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EDUCATION TEAM UPDATE
 BULLETIN No. 307

15th October 2021
   

This week's message from Andrew Teale, Diocesan Director of Education 

Grace, Service & Family – Part 3
Is blood thicker than water?
 
“The Diocese of Hereford has seldom held and is never likely to hold, a very conspicuous place among the dioceses of the Church of England, but it has claim to represent that unobtrusive phase of life which is expressed to us in the notion of family.”
 
A Diocesan History – 1888 By Henry Wright Phillott - Extract from Saints and Sinners of the Marches by Michael Tavinor
 
I love this extract. It describes us as a family-focussed diocese. 133 years later, our diocese continues to recognise the importance of family at the very heart of things, especially for our children. We still aren’t a very ‘conspicuous’ diocese. No huge urban centres. Low population. Arguably, not one of our nation’s most illustrious cathedrals, like York, Canterbury or Gloucester, perhaps? The thing about Hereford Cathedral though, is it still has a parish church intimacy to it. During worship, everything happens right in front of you. You can see, hear and smell (when the frankincense is burning) the worship. For me, it helps the sense of a closeness to God. You aren’t just in God’s house, in Hereford, you are in His front room, sitting by the fire. There are parallels when we think about the closeness of family.
 
In the wilderness of the worldly challenges, our families give us a secure, safety line. They are there when we need them. My family is my foundation and always has been.
 
Often our families follow a pattern of concentric rings, with us at the centre. Some members live in the same house, and we see them every day. Some may live nearby, and we see them a few times a week. Some are physically or perhaps emotionally a little more distant and we only see them now and again. There will also be others we see very seldomly, almost never. Sometimes weddings and funerals are the only occasions where we are reunited. It isn’t as simple as distance and frequency of contact though. My son now ‘lives’ in halls at the University of Birmingham and I’m not seeing him very often at all, yet he will never leave my closest concentric circle (even though he takes 3 days to answer messages).
 
I know I can depend on support from my family, not just in times of crisis, but day to day and week to week. They are the nutrients in my soil.


Click here to continue to read Andrew's message...

Places are Still Available!
Governors' Termly Online Briefing - 4th November 2021: 5.00 - 6.00pm

An opportunity for chairs of governors, members of governing bodies and local academy boards to hear an update on the latest developments impacting upon governance for church schools in the Diocese of Hereford. Please click HERE to reserve your place, places are NOT limited for each school/academy and are freely available to all church schools in Hereford Diocese.  

Forthcoming Training & Development

Click on the above links and take a look at this year's new Partnership Agreement and Training & Events Schedule available on our Education website pages.   This year's Partnership Agreement offers an effective church school support package for your staff team and governors. If you would like to talk through any of the support and training on offer from the Education Team, please contact us via email at education@hereford.anglican.org or call on  07539 372748.

SIAMS Training and Support Collective Worship
  • Creative Collective Worship - Ideas to Celebrate the Church Year: 20th October 2021 9.30 - 11.00am.  Do you want to add some wow and creative wonder into your collective worship? Then this course is for you.   Ideas and resources will be focused on class based worship but will also be suitable for whole school worship activities.
RE Governance
  • School Leaders' Guide to Inducting New Governors: 23rd November 2021 5.00 - 6.30pm. An opportunity to find out how to improve your governor onboarding process.  Please CLICK HERE for more information.
  • Being a Governor in a Church School: 1st, 2nd, 7th & 9th December 2021.  4 x 1 hour FREE evening training sessions for all governors or LAB members of church schools in the Hereford Diocese. Please CLICK HERE. for more information.

This Week's Collective Worship Video


People of Courage (6) : David
You probably know the story of David and Goliath the giant. But David’s story continues as he becomes more popular, King Saul becomes more jealous and seeks to harm him. One day David had his chance to kill Saul but he choose to do the right thing and be peaceful in his protest. He must decide if two wrongs ever make a right. This is explored further in the ‘take away’ worship sheet to encourage further prayer and reflections both in classrooms and at home.  

This year the weekly Collective Worship Video will only be available to those schools who have joined our Partnership Agreement for 2021-22 .  Partnership Schools will be emailed a private link to the video each Friday, ready for the following week so they can show it in their schools. They will also receive a ‘Take Away Worship’ sheet with further ideas for prayer and reflection from the video that can be shared in classes and at home.

If you would like your school community to benefit from our weekly Collective Worship Videos, please contact the Education Team at education@hereford.anglican.org or call on 07539 372748 and we can talk through the Partnership Agreement options available to you.

This is a hugely generous change and there are lots of practical ways that this funding can make a real difference to schools in our Diocese who most need it.  All of this information is confirmed by the Department for Education and on our Church of England Foundation for Education NPQ page.

Together for our Children   ...continuing the conversations
 A special online conference designed for local church members and their church school to open up fresh conversations about ways they can partner together to support children’s spiritual development. Click on link for more information and to book your place.
Courageous Advocacy
The term ‘courageous advocacy’ is the only new concept in the 2018 SIAMS schedule. It has been widely welcomed by schools and this resource has been produced to explain the idea and to help schools reflect on how this might help enhance the education they provide for their pupils. Why not download the resource and find out more?
A Climate Justice Learning Journey

Download the new Christian Aid climate justice resource charting a course through the academic year to support children and young people to learn and act together.

Andrew Teale's Message Continued...

Blood is thicker than water they say. Wikipedia will tell you this is a ‘medieval proverb meaning that familial bonds will always be stronger than bonds of friendship or love.’ I was surprised to learn, however that the full quotation says and means precisely the opposite. The actual saying is “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb”. The saying actually means that the bonds you’ve made by choice are even more important than the people that you are bound to by the water of the womb. The saying reflects the fact that the bonds you choose for yourself can mean much more than the ones over which you have very little control. For me this rings very true in life and in theology. The most prominent and faith shaping relationships in the Gospels are those which are chosen. We have vivid accounts of many of these relationships from their beginning. ‘Come with me and I will make you fishers of men’.
 
As we look back on our own lives, they will be littered with relationships we held on to and those we let go. Now I come to think of it, there are many relationships that I regret neglecting but there are none I regret holding on to. In marriage, we make our vows before God, that this is a relationship which will only be broken by death. Perhaps our closest family then, is always really those we choose to be closest to, whether they are ‘blood relatives’ or not.

 
In my last two bulletin messages, we considered the first two underpinning principles of our vision for education in this diocese: Grace, as seen by the Father in the parable of the two sons: Service (or servant leadership), exemplified by the Good Shepherd. Both of these are to be found in abundance within any loving family. Our schools, so often recreate a supportive family dynamic for their children and staff too. We also try and maintain a climate where families can flourish together. Harvest festivals are about bringing families together, as well as giving thanks.
 
We also try to work together as a family of schools, different in countless ways, yet bound together by a common purpose, to give the children of our diocese, the best start in life we possibly can. We are here to develop qualities of character that enable children to flourish together, respecting human dignity and with appreciation of the ultimate worth of each person.
 
Ours is an education which builds strong bridges and which enables all our children to live a life in all its fulness.
 
 Collect for 19th Sunday after Trinity
O God, forasmuch as without you
we are not able to please you;
mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit
may in all things direct and rule our hearts;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.


Blessings and best wishes for the week ahead. Half term is on the way…
 
Andrew
 
Canon Andrew Teale
Diocesan Director of Education

For further information and updates from the wider Diocese please see the regular bulletins issued by the central communications team.

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