We enjoy close links with our church, St Mary's and the wider faith community. We are blessed to have clergy-led worship every Tuesday morning, welcoming Rev Susan McKendrey and Archdeacon Richard Pratt on alternating weeks. We also enjoy members of the church community and Yvette Ladds and Lynn Graham (Solway Network Youth Church) joining us for prayer space reflections and collective worship. Throughout the year, we visit St Mary's Church to hold services where we welcome family members and encourage the wider community to join us in our worship.
Please visit our Vision, Aims and Values in the About Us section of our website for further information.
Meet our Worship Leaders
Our Worship Leaders plan and deliver collective worship based on the current Christian Value for the half term. We value children having a voice so acts of worship are nurtured and encouraged. Within the worship planning, the group consider something to read, something to listen to, something to see and a prayer.
Easter Service at St Mary’s Church 2022
Year 4 led our Easter service sharing the traditions of Easter and they reflected on the Easter story. They shared the symbols of Easter, such as the palm leaf, the crown of thorns and the silver coin. The whole school enjoyed singing lots of Easter hymns such as ‘Give me joy in my heart’ and the ‘Lord of the Dance’.
NISCU Easter Story Puppet Show
We welcomed NISCU to deliver their puppet show which helped the children understand the Bible verse from John 3:16- ‘For God loved the world so much that he sent his only son Jesus to show us the way to live and care for the world’
Year 1 and 2 visit to Stockswood Outdoor Centre in Wigton
The visit intended to raise children’s awareness of caring for the environment and looking after God’s creation. The children considered what it meant to ‘Tread gently’ and be stewards for our local area. They had lots of fun taking part in lots of interactive outdoor games whilst developing their team work and problem solving skills.
Forgiveness Collective Worship
Our Worship Leaders delivered collective worship in the form of role play based on the parable of ‘The Unforgiving Servant’. Volunteers answered questions about what is means to forgive someone, what kind of things people need to say sorry for and who we need to apologise to. In the Bible, Jesus tells us that we need to say sorry to God and he will forgive us.
Experience Easter
Each class visited St Mary’s Church. The children moved between different stations which represented elements of the Easter story.
Guatemalan Easter
Our focus country for Easter around the World this year is Guatemala. In Collective Worship, the children have learnt about Easter traditions there and how they compare to ours in Maryport.
Easter Crosses
Year 4 have constructed Easter crosses in their Forest School session. They had to work collaboratively with good team work skills to make sure their structure was strong enough.
Courageous Advocacy
Some children in Year 6 asked if they could raise awareness of charities close to their heart: Parkinsons UK and Short Lives Matter. This began with a whole school information sharing session which quickly snowballed into table top sales, making bird boxes to auction and creating book marks and loom bands.
Poverty Swap
Helen from Poverty Swap visited our School Council to tell the children about her visit to overseas countries and the work that she carries out there linked to Global Christianity. As a result of this visit, the children are inspired to make a difference themselves to ‘Think global, act local’. At the moment, the school council are collating ideas of projects to initiate in school.
Collective Worship- led by our Worship Leaders
Our Worship Leaders planned and delivered Collective Worship based around the current Christian Value of Thankfulness. Lots of children joined in and volunteered to take part in role play, lighting of the candle and readings from the Bible.
Visit from the Diocese
Charlotte Tudway- Director of Education visited our school and our worship leaders gave her a tour, shared a Keynote presentation of their role in school and talked about our priorities for this year.
Key Stage 2 Carol Service 2021
On Wednesday 15th December our KS2 children attended our annual carol service at St Mary's Church. The Year 3 children led the service which also included a performance by our Year 5 and 6 guitar group. Thank you to Arch Deacon Richard for closing the service with a blessing and prayers.
Back at school, each class made a Christingle and lit them as they reflected on the importance of the birth of Jesus to Christians around the world.
St Mary's Christmas Tree Festival
Some of our Year 4 children visited St Mary's Church to decorate a tree for the annual Christmas Tree Festival. We hope lots of families will be able to visit over the weekend to see all of the lovely trees.
Narnia themed reflection and prayer spaces
On 1st and 2nd December, our friends from the Diocese created an enchanting outdoor prayer and reflection area in our woods based on Narnia. Our Worship Leader group worked alongside the adults at each station to encourage the KS2 children to think about friendship, courage and how they could make the world a better place. They also found time to sit around the fire and share a prayer.
December 2021
This half term, our Worship Leaders delivered a worship session on the theme of responsibility. the group planned and delivered this to include a bible story, reflection time and a hymn.
'A Christmas journey' at Bassenfell Manor
Our Year 1 and 2 children visited Bassenfell Manor Christian Centre to take part in a wonderful workshop exploring the Christmas Journey. Thank you to everyone at the centre for making the visit so memorable.
REMEMBRANCE 2021
We joined other schools in our local area at St Mary's Church for a Remembrance Service. Some of our Year 6 pupils did a reading and Y6 Beech class created a wonderful display.
Bishop James' Visit
On Thursday 14th October, we welcomed Bishop James into school to officially open our outdoor prayer space. Our Worship Leaders also gave a tour of the school and Y6 got to do a Q&A session. Please watch the video linked below to see more -
Weekly Bible Story sessions with Key stage one children
Each Friday afternoon, we welcome members of our church community to deliver Bible stories to our Key Stage One children This term they have been centred around our current values of Hope and Responsibility. Opportunities for reflection are built in which encourage the children to wonder and explore their own thoughts, feelings and ideas.
Harvest Appeal 2021
Our school harvest appeal this year is for the North Lakes Foodbank. To launch this appeal, Stuart Christian led a collective worship for each key stage. Following on from this the children have donated a range of items to help the local community.
Collective Worship led by our Worship Warriors
This term our Worship Warrior group have planned and led Collective Worship based on the value of Hope.
Outdoor Prayer Spaces
In September, we were blessed by two days of glorious sunshine- this enabled us to offer the whole school outdoor prayer space sessions led by Yvette Ladds accompanied by many church volunteers. The clergy modelled prayer, the children embraced the opportunities and this forged a partnership in prayer between the school and the church which was highly valuable.
Reverend Susan Thanksgiving service
Reverend Susan has contributed widely to our school over the past 10 years. In recognition of this excellent service, some of our children attended and did some readings in her service of thanksgiving.
Christian after school club
We offer an after school club run by the Solway Network Youth Church each Thursday.
Collective worship delivered by members of the church community
Each Thursday morning Yvette Ladds delivers Collective Worship across the school. At times, we have visitors as part of this rolling programme such as Helen Faulds from Poverty Swap who is helping to raise children’s awareness of Christianity on a global scale and help them to understand how they can think local and act global to make a difference to the lives of others.
Maranatha Yoga Well being
This term we are running Maranatha Yoga sessions to our well-being group in Year 5 and 6. The sessions are provided by a Church of Scotland Minister. Each week the children have the opportunity to join up their thinking mind, their bodies and their breathing.
Examples of work linked to the Christian value of Compassion across the school- Summer term 2021
Summer term well-being group 2021
This term we have a groups of children working weekly with Yvette Ladds, Paul Rose and Stephen Williams developing their well being through spirituality and nature.
https://www.facebook.com/SolwayNYC/posts/995147147684595
EASTER
Unfortunately we were still unable to visit church for our annual Easter service. Each class did however make a video to share with the community.
EYFS https://www.facebook.com/333028734300032/videos/446209233314073
YEAR 1 https://www.facebook.com/333028734300032/videos/173085344543295
YEAR 2 https://www.facebook.com/333028734300032/videos/719976395335562
YEAR 3 https://www.facebook.com/333028734300032/videos/435442197718540
YEAR 4 https://www.facebook.com/333028734300032/videos/1374030609641597
YEAR 5 https://www.facebook.com/333028734300032/videos/2677740305834414
YEAR 6 https://www.facebook.com/333028734300032/videos/760246717941342
Our focus Christian value theme for this half term has been Perseverance. During the period of national lockdown, Mrs Ormond has continued to deliver Collective Worship for the children in the bubbles in school and also broadcasting these live on Facebook for the children and families at home. The hub children were given the opportunity to participate and lead aspects of the worship. The children had an important role to play, just as Jesus welcomed children and used them as models of faith for his followers.
Twas the week before the Christmas break.......
In the last week before we broke up for Christmas, the whole school focused on the Nativity and reflected on how and why it is important to Christians. Each class made a video to share with our community.
EYFS https://www.facebook.com/333028734300032/videos/840286846773080
YEAR 1 https://www.facebook.com/333028734300032/videos/224965242484755
YEAR 2 https://www.facebook.com/333028734300032/videos/716217392589487
YEAR 3 https://www.facebook.com/333028734300032/videos/751511572125000
YEAR 4 https://www.facebook.com/333028734300032/videos/1327057914313580
YEAR 5 https://www.facebook.com/333028734300032/videos/699240154317659
YEAR 6 https://www.facebook.com/333028734300032/videos/421863202528064
CHRISTINGLE 2020
Even though we could not go to St Mary's for our Christingle service this year, we still continued the tradition in school. All of the children made their Christingle and then watched a pre-recorded video from Rev Susan.
PRAYER BAGS
We were delighted that Yvette Ladds, from the Solway Network Youth Church delivered individual prayer bags for all of our KS2 children. The contents of the bags provided lots of opportunities for thought and reflection.
DECEMBER 2020
As we are unable to attend church this year, each class has created a scene on a window retelling part of the story of Jesus' birth. This has formed a Nativity Trail that each class will follow and explore.
HARVEST 2020
Every year we are always humbled by how generous our school community is in supporting the foodbank based in St Mary's as part of our Harvest Appeal. Unfortunately, we are unable to accept food donations for the North Lakes Foodbank appeal this year but monetary donations of whatever you can afford are most welcome. Please visit https://www.thefoodbank.org.uk/
As we are still unable to attend church, each class has presented a Harvest collective worship to share with the rest of the school and our community.
NISCU Lockdown reflections
Our friends at NISCU are helping us through lockdown by posting a series of videos on YouTube each week which reflect our Christian Values to share with our families. We hope you find them useful in these difficult times.
FRIENDSHIP
Day 1 – ‘What is love ?’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfGXu-X-KH0
Day 2 – ‘Time for a puppet play’ (The Good Samaritan) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkQ6PmiETnI
Day 3 – ‘Showing love to others’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CpnZaYU-70
Day 4 – ‘Thinking about our world’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkBBJtPwkQI
Day 5 – ‘Love is .....’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8W0zyUvib0
RESILIENCE
Day 1 – ‘What is love ?’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfGXu-X-KH0
Day 2 – ‘Time for a puppet play’ (The Good Samaritan) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkQ6PmiETnI
Day 3 – ‘Showing love to others’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CpnZaYU-70
Day 4 – ‘Thinking about our world’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkBBJtPwkQI
Day 5 – ‘Love is .....’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8W0zyUvib0
FORGIVENESS
Day 1 – What if ...? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyCgCuVWKH4
Day 2 – Whoops! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYpHsjIq5HQ
Day 3 – It’s better to forgive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SQ6u_b1XkE
Day 4 – Some Good News! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4wMo8E4DKc
Day 5 – Invisible Ink! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyAt1DlnEm0
Experience Easter March 2nd -4th 2020
Over the course of 3 days, all of our classes from Reception through to Year 6 visited St Mary's to visit the Experience Easter stations set up there. The children found out, in age appropriate ways, all about the Easter story and were able to reflect on the feelings of those involved as well as what Easter means for us today as Christians. A big thank you to RevSusan, the Solway Youth Network volunteers and all the helpers at St Mary's for leading this wonderful opportunity.
Crosses From Around The World
Children from each class worked with Miss Lockwood on a very special art project to find out about and then make the many different crosses from around the world. The crosses are now up on display for all to see in school.
Forgiveness Reflection Area
On 27/2/20, Lynn Graham from NISCU worked alongside our worship leaders to create a new reflection area on forgiveness.
Year 4 Swallows Christianity Around the World Project
Our Christianity around the world project is based on the book “Where in the world?”by Martyn Payne.
Year 4 followed Sparkle’s story of migration, we learned that the safest place for a Swallow to perch during migration is the roof of a church. This led us to investigate different Christian churches and traditions around the world. We also looked at prayers from these places.
We found out how Christianity originated in some countries - did you know that it is thanks to the apostle Andrew that Christianity is in Romania, he shared the story of Jesus.
We learned that 77.4% of the population in Argentina is Christian.
We all really enjoyed the investigation and with good team work, we were able to produce these wonderful Pic Collages.
Thankfulness reflection areas
On 16/1/2020, Lynn Graham from NISCU joined our worship leaders to create two new reflection areas on the theme of 'thankfulness'. Lynne and the children created spaces where the pupils can reflect on what they are thankful for and can record their thoughts on the branches of the tree.
Carol Service 2019
On Monday 16th December our children were joined by family members at our annual carol service in St Mary’s Church. The service was led by our Year 3 children who retold the story of the Nativity. Towards the end of the service Rev. Susan talked about the significance of the Christingle before we lit our candles and dimmed the lights in church.
The children in KS2 enjoyed making over 250 Christingle oranges for the carol service to be held on Monday 16th December in St Mary's. Each orange has a red ribbon and sweets/dried fruit on cocktail sticks along with a candle to represent Jesus as the 'light of the world'.
On Wednesday 2nd December, some of our children visited church to decorate a tree as part of the annual Christmas tree festival. Our tree was decorated with stars which each had on them our Christian values.
On Tuesday 3rd December, Rev. Susan and our friends from NISCU came along to deliver a special collective worship. They told the story of the Wise Men in the nativity and how the most special gift we can bring to God is ourselves. We enjoyed hearing the story and reflecting on the message. We also really enjoyed singing 'Little Drummer Boy'.
During 13th and 14th November, we were joined by representatives from St Mary's Church, Solway Network Youth Church and NISCU who worked with the children to access prayer spaces on the value of RESPONSIBILITY. The children visited each station and reflected on their responsibilities to themselves, their friends and family, the community and the world as a whole.
Maryport Schools Remembrance Service
Representatives from our school council joined those from other schools in the town at the annual Remembrance Service. Everyone in school had written a promise to God on a poppy and these were displayed in church. We also laid a wreath in remembrance of those who have sacrificed so much.
