51ºÚÁÏ

How Do Christian Funeral Traditions Differ? | Year 8 Catholic RE Lesson – KS3

This fully resourced Year 8 lesson explores the similarities and differences in Christian funeral traditions across the world. Pupils will learn how key Catholic beliefs—such as the hope of eternal life through Jesus—are shared across denominations, but are expressed in diverse cultural ways, from traditional Catholic funerals to New Orleans jazz processions.

Part of the Life and Death unit, the lesson helps pupils understand how faith, community, and culture all shape Christian ways of saying goodbye to the dead while celebrating the promise of heaven.

Aligned with the KS3 Religious Education Directory (RED) and Source & Summit, the lesson uses simplified explanations and one-sentence keyword definitions (e.g. ‘denomination’, ‘jazz funeral’) to support pupils with a reading age of around 10. It also addresses misconceptions (e.g. all funerals are silent or sad) and shows how celebration and mourning can go together in Christian belief.

Through clipart visuals, guided reading, and rich comprehension questions, pupils reflect on what makes a funeral meaningful—and how it connects to Christian hope in eternal life.

Ideal for Catholic RE teachers seeking an inclusive and accessible lesson that opens pupils’ eyes to the global Church’s unity and beautiful variety in life, death, and faith.

If this resource supports your teaching, please consider leaving a review to help others in the RE community!