Skip to Content

Easter Reflection Day

The Easter story can be tricky to handle in schools. At its core, it raises uncomfortable questions and focuses upon the death of a man in the most shocking of circumstances. The Christian claims about the cross and empty tomb are huge and have been contentious throughout history, but those who believe them profess great blessing from them. 

Easter Reflection provides support for schools to guide pupils through reflecting on the story in an open and accessible way for pupils of all faiths and none. Pupils will consider how the Easter events were viewed by those involved at the time, and what relevance these events could hold for people today. 

Ingredients

What you'll need

Leaders

1-2

Children

Easily scalable to all group sizes 

Prep

  • Read the teaching programme 

  • Gather equipment 

Delivery time

3 x 1hr sessions

Equipment

  • Dressing up clothes/props.

  • Printed resource sheets (see downloads).

  • Session equipment (listed in the teaching programme),

  • You may find it helpful to have a laptop/screen so that you can show pupils the images referred to and examples of artwork.

Method

How to do it

  • Session 1 (1 hour): 
    Retell the Easter story, remembering the main events and noticing the emotional journey of the key protagonists. Consider why the Easter story is pivotal for Christians.
  • Session 2 (30 mins): 
    Interrogate what the onlookers to the Easter story saw, felt and pondered as the events unfolded
  • Session 3 (45 mins): 
    Discuss why there were (and are) such a range of responses to Jesus. Create a piece of art to explore pupils’ own response to Jesus and the Easter narrative. 

Downloads:

Outcome

From completing this teaching programme, pupils will: 

Tips:

Consider a collaborative approach, delegating session delivery or resourcing to local church volunteers. This lightens the load for school staff and makes best use of the local church’s expertise. Many schools and churches report that residential collaboration feeds into greater partnership beyond the time away.

FAQs

Yes, but you could do sessions 1 and 2 on residential and complete the work with session 3 back at school.

We recommend allowing an hour for each session, though if the pace is kept high you may be able to cover the teaching in 45 minutes.

The material can be delivered by school staff alone. However, working in partnership with your local church/other local Christians, will offer pupils a richer experience and build opportunities for ongoing collaboration.

There is not one currently written into this resource, but there are plenty of Easter-themed suggestions free to download if you sign up on the Prayer Spaces for Schools website.