On Thursday 22nd March Year 6 celebrated Holy Communion in our school gardens. Reverend Phe led this celebration. She was invited by Mrs Cox – our Teacher – to explain the meaning and celebrate the Holy Communion. In our RE learning, we had been exploring its importance for Christian’s and their beliefs.

After  an introduction in the class, we headed outside to a tranquil place in the school grounds. We sat in a circle waiting quietly for the service to begin. Reverend Phe greeted us explaining the meaning of wine and bread. Jesus called himself “the bread of life,” which means that we’re nourished by him, we survive because of him, and he satisfies us when everything else leaves us empty (John 6:48-51).

We prayed for the world and our community or what is called Prayer of the Day or ‘Collect’. Bread and wine were placed on the table ready to be consecrated or blessed. Reverend Phe broke the bread calling Jesus’ words: “I am the bread of life.” And she added “we break the bread in remembrance of his gift of himself and our oneness in him”. She called upon all of us who wanted to take the bread.

On Wednesday the 21st March Year 5 visited Reigate Park Church where they were treated to a dramatic presentation of Holy Week and Easter by members of the Sparkfish team.

Sparkfish is a local, collaborative, Christian organisation who work with schools and young people in the Reigate, Redhill and Merstham area.

The children thoroughly enjoyed the performance and at certain points even got involved in the drama themselves!
This experience deepened the children’s understanding of the events in Holy Week and also complemented our current R.E unit Easter Hope.

On Tuesday 20th May, Year 4 were visited by contemporary dance company ‘Springs’. They visited to create Dances with the children around the stories of Holy Week and Easter. This visit was part of our RE curriculum.

Springs Dance Company is a vibrant contemporary dance organisation bringing creative and engaging dance to a diverse range of venues and communities. Founded over 35 years ago, Springs Dance are one of the longest-established dance companies in the UK.The children worked with the dance coaches both in the morning and the afternoon as they used contemporary dance and creative expression to tell this very powerful and important story of Easter. The children were very excited about this project. Everyone had a good day even the more reluctant were able to try all the moves and develop their own sequences and pieces. Well done Year 4.

We took some pictures, which can be seen in the gallery below. Please click on the thumbnails for a larger view.