On Thursday 19 February, pupils and staff at St Johns Church of England Primary School were excited to receive a visit from the new Bishop of Durham, Revd. Rick Simpson.
The appointment of the Bishop designate was kept a secret until it was announced on the morning of his visit.
The Bishop of Durham, was accompanied by a number of other visitors such as David Akers, the Diocesan Director of Education for church schools in Durham and Newcastle.
When the Bishop arrived, we welcomed him as a whole school by singing one of our favourite songs as a prayer: ‘The Blessing.’ Our visitors were really touched by the enthusiasm and passion of our children’s singing.
The Bishop then spent some time with our Nursery and Reception children, telling them a story and listening to the pupils’ stories.
Afterwards, he spoke with Revd. Carol, our school chaplain (Catherine Simpson) and pupils from our Chaplaincy Group about their role in school and how we are involved with St. John’s church local charity, Shildon Alive. Our visitors then spent a short time with staff, sharing the important work we do as a church school here in our local community.
We were all so excited to meet the new Bishop of Durham and we will never forgot the day the Bishop came to our school!
Shildon & District's local community newspaper.
