Pupils enjoy Church Visit
When we arrived at the church we were split into our reading groups of five and there was five stations and each one had an activity to learn about Christianity. The whole visit was called ‘Experience Church. On one of the stations we learnt about the lectern and how we shouldn't worry about our appearance and what we look like. We should just be happy with who we are and the world around us. On that station, we also made our own origami birds to hang on the miniature tree in the church.
At another station we learned about the font. We met the vicar (Jeff) and he told us how to christen a baby. He holds the baby over the font, then picks up a shell and pours some water into it. He puts the water on the baby's head three times. Then he makes the symbol of the Christian cross on the baby’s forehead. On that station, we were each given a piece of paper with the word ’Welcome’ on it. We had to cut out a cross and fold the edges into the middle to make a cube with no top. We each had a bowl of water, and had to put the piece of paper in the water. We watched the edges fold in then unfold to make the sign welcome in the shape of a cross.
On the next station we went into the lady chamber and learnt about how people can use this area of the church to worship God. We were each given two pieces of paper one blue and one yellow. We were told to write our own prayers on them and place them in a sort of wire bandage which was wrapped around a big wooden cross. On the blue piece, we had to write a prayer for ourselves, and on the yellow one a prayer for someone/something else.
On the fourth station we learnt about ‘The Last Supper’ and we had to design our own chalice (a type of drinking cup/wine glass). The man who taught us about that, Mr Sargent, said that the bread they have in communion is not the normal kind of bread, but a special, thinner type of bread. On this particular station, we were all given some gold or silver shiny paper to draw our own chalets and when we unfolded the piece of paper, the patterns were really obvious.
On the last station, we were looking at the stain glass windows and how each one has a different story to tell. We were each given a piece of paper and we had to design our own stain glass patterns. After that, we all said thank you to the church members and came back to school. We all really enjoyed the experience, and would definitely do it again!
By Harry and Sophia (5/6T)
