Links with the Parish of St. Mary's
Our school sits opposite St. Mary's Church, and is an 'aided' school (a church school aided by the Local Authority). It was first set up in 1885 by the Seys and Bridges Trust, the source of our endowment, and our church continues to be very influential in all we do. The governing body includes Reverend Peter Francis, and determines the Religious Education Syllabus taught at the school. This sympathetically absorbs the Gloucestershire Agreed RE syllabus, which blends the core teachings of Christianity with knowledge and understanding of other religions and the Understanding Christianity resource. Staff and governors are appointed with our Christian ethos in mind.
St. Mary's Church, North Woodchester.
St. Mary's couldn't be nearer to our school, in fact it is on the other side of the road! We have many rich and genuine links with our Parish church and its very supportive community. Reverend Francis, a member of our governing body, is always on hand to offer support and encouragement and guidance and he very much values the sense of community between the church, school and village. Every other Wednesday, Reverend Francis leads whole school worship in our hall and he always attends our special services in church at Easter, Christmas and our Leavers' Service.
Mr Harris, a member of the church community and a Bishop's Visitor, also leads Wednesday worship in school and the children see his photographs from his travels or the Bible stories in pictures.
They both give their time, skills and talents to benefit our school and we appreciated them both very much.
Open the Book
Each Monday morning, members of the church ministry lead Collective Worship and 'Open the Book' where stories from the Bible are brought to life in a visual way through a series of short plays.
Here is a scene from Epiphany. Our classes take turns to join in a worship with the Open the Book team.
Lunch With Friends
The church community run a monthly lunch club called 'Lunch with Friends'. This is a great opportunity for our children to chat with the older generation and present them with a gift, card or song for Christmas or Easter. They are always gratefully received.
Services and Messy Church
The school holds at least four church services a year, and once a term the church opens its doors for a creative frenzy at 'Messy Church', which is open to all children in the community. Many school children and their families come to the Christingle and crib services, and Sunday morning services make special arrangements and inspiration for Junior Church.
Seasons of the Church Year
Our worship table is decorated with a coloured cloth, appropriate to the season of the church year. It is used to create the sacred space for worship. But which colour and when?
The church calendar is made up of seasons that follow the life of Jesus. The church year begins in late November or early December with Advent, a time of preparation for Jesus’ birth. In Christian churches one of four colours – purple, green, gold (or white) and red – referred to as ‘liturgical colours’, are used for altar linen, clergy robes and various hangings. The colour reflects the season, so that for instance in Advent purple is used, a colour of royalty because we are preparing to welcome the coming of a king. Purple is used again in Lent because it also symbolizes suffering and pain.
At Christmas and Easter the colour changes to white or gold, both bright optimistic colours for festivals, times for joy and celebration. Between the festivals green cloths symbolize all living things, renewal and promise of new life. And finally, red is the colour of fire, used in churches to celebrate Pentecost and saints’ days.
The table below opposite shows the colours that are used through the year.
For our youngest children it is simply enough to be aware that there is a cycle of different colours to celebrate times and seasons in the church year.