Church Links
Our school is a Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, situated within the Diocese of Winchester and the North Hampshire Downs Benefice.
The Benefice goes by the title of the MoretoLife Network of churches and has an active presence across the whole benefice. As the only Church of England school within their network, the MoretoLife team provide fantastic support to our school, in a variety of ways.
Visits to Church
We visit All Saints Church in Long Sutton 3 times per year, for our Harvest Festival, Christmas Christingle Service and Easter Service. In addition, our Year 6 children make a pilgrimage to St Andrew's Church in South Warnborough every July, walking across the local fields and arriving at the church for a very special Leavers’ Service. The Pilgrimage journey is symbolic of the children’s journey through their primary school years and is a precious tie of reflection and celebration. The school choir often make musical contributions to Sunday services at All Saints (Long Sutton), St Andrew’s South Warnborough) and St Mary’s (Upton Grey). The MoretoLife team have also run very successful Prayer Space activities for children, most recently framed around the Easter Story. Prayer spaces provide spiritual opportunities for children to pray about, or reflect on, ‘something bigger than themselves,’ for example global issues, and to pause for a moment of gratitude for the blessings in their lives.
Our RE curriculum is also enriched through church visits, plus visits and talks provided by members of the MoretoLife Team in school.
Collective Worship
Our daily acts of Worship are special times for us, when we come together to engage with Christian values and Bible stories and reflect on how these values, stories and the teachings of Jesus can impact on our own lives. A member of the MoretoLife team visits school every week to lead Collective Worship for the whole school. These are engaging, interactive times, linking to our whole school themes and marking important dates, festivals and celebrations within the church calendar. All acts of Collective Worship include Christian songs and prayers but are always invitational, with a focus on what we can learn from the teaching / story / Bible verse, whatever our own personal beliefs may be. Our Collective Worship policy can be found within the policies section of our website and outlines the principles of Collective Worship, as well as information on the right of parents to withdraw their child from Collective Worship.
Clubs
The MoretoLife team run ‘All Saints at School’ lunchtime clubs, exploring Bible stories through craft and games. In addition, our school currently hosts the national pilot of the Bible Society coding club for Key Stage 2 children, which is proving very popular and successful.
As a Church school, our Christian Distinctiveness is a very special part of our school identity and we are so grateful to the MoretoLife team for all they do to promote this aspect of school life.