It’s that time of year again when we take the whole of the Year 6 Leavers to visit an important religious site in Oxford. This year, we decided to visit St Margaret’s Church, Binsey and St Frideswide’s Well.
We started the day with revisiting the theme of pilgrimages. This year group in particular have done quite a lot of exploration of the topic and were very knowledgeable already. We talked a little about how pilgrims have always used poems, songs and praise on their journey, which led us to Psalm 23.
Throughout the journey over to Binsey we had little stops when a part of the psalm was read out. When we walked across Port Meadow and stopped beside the bridge, we read about green pastures and still waters; when we were under lots of trees, we read about the valley of the shadow; when we got to the crossroads and The Perch, we read about cups over following; and we finished at the church with the full psalm.
After a quick snack break in the beautiful but chilly church year, we met Jackie Holderness, her husband, Bill, and Olga who were there to tell us a little more about St Frideswide. Jackie is an expert in the saints and has spent much of her life in the diocese retelling their tales for younger audiences. She’s a wonderful storyteller and even came dress in a tunic similar to one that Frideswide the princess would have worn.
Half the year group listen to Jackie outside near the well, and half came into the beautiful church there. Bill had a worksheet of items for the children to find in the church and torches to help us. (The church is dark and has no electricity or plumbing!) We found a memorial stone that dated back to the 17th century!
We had a wonderful day on this pilgrimage despite the cloudy weather. The children are so knowledgeable about their local area and were very engaged in the whole day. We finished back in the school hall with a time for reflection. At the beginning of the day each child had been offered a stone to carry to think about some of the things that they might be worried about in the coming month of moving schools. We know invited the children to lay these stones, these worries, at the foot of the church cross while Psalm 23 was read out again.