We had some special guests in our chapel this week: our reception class paid the chapel a visit, counted candles and angels, explored the little wooden creatures on the end of the pews (learnt how to say ‘pew’), got treated to our very own Rosie in Year 13 giving a short but very grand rendition on the organ, and if they were super in well-behaved, they got to climb on their teacher’s shoulder to ring the bell.

There is something very beautiful about seeing them explore this amazing building. Stroking the little wooden lions and monkeys, which have been sitting at the end of the pews patiently for over 150 years, climbing up the pulpit to unimaginable heights and staring in awe at the beautiful colours the sun sends through the stained glass windows. It gets even better when you witness their little jaws dropping as the sound of the organ blasts through the building and they are trying to work out how this can come out of those strange pipes in front of them. 

We found Noah’s Ark and Jesus, St George and his dragon as well as various eagles dotted around – and each and every single discovery filled them with excitement and the wish to show their friends and their teachers. And it made me look at it all through fresh eyes: there is so much excitement that we take for granted, so many little things that are awesome and so much wondrous detail all around us every single minute of every single day.

At a time when our world is full of massive uncertainty, worry and danger, it might just help to learn from our reception children to look for those beautiful little things around us and allow them to excite us – with genuine awe and wonder. 

With Love From The Chapel