Listen up and speak out. Flourishing is not a solo endeavour!

Our Church School

Children’s exemplary behaviour and positive attitudes to learning are closely linked to their understanding of the Christian values of endurance, friendship, compassion and kindness. SIAMS 2018

We are the children of Waberthwaite School.

We show endurance and friendship.

We are compassionate and kind.

Point your kids in the right direction— when they're old they won't be lost. Proverbs 22:6 The Message

Waberthwaite Church of England School welcomes and respects everyone. We believe that everyone is an individual, created in the image of God, who should be encouraged, nurtured and challenged in order to flourish; hold high-aspirations and achieve their full potential.

We encourage everyone to 'listen up and speak out'; celebrate their own worth and that of others. A flourishing life is diverse, connected and outward-looking. We seek to broaden our understanding of the world, participate in enriching and challenging experiences and reflect on how our actions impact on the world around us.

We understand that we are each unique and we celebrate how our differences compliment each other; creating a community where 'we all fit together'; when our strengths are combined, we are stronger.

Listen up and speak out. Flourishing is not a solo endeavor.

‘I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.’ (John 10:10)

Spirituality Statement.docx

Pilgrimage in May 2026

We were delighted to be guided on our annual pilgrimage by Reverand Peter (Foundation Governor) and Mrs Winzor (St John's Church warden). They were able to guide us on our journey, to 'Look in, Look out, Look around and Look up', and to share their knowledge about the church at the end of our journey. They support us in making connections with our RE lessons in school and the artefacts and furniture in the church. For example, at the front of the church is a large plaque denoting the 10 Commandments and we were able to share our knowledge and make links with the book of Exodus.

We also spent time learning about the significant early crosses at the church and that these are indicators that our Church has been here for a very, very long time!

https://skfb.ly/oIO9A

April 2026

We've been spending time outdoors, creating items for our reflection space, to remind us of the importance of our connection with ourselves, others, nature and that which is beyond.

March 2026

Reverand Peter came to school and told us all about Ash Wednesday.

Making Palm Crosses for Palm Sunday

This morning we created palm crosses using palm leaves. We carefully followed instructions and helped each other to create a cross each. We will use these as part of our Easter collective worship in school this year and then we will keep them to burn next year on Ash Wednesday.

December 2025

The whole school community came together for the Nativity from Scratch service at Muncaster Church! We had multiple Mary's, Joseph's, donkeys, sheep, inn-keepers and angels! What an amazing atmosphere with our community celebrating as one. Thank you to Reverand Dave for his musical accompaniment for our hymns of woship!

November 2025

Class 3 visited Yorn Minster and were amazed by the scale and beauty of the building! We learnt more about Christian worship on a larger scale and the development of Christianity in Britain!

October 2025

Harvest is in full swing and Class 3 have been busy creating some produce themed watercolour still life paintings to decorate both our our local churches for the village harvest services.

Harvest Festival

Our Class 1 children read The Little Red Hen and made their own bread for the Harvest Festival at school.

We were visited by Simon and 'Timmy the tuna' from The North Lakes Food Bank to tell us all about the origins or the harvest festival and how, as Christian charity, they work to show compassion and support those in need to make sure people who are hungry get the food and support that they need.

We had collected a lot of food donations that they were able to take away with them.

September 2025

Imran returned to school to talk to everyone in the whole school about the pillars of Islam and about the similarities and differences between how we pray and worship in Islam and Christianity.

Thank you Imran!

June 2025

Class 3 carried out a pilgrimage to our local village church, St John's at Hall Waberthwaite. We walked from school and collected a pilgrimage stone on route. At various points along our pilgrimage journey we stopped and held our stones and gave thanks for something we are grateful for. At our last reflection point we thought about something we wanted God to know. When we got to church, we took out our stones and held them in our hands and offered our collective thoughts we had gathered on our journey as a prayer to God.

June 2025

Class 3 spent a day in Irton Church, comparing it to other local churches we have visited and considering features of Christian art in stained glass windows.

February 2025

Our friend Imran returned from Bolton to explain to us all about Hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, and help us to build a greater understanding of all of the similarities between our two faiths. We spent time comparing the Hajj with Christian pilgrimage and bible characters with those who appear in the Qur'an.

Thank you Imran - see you again soon!

Christmas Nativity

This year we explored the story of the nativity and the message of Christmas with the help of Springs Dance Company to put on a modern dance production.

December

The whole school gathered together to make Christingles to celebrate Jesus as the light of the world.

We met our new vicar, Reverand Dave.

We all worked together to make our Christingles and talked about the meaning behind each part.

We lit our Christingles and sang some Christmas hymns.

We said a prayer and blew out our candles and took our christingles home to share.

Class 3 Residential to Manchester 2025

Each year our Class 3 residential is centred around a faith focused theme. This year we took our children to the Manchester Jewish Museum to explore the synagogue and build on our Class 2 learning about the Jewish faith. We made challah bread and learned about the role of food in some significant Jewish festivals and compared the differences between synagogue and church buildings, referring to our work last year in one of our local churches.

The focus of our Year 5 and 6 residential in 2024 was the comparison between Islamic and Christian places of worship. We were lucky enough to have a guided visit of both Liverpool Mosque and Liverpool Cathedral.

"We hope that the children and staff from Waberthwaite Primary school enjoyed their visit here yesterday. We would be grateful if you could pass on our compliments to them all for their excellent behaviour and attitude whilst they were here, we thoroughly enjoyed showing them round." Liverpool Cathedral Education Officer

Islam

We had a whole school assembly with Imran from Muslim learner services to learn about the five pillars of Islam. He then worked with Class 3 to explore Islamic artefacts, looking specifically at some of the similarities and differences between Islam and Christianity. They also explored how the artefacts link to the five pillars, including through stories.

They then learned about the pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj). Imran explained how Muslims perform the Hajj and the differences between specific Islamic celebrations for adults and children.

If you have any further queries, you can contact our school administrator, Mrs Yvonne Hey, in a number of ways.

Our postal address:Waberthwaite CE SchoolWaberthwaiteMillomCumbriaLA19 5YJ Telephone:01229717664 Email:admin@waberthwaite.cumbria.sch.uk
Please direct any queries relating to Special Educational Needs to: Miss Natalie Sharp (SENCO)

Page updated

Report abuse