Relationship maintained
We have a very close relationship with Swaffham Church, St Peter and St Paul Swaffham.
The Revd Janet Allan has visited our school many times pre-Covid to deliver Collective Worship to our whole school, and we have walked all our children and staff up through Swaffham to St Peter and St Paul for Harvest, Christmas, Easter and end-of-summerterm services where parents and family members have joined us.
St Peter and St Paul is a beautiful church and the children love going there. They find the space awe-inspiring, often commenting on the size of the stained-glass windows and the intricate detail of the carvings on the ends of the pews and on the church ceiling. Revd Janet shared this comment with me recently, “The children do sense something of the mystery of our church as somewhere they are particularly aware of God’s presence – there’s a bit of hush often amidst the excitement.”
We have managed to keep this important relationship going through Covid. Although the children and staff have not able to go to the church and Revd Janet has not been able to visit our school, we have been able to enjoy services delivered by video by Revd Janet and also Revd Hilary De Lyon, Assistant Priest in the parish. For Remembrance, the children made wreaths with the names of soldiers who had died in World War I and World War II. The wreaths were displayed in the church and then the children could see their work on display in the video service made by Revd Janet which we watched as a school.
For our Christmas service, the children wrote prayers and these were displayed in the church and could be seen by the children through the Christmas service video which Revd Janet recorded for us. For Holy Week and Easter, the children made paintings and wrote songs and poems themed well for Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter, which were displayed in the church until the end of the Easter season at Pentecost.
I was delighted to attend the Service of Commemoration for HRH Prince Philip which was held at St Peter St Paul on Friday 16 April.
We feel so lucky to have such a wonderful church on our doorstep and we are looking forward to a time when we can return as a whole school again.
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