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Our Church and Places of Worship
Our local church is the Holy Trinity Church in Finstock. We are building up our presence in the church not only attending at key times of the year: Harvest, Christmas, Ash Wednesday and our Year 6 leavers event but also aiming to move our weekly Monday assembly there after current restrictions have changed.
We are proud to have the support of Rev'd Paul Mansell, who delivers weekly whole school collective worship in school and leads our festivals at the Finstock Holy Trinity Church and Leafield St Michael and All Angels Church.
Holy Trinity was built in Gothic Revival style in 1841, though then it only consisted of the nave. The chancel was added in 1905 - then intention was to demolish and rebuild the nave as well but the money available didn't match the vicar's ambitions - protruding stones for interlocking the chancel and new nave can still be seen both inside (behind the pulpit) and outside.
T. S. Eliot was baptised at Finstock on 29 June 1927 and the novelist Barbara Pym, who lived at Finstock after her retirement, is buried in the churchyard and has a commemorative plaque in the church. The church also contains a stained glass window and mural tablet in memory of Sir Arthur du Cros, inventor of the pneumatic tyre - at one time Dunlop even produced a Finstock tyre - whose family lived in Finstock Manor and whose family mausoleum is in the churchyard.
For our Easter service we join together with Leafield Primary School to present the Easter story at St Michael and All Angels Church in Leafield. This is a wonderful opportunity for the two schools to work together, for the children to build new friendships, and develop our community.
We fall into the Forest Edge Benefice which consists of five churches and four parishes. Please use the link here to find out more Forest Edge Benefice
Visit to St Mary's Church
In term 4, we visited St Mary's Church in Witney as part of our focus on Christianity and stories of the bible that demonstrate kindness.
Oak class enjoyed learning more about specific features of a church including the font and the altar. The children were able to handle specific artefacts such as the chalice and ring the church bells. We also learned the fascinating history of part of the church roof and how it had been damaged in World War 2.
Oak class were able to listen and ask questions about specific stories from the bible that demonstrate kindness and how Jesus was kind to others. This included the story of the Good Samaritan.
We all had a wonderful visit and we were so proud of how considerate and thoughtful the children were.
Visit to Oxford Synagogue
As part of our learning during term 3, focusing on Judaism: How do Jews show committment to God, we kickstarted our learning with a trip to Oxford Synagogue as part of our memorable experience.
Whilst there, we recieved a wonderfully in-depth introduction to Judaism. The children looked at the Torah scrolls, handled some artefacts and asked many thoughtful questions. They also looked into Jewish religious holidays and learnt about how Kosher food is prepared in different kitchens. The children blew the adults away with their respectful and considerate attitudes during this experience.
