Rowan visit St Andrew’s Church

Rowan Class visit St Andrew's Church

At the end of last term, Rowan class visited St Andrew's Church, in Hornchurch. In school, we had been learning about how Christians celebrate Christmas and planned a visit to a church to find out more.

We set off from Harold Hill on the bus at 9:00am. Members of the public commented on how 'beautifully behaved' the children were.



When we arrived at the church, the children were surprised at how bit the church was.

"It's massive! I wonder what is at the top in the cone shape? I want to go and explore!' Amelia B

When we went inside, we were given a warm welcome by the priest Ken, who invited the children in to tell then a bit about what happens at his church. He had with him a group of fantastic volunteers, who ran 3 workshops for the children to take part in.

In the first workshop, the children went on a hunt around the church, looking at all of the interesting surroundings. They found out a bit about the history of the church, from how old it was, to the myths surrounding the statues in the church.

'I think the faces in the roof are watching to see if everyone is being good.' Riley

'I think the faces like to listen to Ken (the priest) when he delivers his service.' Amelia D

'The church is so old. It's over 600 years old.' Lilly W

The children were very impressed by the stain glass window. They loved the colours and mixture of new and old pictures within it.

They also got an opportunity to ring the bells. They each had a go and were shocked at how heavy it was and needed to work in pairs.

'It was so heavy, my feet lifted off the ground!' Elsie-Rose

In the church, a stable had been set up to help the children understand where Christians believe Jesus had been born. They were able to sit in the stable and listen to the story of the birth of Jesus. They were able to answer questions and related it back to their own nativity play.

 'The kings followed the star. We sang a song about that in our play!' Abdulmalik

The priest Ken finished our trip with a story of Christmas in the sty of 'We're going on a bear hunt' and kindly sent copies of the book back to school with the children.

A big thank you to all the people at St Andrew's Church for putting on such a wonderful trip for the children.

And a huge thank you to our parent volunteers who helped out on the trip. Without your support, we would not be able to off the children all of the amazing experience we do.