We are blessed by the strong relationship we have with St. Mary's Church, Oldswinford. We visit the church several times a year for various services or as part of our learning.

Members of the church play an active role in the life of the school, either as foundation governors, planning and leading worship, facilitating experience days, volunteering and supporting events. Likewise, members of the school community support the life of the church: a group of our children sing in the church choir; some of our families are part of the congregation; we have participated in the Christmas Tree Festival and had pupils take part in the church's nativity.

"I like visiting St. Mary's because it's peaceful. When we did the harvest experience it made me think

about people without food and how I could help them." TS, age 8

We also work with St. Mary's to raise money for Christian Aid each year and have even more plans to further enrich and enhance our partnership. Watch this space!

Candlemas

We held a very special Candlemas service for the whole school at St. Mary's Church. Rev French led the service, the 'Open The Book' team told the story of Jesus' first visit to the temple and the Worship Group wrote and read a prayer. Our whole school worship candle was blessed with prayers and incense, along with a candle for each class' reflection area. We thought about Simeon's words, describing Jesus as the light of the world and the link to how we open our collective worship back at school.

Everyone from Reception to Year 6 joined in singing Light a  Flame, Colours of Day and Shine, Jesus Shine. It was a very spiritual experience for all involved.

Our friends from St. Mary's helped the Worship Group to design and sew a new altar cloth for our worship table. Which Bible stories can you see represented in the design?