St Mary's Church of England
Primary
SchoolChurch Partnership
Throughout their time at St Mary's, children have many and varied opportunities to visit St Mary's Church and other local churches, both for worship and as part of our curriculum learning in Religious Education.
You can find an overview of our main visits here, though we often pop over for other things too!
Calendar of Church Experiences
Reverend Lisa Barnett
Team Rector
St Mary's CE Church, Horsham
St Mary's Church supports the school with services, assemblies, curriculum visits, governance and fundraising.
The school supports the wider work of the church by promoting and contributing to events, and sharing training opportunities and resources.
As Team Rector of Horsham, I am pleased to support the excellent work that goes on within St Mary’s CE School.
The Christian ethos within the school is strong and the children are enabled in myriad different ways to explore the Christian faith and to consider their own faith journeys.
Together with the headteacher and the foundation governors, I am pleased to be always exploring new ways to develop the partnership between church and school, to be a mutual blessing.
The Life of Christ
We want to ensure that every child leaves St Mary's knowing about Jesus. This is something they learn about throughout their time here, but in the final term of Year 6 our pupils have a unique opportunity to see the whole story of Jesus' life played out in The Life of Christ, at Wintershall Estate near Guildford.
The trip is offered in partnership with St Mary's Church, who contribute to the experience both financially and by supporting follow-up learning and reflection in class.
This open-air reenactment of the gospels is played out over the pictureque Surrey Hills, and brings together all of the stories children have encountered throughout their primary education into one beautiful narrative.
Bibles for all
We want to encourage children to continue their faith journey after they leave St Mary's Primary School.
St Mary's Church generously gifts all school leavers with their own inscribed copy of the Bible, with the prayer that they will be inspired to read more of God's word, grow closer to Him, be curious learners and continue to grow in faith.
A special nativity
Children of all ages arrived at school to a very special Christmas treat, funded by a grant from St Mary's Church. A live action nativity, complete with sheep and a donkey, was taking place on the school playground!
Children moved around different stations, hearing the Christmas story told form the point of view of different characters, and collecting symbols to remind them of parts of the story.
19th December 2023
