Pupils Pause For A Day To Reflect On Advent

Published on: 28 Nov, 2020
Updated on: 28 Nov, 2020

The start of Advent has been marked by pupils at St Nicolas’ Infant School in Guildford with normal teaching paused for a day to focus on the meaning of the first season of the Christian church and the birth of Christ.

Pupils at St Nicolas’ Infant School, Guildford, have enjoyed their Advent Pause Day.

The school says: “This year, we thought about our school vision, which is all about how we ‘live life in all its fullness’ (John 10:10). One of the ways we do this is by having hope for the future and all that it brings.

“Hope is one of our school values, and we felt that it was particularly appropriate this year, so we spent the day working on ways to spread hope in our school, to our families and in our community during Advent.

“The angel we have made is our messenger of hope and will be displayed at Guildford Cathedral. Reception painted rainbow clothing, Year 1 wrote prayers of hope for the angel’s wings, and Year 2 created the head and wrote messages of hope for members of our community to read.

The angel that St Nicolas’ Infant School pupils have made will be displayed at Guildford Cathedral.

“These included – ‘Have hope, God loves you’, ‘Don’t feel alone, I know Covid has been tricky’, ‘If lockdown has been bad, Christmas will make things more fun’ and ‘Look out for rainbows to remind you of hope’.”

The school, off Portsmouth Road, is also taking part in Hearts for Homes. Pupils have been decorating hearts and making Christmas cards to cheer up the residents of Pilgrim Wood residential and dementia home in Sandy Lane and Mount Place retirements apartments.

And pupils have also been busy collecting treats for CAP (Christians Against Poverty) clients to give them hope this Christmas too.

In addition, the school adds: “We have painted rocks to create a path to our manger scene on the playground, for our families to enjoy at drop off and pick up, and we will be sharing a living Advent calendar with our families, with an entry every day from the first Sunday of Advent (November 29) right up to Christmas Day.

“These will include videos and photos of children engaged in Christmassy activities or sharing work, as well as stories, photos, recipes and science experiments from staff and governors. Parents can access these at home and we will share them with children in class.”

The school is also preparing a Christmas film to share with families, creating its very own film set too. While its parents school association (PSA) has recorded a Christmas single, Socially Distant Santa Claus. For more details about it contact the PSA at psa@st-nicolas.surrey.sch.uk