Bishops Lydeard Church School is incredibly proud of its church links. With the school in close proximity to the beautiful, rural St Mary’s Church, we benefit from its unique, special and spiritual environment. The children enjoy regular visits to the church for major Christian holidays and for more intimate occasions such as the recent ‘Pray for School Day’. The church is incredibly supportive of our school and the children value the impact that having a church so close brings.  Recently we have welcomed St Andrews Church School, Taunton to share in our lovely church. We are are also completing a project on Christian symbols and icons and we are thrilled to share our local Church with another school.

We love inviting Pastors from our local churches into school. This gives our children access to primary sources who can help unlock our learning, understanding and support our ‘Understanding Christianity’ resource. These links with churches around Taunton help the inquisitive minds of our children as they ask big questions, reflect on key world issues and grapple with Christianity and other world religious and non-religious views. In these pictures, we welcomed Pastor Andrea Aspinall from Kingdom Faith South West Church in Taunton. She helped us understand what Christians believe when discussing the ‘Gospel.’

As a church school, we hold daily collective worship. We understand and celebrate that these times are incredibly influential to our Christian distinctiveness. We welcome the local St Mary’s Church several times a term to hold an ‘Open the Book’ assembly. Their dynamic, enthusiastic assemblies engage the children allowing them to meet and experience the diverse, passionate and dedicated members of the local community churches.

We also enjoy welcoming Brian Hilkene from Kings Church Quantocks. He comes in with puppets, stories and ‘messy church.’ The children find his assemblies entertaining and engaging.