Wiltshire RE Starter Stimulus Starter ideas for the following key questions from the 2011 Agreed Syllabus: KS1 8 Who is an inspiring person and who inspires you? KS2 5 Who was Guru Nanak? Why and how do people follow him? These flexible starters offer a way in to thinking about what makes a person inspiring, and then explores the difference between someone whom you might admire and someone whom you would spend your life following. The initial resources are appropriate for both KS1 and KS2 pupils. Slides give differentiated activities.

KS1 8 Who is an inspiring person and who inspires you? This starter is designed to support teachers to address the following learning outcome from p.41 of the 2011 Wiltshire Agreed Syllabus. Teachers will set up learning opportunities that enable pupils to: iii. identify some good things people admire in inspiring people / religious figures and talk about how they might show these same qualities in their own lives v. express their own ideas about what can be good and bad about following others vi. respond sensitively to questions about who has inspired them, for example to be thankful, to be generous or to be kind vii. talk about the feelings and emotions experienced by a leader being studied when they were called by God to be a leader

KS2 5 Who was Guru Nanak? Why and how do people follow him? This starter is designed to support teachers to address the following learning outcome from p.53 of the 2011 Wiltshire Agreed Syllabus. Teachers will set up learning opportunities that enable pupils to: i. identify the qualities they admire in their heroes / role models, explain why they admire them and how this may influence their own lives ii. use religious vocabulary to describe aspects of lives and teachings of inspiring leaders, giving examples of how these have influenced the lives of followers

My hero! Ask pupils to think of a person who inspires them. It might be a parent, or a teacher, or a family member; it might be a sports person or actor, a politician or member of the armed forces; it might be another pupil or someone from history. Explain to pupils what a kenning is (a compressed form of metaphor, where an object or person is described in a two-word phrase. E.g. word spiller = pen; brain squeezer = teacher…) Ask pupils to create their own series of kennings for their chosen hero/inspiring person. The next slide has two examples. Can the pupils guess who they are talking about?

Two kenning poems…

1. Talk with pupils about their role models. What are the qualities they admire in these people? How much do they learn from the role models’ example? Ask pupils to give specific examples of ways in which these people make a difference to how they behave. 2. Younger children could choose the top three “heroes” from the ideas the class has collected. Can you agree a class top three? What is it about these people that is special? 3. Give older pupils the task in groups to identify the three most impressive role models, explaining their choices. 4. Would any of the class leave home and friends in order to follow their heroes? How far would they try to live their lives like their heroes?

5. If you were to follow a leader, what would that leader need to be like? Why? Choose your top five words from the grid below: For someone to spend their whole life following a great leader, the leader would need to be… tallwisethoughtfulinspiring kindclever a messenger of God old devoted to God fairgoodtidy powerfulhealthygenerousstrong

Information file Most world religions have a founder – a significant person who became the figure-head for a new group of followers. Sikhism was started by Guru Nanak. The religion started at a time when most people in Northern India were either Muslim or Hindu. There was clearly something very special about Guru Nanak that made people give up their whole lives to follow him. There are around 18 million Sikh people in the world today who still follow him. What must Guru Nanak be like, for people to be devoted to him and his teaching today?

From this image of Guru Nanak, what qualities of a great leader do you think he possesses? How can you tell?

The word, Guru, literally means “one who leads from darkness to light.” What does this mean? What kind of darkness and light? How might someone be able to lead others from darkness to light? There were ten Sikh Gurus in all, and now the Holy Book, the Guru Granth Sahib, is seen as a living guru. The Sikh holy book includes this description of the Guru: ‘The Guru is the ladder, the boat, the raft by means of which one attains to God.’ Adi Granth 17 How do the metaphors ‘boat’ ‘raft’ ‘ladder’ reflect the qualities of a good teacher?

Next steps: a) Find out the story of Guru Nanak, and give some examples of how he led people from darkness to light. anak.shtml b)Guru Nanak’s teaching about God focused on how important it is to remember God, to work hard and make an honest living, and to be generous with others. He also said that everyone should be treated equally. Ask pupils why these guidelines for life would be helpful for Sikhs. Are any of these guidelines helpful for people who do not follow a religious faith? What and why?

c) Guru Nanak founded a new town, Kartarpur, where his followers could put his teachings about equality and service into action. Older pupils might write a short account – a letter from a Sikh disciple at the time of Guru Nanak to a family member – explaining why they recommend a move to Kartarpur. d) Look at the role models pupils identified at the start of this unit. Do any of them lead people “from darkness to light”? If someone is led from darkness to light, how might they feel about it? Why?