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This week school volunteers from All Saints' joined volunteers from Houghton Regis Baptist Church to lead an RE interactive learning session hosted for Year 5 pupils of Thomas Whitehead Academy. In the session we explored a few different ways in which Christians express the glory, beauty, and loving nature of God. We looked at sacred art, music, icons, and stained glass windows. Pupils were encouraged to learn about the use of art in Christianity and to reflect on differences between denominational approach to it. As the session was interactive, the pupil spent half of the time crafting little stained glass windows with coloured paper and card and to draw and colour icons and sacred images. We are very grateful to Houghton Regis Baptist Church's congregation for the hospitality and to Stef, our coordinator in this Churches Together initiative. Photos Copyright: Thomas Whitehead Academy, used with permission.
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This week we celebrated the first School Mass of the Autumn Term with Thomas Whitehead Academy. The value for the first half of term was Courage and in the readings we looked at God's instruction to Joshua to "Be Courageous" (Joshua 1:1-9) and Jesus' great commission to his disciples (Matthew 28:16-20). As is it our custom, the pupils led the readings and composed the intercessions. Parents and members of the congregation we also invited to attend the Mass. Photos Copyright: Thomas Whitehead Academy, used with permission.
This week we had the great pleasure of welcoming pupils form the Chiltern School to All Saints' for a visit. During their time the pupils learned from our volunteers about the history of the Parish Church and were able to explore the building in their own time. Fr Diego welcomed the group and encouraged to ask questions about All Saints', the church community, and parish life. The teacher leading the group provided this feedback: "Sincere thanks for our visit this week. I was surprised at how long we were able to stay and how engaged our young people were. Thank you too to Fr Diego for his time and his openness. That was very much appreciated. Hopefully we can visit again at some point." Photos Copyright: Chiltern School, used with permission. On Monday 1 July Father Diego visited our church school, Thomas Whitehead Academy, to conduct a service of blessing for the Reflection Garden in the school grounds. To bless a place means to invite God to be there in a special way, so that all those who visit that place may be refreshed by his presence and his love for them. Blessing, in a sense, sets a place apart for a purpose that connects us with God. The readings at the service were adapted from Genesis 2 and the Canticle of Creatures by St Francis of Assisi, to help the children reflect on our common and God-given responsibly to care for the environment. Photos Copyright: Thomas Whitehead Academy, used with permission.
Maundy Thursday celebrations opened with the Mass of the Lord's Supper with the Key Stage 2 pupils of Thomas Whitehead Academy. The children lead the readings from Scripture and composed the prayers of intercession. At this service we recalled how Jesus washed the disciples' feet during his last supper with them, and how he left to them the gift of his own very self in the Eucharist. Photo Copyright: Thomas Whitehead Church of England Academy
Last week we celebrated Candlemas with Thomas Whitehead Academy at Mass with KS2. As always, the pupils led the reading of the gospel and the intercessions (beautifully and thoughtfully composed by them). At the end of the Mass, we distributed blessed candles to everyone: a reminder of the Lord Jesus as our light and the light of the nations.
On Tuesday 28 March we celebrated Mass with Thomas Whitehead Academy for the first time. Our regular Tuesday worship was replaced by a School Mass for Key Stage Two pupils and the school staff. This was a joyous occasion filled with prayer and singing. Each class composed a prayer to be offered during the Intercessions and the children rehearsed the sung parts of the Mass with our talented Music Teacher before attending the service. Photo Copyright: Thomas Whitehead Academy |
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