Worship Acolytes

There are 2 Worship Acolytes in each class. An acolyte is an assistant in worship and our Worship Acolytes are very active across the school. In fact we use our acolytes for more than just worship! Our acolytes are very much involved in the community as a whole; both in school and in the wider St. Neots community. Through assisting, the children become part of the worship and give themselves to God and become beacons of Christianity within our locality. The development of the Worship Acolytes at St. Mary's contributes towards bringing the vision of the Church of England to life, 'Serving the Common Good', amongst us all here in St. Neots.

Here are some of our acolytes ...

Christingle

Each year we go to Church for our Christingle Service, however, this year we stayed in school and participated in the virtual Christingle live from Ely Cathedral. 

Harvest

For Harvest we were unable to collect food for our foodbank so we brought some donations of vegetables in to school and made soup! We learnt to cook something that was easy and nutritious and give thanks to the farmers for the harvest.

Tackling Homelessness in St. Neots

The Worship Acolytes met with Mrs. Williams, Church Warden, to enable her to share the work of the Parish Church in supporting the marginalised in our town. The children listened attentively and asked some very thought provoking questions regarding the reasons someone may become homeless. We thought about our value of 'koinonia' in particular and how Fr. Paul spoke about belonging and how God has called people to Him, through Jesus Christ.

The children thought of some very good ways in which they could help the homeless of the town, these include:

• providing new bedding
• cooking in school and sending food to 'Friday Food' at the Church Hall
• collecting specific donations for the Food Bank which would specially be for the homeless i.e foods in packs or small cartons rather than baked beans of food that requires cooking

Plant Sale

Lottie Taylor, who is part of Christian Aid St. Neots and one of our parishioners, came in to work with some Worship Acolytes. They sowed seeds ready for the plant sale so that we may contribute to the Cyclone Fani Appeal. The children sold their plants outside the United Reform Church in St. Neots, near Argos, to work on the plant sale stall with Lottie; they raised over£500 for Christian Aid.

    

Thank You Afternoon Tea

The Worship Acolytes from across the school held a thank you afternoon tea for all our volunteers in school. Our volunteers give their time freely to help children learn in a range of ways, to attend school trips and some form part of our governing body.

The children and adults enjoyed a cuppa with scones, clotted cream and jam!