Whittington CE Primary School and the Church of St Philip and St James in Whittington have come together for a community celebration day. There were activities for the children at both the church and the school throughout the day and parents were invited to come in and take part alongside their children.
The day was organised by Tracy Lister, a teacher at the school and Debra Hill, the parish Children and Young People’s worker.
The morning included creative prayer stations in school, with children and their parents using playdoh and pipe cleaners, making friendship bracelets and blowing bubbles.
Then throughout the day, two year groups at a time went up to the church where they were involved in a presentation about St George before doing forest church-style activities in the churchyard. Everyone came back together at school at the end of the day to sing some modern and traditional ‘assembly bangers’!
Tracy said:
“Our school has had a great relationship with Whittington Church for many years, and we were thinking about how we might grow that further. We planned a community celebration to which we could invite parents, structuring it so that they could drop into any parts which worked for them. Each teacher decided which prayer activities would work in their class, and we included wellbeing activities which parents could also try for themselves at home. It was then great to visit the church for more fun before gathering on our school field to have a good sing together!”
Debra and Vicar Andy Stand regularly go into school to lead collective worship, and the pupils are well used to visiting church on a variety of occasions.
Andy said:
“Our relationship with the school is fundamental to much of what we do. It gives us a chance to talk about God Jesus and the gospel and helps children to feel comfortable in church surroundings. It’s been brilliant to see them running around the church yard on our community day.”
While at the church, after a story about St George with the children playing the key roles, there were three different activities for them to choose from, including finding sticks in the churchyard to create a cross and decorating some bunting which was later hung in the church to represent the wider community.
“All of the activities were similar to those we do at our monthly forest church,” said Debra. “The whole day was completely amazing, and we’ve had such positive feedback. The spiritual link between the church and the school is really important and we both work hard to make sure the relationship works, which benefits the whole community.”
Headteacher, Kelly Leeming, said:
“We have such a great partnership, and the children get so much from it – we don’t see the church and the school as two separate places, but are completely interlinked. Our relationship with the church is a chance for children to live out our school vision and enriches their experiences. We learn so much from each other and it brings our Christian ethos to life.”
