FAITH Links

Our school has close links with Christ Church C of E Church on Malvern Road, Cheltenham and Salem Baptist Church on St. George's Road.  Rev Simon, Pastor Andy and other members of the churches frequently come in to lead both whole school and class assemblies.  We also celebrate a very joyful Harvest festival at one of the churches each year. The whole school has the opportunity to learn about and make a Christingle, raising money for the Children's Society in the process. Our Christmas concert is further enhanced by one of the church leaders telling the Christmas story between our songs.

To deepen their Religious Education learning, pupils are able to visit one of the churches and experience being inside a church and to learn about Christian church practices. Every year, we support Salem's Shoebox appeal by making our own shoeboxes with gifts which are shipped to vulnerable children in Eastern Europe.

We also have fortnightly "Open the Book" assemblies which give pupils the opportunity to hear Bible stories told through drama. 

Strong links are in place with other faith groups as well. We have representatives from Cheltenham mosque, Cheltenham synagogue, Gloucestershire Humanists and Cheltenham Jehovah's Witnesses who lead whole school and class assemblies. The support from our parents is also invaluable and parents come in to talk about what their faith means to them and to explain how their faith impacts their daily lives, e.g. demonstrating what prayer looks like in their religion. Pupils have the opportunity to visit the Synagogue, Mosque and Krishna Mandir in Cheltenham, to see what they look like inside and ask questions about how believers worship there. 

For each of the religions that we study in our Religious Education, we have one whole school celebration for an important festival, e.g. Christmas, Holi, Purim and Eid. The children learn about why the festival is celebrated with a faith leader, taste food that is typically eaten for this festival and do some crafts. 

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