Jehovahs Witness Child To Start Reception

[Guest tinkerbell]

Not a real problem in that i have taught jehovahs witness children before.

My TA and I visited 4 of the nurseries and saw our new children for September, this little girl is coming to us from out of the normal catchment area, so only one from this particular nursey ,very quiet child...I don't know why but I asked the teacher'is she a JW?'yes.(this was the nursery where the other JW children came from )

I will of course chat to mum and dad on the parent evening.

To the point... does anyone have knowledge of or tell me where to find guidance on teaching them, or particular literature for them and me??

 

Tinkerbellx

[belle06]

have you thought aout getting in touch with your local witness hall they would be really happy to give you information on Jehovas witnesses and there beliefs plus literature, i am sure the local library will have information and activity books. Here is a lnk to a frequently aked question page on jehovas witnesses jehovas witness shelley

[Marion]

http://www.haringey.gov.uk/supporting_the_...ness_pupils.pdf

my only experience of working with JW children was as a student years ago when I had to work with children withdrawn from Christmas parties and nativities

[Guest]

I have taught quite a few. Generally I find the parents will give new teachers leaflet books of info. for you. The main thing is that they take the bible completely literally, and so the reason why they don't celebrate birthdays is some small reference somewhere about not celebrating yourself or something or other.

 

It also depends how 'orthodox' they are - I've taught some that celebrate birthdays and Christmas and others that are very strict about it. The key is to find out exactly what this child is and isn't allowed to do so you can cater for it. Re.birthdays some JW parents are happy to allow their children to sit in during birthday singing, but discourage their child from doing any actual singing, where others want them removed completely. Most of them are sympathetic to school life and will generally remove their child for the last few days of Autumn Term so you can do Christmas type activities without having to worry about the JWs.

 

Hope this is of some help x

[alis2son]

I have worked with Jehovahs witness children before. I found it helpful to speak with the parents and they were very open about their own practice concerning special events and festivals and even brought in examples of things they do instead.

[Guest]

I taught a Jehovah's Witness child a few years ago and his parents were happy to chat about the things he did. I always asked them before seasonal events such as Christmas as to what he could do and they allowed him to make 'Winter' cards instead. They also provided a leaflet from JW literature. It was difficult in assembly time as he had to have supervision whilst the other children were in assembly but apart from this there were no other problems

[Sue R]

I had some JW children in the Pre-school I used to run - I think an important thing is the 'blood issue'. Some JW do not allow blood transfusions, but will allow saline drips, so you need some sort of letter from parents covering this in case of injury. I'm sure the parents will be fine about it, so don't be nervous of raising the issue - all of mine were! It shows your awareness, too

 

Sue

[Guest]

This is really interesting as we have just had a new family enrol in nursery and they are Jehovah's Witnesses. This will be this first child I have catered for and so all info/comments useful - like the majority of advice my initial plan is to chat through all poss issues as openly as poss - already had to discuss the medical issues as the emergency consent form is something completed at our first meeting.

[Guest]

We have a large group at our school, the parents are always very helpful and they will provide you will helpful booklets if you ask. I always run certain things passed them such as visits to the church, literacy books if they contain witches... you get the picture.

[Guest heleng]

I have had some JW children in recent years and found the best thing to do was to ask the parents about everything that we did that I had any concenrs or doubts about. One parent was very open and willing to let their child join in with most things and the other child's parents were much stricter and he couldn't go to assembly, join in with RE, birthdays, Christmas or visit the local church etc.

 

Both parents were very approachable and always happy that I had checked with them first.