Horsforth Churches Together Primary School Team

“It takes a village to bring up a child”

We are very grateful to have eight excellent primary schools in Horsforth. As Horsforth churches together we are developing a primary school team with the aim of supporting schools in the work of educating and nurturing the 1800 children whom they serve.

The African saying “it takes a village to raise a child” invites a response from us all to offer what we can to support the children in our community. As the church we have much to give. The primary school team seeks to bring ‘willing volunteers’ from across the churches together to play our part. By bringing people together we aim to offer the full potential of the churches energy, creativity, resources and care to the schools.

‘Open the Book’ Assemblies

Using ‘Open The Book’ assembly scheme we are now helping children enjoy Bible Stories, and their messages, by presenting them in dramatic form using the schemes wonderful array of costumes and props. The Assemblies last 10-15 mins, often includes pupils and end with a short reflection.

We are presently working regularly in St Margaret’s, Broadgate Lane, Featherbank and Westbrook Lane primary schools and offering Rewind Christmas and Easter events to Newlaithes, St Margaret’s, Westbrook and Broadgate schools.

Rewind Events

Rewind to Christmas for year 4’s  and Rewind To Easter for year 5’s are events where we invite the local schools to ‘rewind into the events of Christmas and Easter.’ Using video clips, storytelling, group work, craft and inviting children to wonder, the rewind events educate and encourage children to use their imagination to reflect on the events of Christmas and Easter.

Working together in the Community

The Hopes and Dreams project encouraged schools to take part in the Hope in Horsforth fortnight. The presentations of children’s work were seen by hundreds of members of the public who were encouraged and inspired. In our place in the community we hope we can provide further opportunities for the inspiration of childrens work to be appreciated by the whole community.

Sharing our resources

As churches we have great resources, our buildings, our history, our capacity to offer support to individuals and families and we want to make this as accessible to schools as possible. We are exploring ideas where we could run half days for year groups in our churches.

Serving Practically