Lesson video

Hello everyone, and welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Mrs. Clinton, and I'm really excited to be with you today as we do some learning together.

I hope you're ready for finding out about new things and also talking with people about your ideas.

Great.

Then let's get started.

Today's lesson is "Humanists Celebrate New Life" and it's part of the unit, "New Life: How is a New Child Welcomed?" And our learning outcome for today is I can describe how a baby is welcomed into a humanist family.

We've got some key words to help us in our learning today, and we are going to do, I say, you say.

So let's sit up straight and get ready to say these words.

Humanism.

So I say humanism, you say.

I say humanism, you say.

And humanism is a non-religious way of thinking based on human values.

So these are people who have ways of doing things, right ways and wrong ways of doing things, but don't believe in God.

I say you say, I say humanist, you say.

I say humanist, you say.

And a humanist is a person who follows humanism.

I say naming you say.

I say naming, you say.

And naming is giving a name to someone or something.

Our lesson today is Humanists Celebrate New Life.

And we have two parts to it.

Number one, what is a humanist naming ceremony? And number two, what is the role of a guide parent? We're gonna start with number one.

What is a humanist naming ceremony? So what is a humanist naming ceremony? Here, you can see two people with a baby in the illustration, and they are both humanists.

This is Diane and Alan, and they're arranging a humanist naming ceremony for their new baby called Amy.

They're inviting their family, friends to the local park.

There will be special readings and poems read out, and a special naming certificate will be signed.

Diane and Alan will plant a tree and everyone will share some lovely food together.

Diane is a humanist and she believes that human beings should: Make the most of having one life to live.

Be happy, and make other people happy, not sad.

Look after the world.

Learn about the world.

Diane does not believe in God.

Some Christians have an infant baptism, and some Christians have a dedication service, but both groups of those Christians believe in God.

Diane and Alan don't believe in God, but they're still going to have a special service, and they still have some important things that they believe in.

True or false? Humanist think only people who believe in God can be kind.

Hmm, what do you think? Is that true or false? Talk to the person next to you.

Shall we have a look at the answer? It's false.

Humanists believe that you can be kind to others without believing in God.

Can you remember the name of these two people and their baby? Yes, Diane and Alan are very happy to have a special humanist naming ceremony to welcome baby Amy.

Well done, if you've got all three correct.

The ceremony will not be religious.

It's not going to be in a church, and it's not expected that every humanist will have one.

The ceremony can take place in a garden at someone's home, in their house, or like Diane and Alan, they're going to the park to do theirs.

At Diane and Alan's humanist naming ceremony, they will make promises about how they will bring up baby Amy.

They will talk about the hopes and dreams they have for baby Amy for her future.

They'll talk about the type of person they hope a baby Amy will grow up to be, what characteristics she will have, be kind, hopefully, and happy as those were some of the important things that Diane believes in.

Now, I wonder if you can help me out.

Where can a humanist naming ceremony take place? There are four answers there.

A park, a garden, a home, and a church.

Three are correct and one is false.

Hmm, which of the three correct answers? You can talk to your partner to help you.

Shall we have a look and see what the correct answers are? Yes, a humanist naming ceremony can take place in a park, in a garden, in a home, but it wouldn't take place in a church.

Can you remember whose ceremony takes place in a church? Sorry, I didn't hear you.

Yes, that's right.

Christian ceremony takes place in a church.

Sofia is wondering what might happen at a humanist naming ceremony.

Maybe like you, she hasn't heard of one of these before.

Jacob tells her that the parents make promises about how they'll bring the baby up.

Can you tell Sofia two more things that may happen at a humanist naming ceremony? You maybe can talk about your answer to the person next to you, or you might want to write down your two more things that could happen.

Shall we have a look at some answers? So possible ideas for what happens at a humanist naming ceremony could include: Special readings or poems being read out.

A naming certificate being signed.

A meal being shared.

A tree may be planted.

Well done, if you remembered any of those.

You've been listening and thinking really well.

I wonder, did you think of any more reasons? Hmm.

Thank you for your thinking here.

Now we are going to go onto the second part of our lesson today on Humanists Celebrate New Life.

We are going to look at what is the role of a guide parent.

So what is the role of a guide parent? I wonder, have you heard of one before? Put your hand up if you have.

Keep it down if you haven't.

There isn't a right or wrong answer here.

I'm just wondering, have you heard of this word before? I think lots of people won't have done so if you are one of those, you may be in for lots of new learning.

Diane and Alan have chosen some friends to be Amy's guide parents at the humanist naming ceremony.

A guide parent is someone, a family invites to support their baby over many years.

They promised the baby that they'll always be in their life to offer love and support, and it's in their name, isn't it? Maybe some guidance to help guide them to do the right things.

Diane knows there's no limit to how many guide parents that a humanist naming ceremony a baby can have, but most families will select between two and six people as guide parents.

Diane and Andy have chosen two friends to be Amy's guide parents.

I wonder what you think.

Is it good to have more, to have six, or is it good to have two? What do you think? Would it make any difference? Thank you for your answers.

I think as long as they're the right people, it doesn't matter how many baby Amy has, but Diane and Alan, I'm sure are looking for the right people, and that's the important thing.

A guide parent can be a man or a woman.

So who at a humanist naming ceremony promises to have a lifetime relationship with the new baby? Is it godparents, A? Is it guide parents, B? Or the vicar, C? Hmm, what do you think? Talk to the person next to you.

Let's have a look for the right answer.

It's guide parents, a humanist naming ceremony who promises to have this lifetime relationship with the new baby, it's the guide parents.

Godparents are used at a Christian baptism, infant baptism ceremony, and that's where you'd find the vicar, isn't it? But today, we're looking at humanist naming ceremony, and that will have guide parents.

Well done, if you got that right.

Great.

I'm really pleased if you remembered that because I think for most of us, that's a new word today.

Here is one of Diane and Alan's guide parents signing the naming certificate.

The parents will also sign this.

This is often kept by the family and given to the child when they're old enough to read.

It shows the promises their parents and guide parents have made to them.

I think that's a lovely idea.

What do you think? Would you like to tell your idea to the person next to you? I hope you've listened to everyone's idea next to you.

I wonder, did you say the same things or different things? Well done, for talking about your ideas.

I think I'd like to see later on that certificate when I'd grown up to see what hopes and dreams my family had for me at the start of my life.

That seems like a lovely thing to do.

Here are the promises Diane and Alan made for their baby, baby Amy: We promised to care for Amy to help her feel loved and cared for.

We promise to stand by her side when she needs help and advice.

We promise to teach you about our humanist beliefs, to make the most of having one life to be happy and make other people happy to look after the world and learn all about it.

I have a question for you.

Which two of these people sign a humanist naming certificate? Is it A, the parents? Is it B, the guide parents? Is it C, a religious leader? Hmm, what do you think? Talk to the person next to you.

Let's see what the answers are.

Remember, we were looking for two possible answers.

Well done, if you got A and B right.

The parents and the guide parents sign a humanist naming certificate.

Amy is now five years old.

She wants some advice from her guide parent about starting at her new school.

What advice might her humanist guide parent give? Hmm, I wonder what we've learned about humanist beliefs this lesson and whether any of those could help her guide parent, give her some advice.

Remember, says, Sofia, what we've already learned about humanist beliefs earlier in this lesson.

Thank you, Sofia.

That's really good advice for us as we need to think about this.

Now, you can talk to the person next to you to help you with your ideas, but you also might like to write your ideas down or even draw a picture showing what advice you would get the guide parent to give to Amy about starting at her new school.

Let's go and have a go at answering this question.

Should we have a look about what your answer could look like? So your answer might have included: Be kind to everyone at your new school.

Make them happy, brilliant advice.

It could also involve for Amy to do her best to learn about the world and other people who live in it.

Great advice for her as she starts her new school.

It could be to be happy, Amy, be happy each day at school.

Great advice.

To look after the classroom, her home and the world around her.

Great advice.

Maybe not dropping litter in the playgrounds, thinking about walking or cycling to school, or using a bus rather than putting car fumes into the air.

All these things could be things that the guide parent would suggest to Amy as she starts school, and of course, that Amy, to make the most of their one life.

Remembering that humanists believe that we have this one life.

There is no afterlife.

Well done, if you got any of those as reasons and maybe you thought of some others from the information we've learned about today.

Very well done, if that's the case.

I'm really proud of you remembering these things, but also talking about them and if you drew or wrote them as well, fantastic.

Really well done.

So we've come to the end of our lesson today on Humanists Celebrate New Life, and we've got four things that were important for us to learn today.

Number one, a humanist does not believe in God.

Secondly, a humanist naming ceremony will welcome a baby in a non-religious way, so they don't go to a church or a mosque, or a gurdwara, or any place of worship.

It could happen in a home.

It could happen in a garden, or for Amy's parents, they decided to have it in their local park.

The naming ceremony will be personal to each family or it'd be different to each family.

And at that naming ceremony, guide parents will make promises to help the child as they grow up.

Thank you so much for learning all this new information today.

I hope you've enjoyed finding out about Alan and Diane's life and a little bit about how they welcomed baby Amy into their family.

That's the end of our lesson for today, and I'm gonna say thank you for learning with me.

Thank you for your thinking and your ideas and everything you've contributed toward today's lesson.

But I'm going to say goodbye now and I hope to see you again for our next lesson.

So goodbye.