Worship

On the 17th November 2023, we had the pleasure of a visit from Bishop Philip. His first job was to be interviewed by our School Council. 

School Council asked:

How did you become a Bishop?

When did you become a Bishop?

What inspired you to become a Bishop?

What is it like being such an important person?

How do you know about the things you teach?

What are your daily tasks?

Where are you originally from?

Have you met anyone famous?

Do you travel for your job?

Who decides what you do each day?

How often do you make videos for schools to watch?

What key values do you teach?

Here are Bishop Philip's answers:

Bishop Philip was a Vicar in Camden, when his name was put forward for the position of the Bishop of Burnley, he was interviewed and then had a special service led by the Archbishop of York. He was made Bishop of Burnley in 2015. 

He told us that he was actually really happy as a priest, but felt that he was called by God to go for the Bishop role. He was inspired by the Bishop of London, who he looked up to. 

He does not feel like he is an important person but wants to use his position to be a servant, to use his voice to try and make the world a better place. He feels that due to his position, people tend to listen to him so he can give groups, particularly children a voice. 

He explained that everything he teaches comes from the Bible, and he just teaches it in a way to answer people's questions. He loves his job because every day is different! He always reads the bible and prays and has a chapel in his home. After that he does all different tasks including school preaching, support or meetings. 

Bishop Philip explained he is originally from London and supports Arsenal Football Club! He has also lived in Oxford, Hartlepool and Sunderland, before moving to Burnley, then Blackburn.

He told us a story about meeting the King of England, King Charles the Third, as when he became the Bishop of Blackburn, there was a special service with the King in London. He told us that the King asked all about Burnley, as he loves the town and has visited many times! 

He explained he travels all across Lancashire, there are 240 churches and 191 church schools for him to look after. He told us that Louise, his personal assistant organises his diary and he could not manage life without her! She tells him where he needs to be, at what time and what he will be doing! 

Bishop Philip explained that at the moment he is making videos for schools every week! He really enjoys doing them, and particularly liked the series he made about Lent. 

He explained that in his job, he wants people to know Jesus. He feels that if we see Jesus, then we see the values in action, the living values. 

After his interview, he then led us in a whole school worship with the help of the newly appointed ‘Bishop Scarlett’! Bishop Scarlett helped us see the significance behind some of the items Bishop Philip wears in his role. She wore a cross on a chain, which Bishop Philip explained symbolises Jesus the teacher. Then he gave her a croiser, or stick, which looks like something a shepherd may use, which symbolises Jesus as a leader. Then finally, a miter, a special hat worn in church. The miter is shaped liked the flames, to remind us of the Holy Spirit. 

Then, he told the story of Blind Bartimaeus, to help us think about the Fruits of the Spirit, which has been a theme in our worship in school.

He blessed our new Fruits of the Spirit award, which Father Andrew then presented to Hamzah, our first recipient. Hamzah shows such dedication to making our school the best it can be, in his roles on the School Council, Eco Committee and as a Mental Health Champion. Each time Father Andrew visits for worship, he will present the award to someone, who has lived out the fruits of the spirit and our school core values of respect, love, forgiveness, service and trust.

On Monday 13^th November, our Year 6 pupils led us in a short Remembrance Service at St Peter’s Church cenotaph. As the 11^th of November fell on a Saturday this year, this was our opportunity to remember the service and sacrifice of all those that have defended our freedoms and protected our way of life.

Our Remembrance Service this year was a little different. We started by reading aloud the poem, In Flanders Field, as we had been deeply affected by it during Picture News. After reading the poem, two children read out the Exhortation. Then the Last Post sounded and we respected a two minutes silence to remember the people who have died in wars around the world. Tasneem

The children were very respectful throughout the service, showing real empathy and compassion. Father Andrew closed the service by leading us in prayer.

In Picture News, we looked at how the poppies had changed over the decades. We were very interested why the poppy from the 1920's had a falling petal, but then realised that it represented the soldiers that had fallen/died during the war. All the different poppies were interesting, but the one from the 1940's was made of cardboard, which we think was because of the Depression after World War II. Today's poppy is plastic free and has been made from the offcuts of cardboard coffee cups. Summayah

Whilst looking at Picture News, we started talking about where Flanders Field was. We looked it up on a map and our teacher found the poem - In Flanders Field. We read the poem and were really affected by the words and meanings of the poem. Fatimah

This half term we have been looking at the Christian Value of Compassion. We have been thinking about the words of wisdom ‘Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.’   Colossians 3.12

We thought about noticing a need, being a good neighbour, putting on the right attitude, having the courage to care and coming to the rescue.

When we think about compassion, we think about standing in someone else’s shoes when they are having a hard time. In other words, trying to understand how they might be feeling and doing our best to try and help.

We have talked about how we can show compassion and kindness to one another at home, recognise when friends at school need us to listen an act with compassion.  

Here is the acrostic we are using:

Compassion is…

Costly caring

Offering help

Making a difference

Putting others first

Always listening

Sensitive to suffering

Service in action

Interested in others

Offering care and concern

Noticing a need

We had a wonderful time celebrating Harvest and sharing our gifts and all that we had learnt in church with our families. We then enjoyed the Harvest Workshop after school.

This half term we have been looking at the Christian Value of Generosity. We have been thinking about the words of wisdom ‘God loves a cheerful giver’

2 Corinthians 9.7

We thought about loving others as we love ourselves, giving sacrificially, giving cheerfully, caring for creation, giving our time and giving as God gives.

We used the acrostic poem,

Generosity is…

Encouraging the best in each other

Never selfish

Enjoying helping others

Raising support for a good cause

Offering what we can

Sharing our time and talents

Inviting someone to join in

Taking care of God’s creation for future generations

You first, me last.

When we think about generosity, we usually think about being generous with money or possessions. However, we have been thinking about being generous with our time, our gifts and our abilities. Generous people often say that they receive much more than they give. Perhaps this is because when someone is generous with us, it makes us want to be generous in return. 

We have read a story about Jesus teaching in the temple. Jesus sat down near the treasury and watched as the many visitors to the Temple passed by and dropped money into the collecting box to help with God’s work. The rich men dressed in fine robes threw in handfuls of coins as they passed, without a thought. Then a poor widow came by, paused, and placed just two tiny coins into the box. Jesus called his disciples to him and told them when he had seen. Then he said to them, ‘let me tell you, this poor widow gave more than all those people who threw many coins into the treasury. The wealthy men just gave a small part of their riches, which made no difference to them. However, the widow gave all that she had. We talked about the fact that God is more interested in what is in the heart of the giver, than the size of their gift.