At Whitton, working with and supporting schools is extremelyimportant to us. We have great connections with The Beeches, Castle Hill, Thomas Wolsey and St Pancras. We provide opportunities for supporting and teaching RE sessions linked to the Christian RE topics already being taught. This might be in the form of bringing in artefacts, delivering a session about a certain topic or modelling some of the special celebrations that happen in church. We also welcome visits to church from classes and try to tailor experiences so that they link closely with what pupils are learning about in their RE curriculum. These experiences hopefully help to enhance the pupils RE learning and allow pupils to discover more about Christianity, the life of a church and to reflect on their own spirituality.
Open the Book is a storytelling project where Bible stories are delivered in school assemblies in a dramatised way which is interactive and engaging for the pupils. We set up an Open the Book team in Summer 2025 and Since the Autumn term, this academic year, have delivered an assembly a half term at both The Beeches and Castle Hill. These have been very muchenjoyed so far and we look forward to continuing.
Experience events are teaching resources used to support RE teaching and spiritual development. These cover a variety of Christian festivals including Christmas, Easter and Harvest. Children come into church and travel on a journey around church where several stations are set up. They have the opportunity to learn about the Christian theme and reflect through various multi sensory activities. During 2025 we delivered Experience Easter, Experience Remembrance and Experience Christmas and had several hundred pupilsattending over these three events. These have so far been very well received and we look forward to being able to continue to offer these experiences.
Both Open the Book and the Experience Events use a huge number of wonderful volunteers who mainly come from the church community and give up so much of their time. If you like working with children and are able to volunteer, we would love to hear from you.
Lucy Fisk – School and Children’s Liaison at lucy.schoolslink@whittonparish.co.uk or on 07897755844 if you would like more information about any volunteering opportunities with school children.