Diwali, The Festival of Lights, is celebrated across the world by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains. Thornhill Park School did not want to miss out on the opportunity to celebrate such an important festival for our communities.

Pupils had the opportunity to reflect on the idea of cleansing their homes and decorating them to invite the light in and tidied their classrooms, ready to host their incredible hand-made decorations. Our classrooms were adorned with beautiful lanterns, firework paintings, bunting, candle crafts and Hindu God portraits!

Embracing different religious traditions as well as different forms of communication is deeply ingrained in our ethos so our pupils could not have missed out on learning how to use Makaton to sign ‘light’ as well as ‘Happy Diwali’.

Art is very much a central part of Diwali celebrations so our classes explored different Rangoli patterns using coloured rice, buttons, glitter, feathers and sand as well as Indian spices. Classes also used rice sensory trays to find letters spelling Diwali as well as God symbols. They were then able to smell different Indian spices and add them to their tray. Engaging our senses of smell during this colourful, flavourful festival was incredibly exciting!

Pupils also engaged in a sensory walk to symbolise different Gods: standing on different coloured powders, they were able to create footprint art.

Finally, pupils used clay and playdough to create candle holders as well as symbols of Diwali!

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