On the first Monday in Advent Year 3 walked down to St. Joseph’s, our local Roman Catholic church, where Sister Joy Elder greeted us.

This was a church known to some of the children but not to others and we began by listening to Sr Joy tell us about why the church was special to her and what it meant to belong to it.

When asked, the children showed good knowledge of Christianity and the importance of Jesus within it.

Next Rev’d Sissons read out some riddles to help the pupils identify some of the key objects within the church, e.g. the altar, font and lectern.

Finally, to complement the classroom work that the children have undertaken this term, they completed a worksheet on symbols, which involved hunting around the church to locate the picture clue and then trying to establish what the symbol was meant to represent or communicate.

We ended with an open question session and then lit a candle to close with a prayer.

The children wanted to say the Lord’s Prayer, which they learn in Monday assemblies, and Sr Joy was suitably impressed.

This is the first time Year 3 have gone out on an RS visit and the pupils were wonderfully well-behaved and engaged on the experience; as always we would like to thank our friends at St Joseph’s, and Sister Joy in particular, for their kind welcome and hospitality.

Rev’d Sissons

Chaplain and RS  Co-ordinator