku which
Has five and seven and five
Syllables per line
Or an acrostic.
Or read the next three poems to inspire you. They are all from children who entered the NATRE Spirited Poetry competition.
NATRE Spirited Poetry:

11. I wonder … I wonder how the world is made. I wonder how the birds fly
I wonder … I wonder how the world is made? I wonder how the birds fly? I wonder how we grow? I wonder what the deepest sea is? I wonder why teachers are the boss? I wonder why we die? Madelaine Knowles, Age 6
© NATRE

12. The meaning of death I wonder: what’s the meaning of death?
Why do people pass away?
Gently fading into silence
They are silent to this day.
Why is there sound and silence?
The twins to death and life
Resonating through the ages
With the drop of a knife
Nobody remains here
In the midst of noise and life
But when they fall to silence
Do they suffer any strife?
Will we conquer death itself,
Or will we go on dying?
All across the world today
There are people crying.
Alex Tandy Age 10
© NATRE

13. Who am I? I am my dreams, My thoughts,
I am the crossfire of creation and evolution.
I am my knowledge, my wisdom, my grief,
Yet my tears turn to steam on my cheeks.
I am my lost soul
Which finds its way back,
I am my cracked heart
Which is whole once again.
I am my conscience, my will,
I am my own enemy.
I am the question,
Yet there is no answer:
“What is the meaning of life?”
Joe McNeil, Age 10
© NATRE

14. Other suggestions
Do a survey about beliefs in life after death. Compare the results. See if popular beliefs about heaven reflect Christian beliefs or not. For example, some young people who have Christian backgrounds sometimes talk about believing in reincarnation.
Use the NATRE database to have a look at what thousands of children have said on the question:
Note that these statements do not all reflect orthodox
religious beliefs, but they do reveal that questions
about death are important to children and young people.