Links with St. Mary’s Church
We have a very strong and established link with St. Mary’s church. The very first pupils who accessed Church School education in the parish of St. Mary’s East Barnet were taught in the church gallery! Since the school was built, headteachers and members of the clergy have been committed to working together to give children an excellent Church School education.
In present times, Rev Alec Corio is very much part of our school life, known to all members of our community. We are very proud of the partnership between St. Mary’s School and St. Mary’s Church which strengthens who we are as a Church School.
We are so lucky to be able to worship in St. Mary’s Church every fortnight, and in the weeks when we are at school Rev Alec leads worship too.
Our Church School Partnership:
- Collective worship planning is thematic and collaborative between school and church, illustrating the partnership between school and church leadership. Alec will often provide relevant Biblical references, music or hymns to support with the strategic and operational leadership of collective worship.
- There are increasing links and opportunities for church-school joint worship, bringing the congregation and school community together. Examples include join Evensong for school families and congregation members, our annual carol service, and Creation Sunday at church, during which St. Mary’s pupils led intercessions; some of these prayers were written by the children too which was very special.
- The children’s Religious Education (RE) learning is enhanced and deepened in different ways at school. One such way is having Alec coming into school to lead RE lessons in school. and even at church e.g. to support the children’s understanding of Holy Communion. This is also supportive of teachers’ professional development.
- Alec has also co-led professional development with Mrs Constantinou in a school INSET days e.g with our focus on Spiritual Development. Alec was able to bring the distinctively Christian aspect of spirituality into our training.
- We have been very grateful to Alan Danson too (St. Mary’s Church Musical Director) who has supported the school in different musical ways e.g. providing recorded piano backing for us to use in school worship, accompanying pupils in solo musical performances in our Summer music concert, playing in our Carol Concert. Alan has always volunteered his time freely to support the school for which we are very appreciative.
- Alec has accompanied the choir to the St. Albans Harvest Festival at the Cathedral and annually leads our school based Harvest festival too.
- Alec has supported the school to foster a partnership with the Good Samaritan School for the Deaf (GSSD) in Uganda. One objective is to support the children’s understanding of Christianity as a global faith.
- Take a look at our newsletters for our ongoing work with St. Mary’s Church and also to see up and coming church events.
Links with other local Churches:
- We are also fortunate to have a long standing relationship with Brookside Methodist Church and once a term, the children have an opportunity to worship in this space too.
- Annually, the choir signs to members of Friend in Need at East Barnet Baptist Church. We have also supported this group by growing beans for them to use in meals for vulnerable adults in the local area.
Links with St. Albans Diocese:
We are very proud to be part of the Diocesan family of schools. We have close links with the Diocese for example, working closely with Ryan Parker who has supported us with the delivery of RE and Collective Worship, and the development of the school’s distinctively Christian vision. See our Collective Worship page for our work using the Diocesan resource Heart for the Earth. Mrs Constantinou has a close network with other Church School headteachers following an excellent Church School Leadership programme arranged by the Diocese.
Our practice features regularly in Diocesan newsletters:
