It seems a little strange to be talking about endings as we look towards the start of the new school year. However, our minds are very much with the Phil and Jim Year 6 leavers as they prepare for high school in a few weeks and we just wanted to share our pilgrimage journey that we took with them in July this year.
We’re always trying to find ways to connect with our parish school, so in 2021, we started a new tradition of pilgrimages from St Margaret’s Church. This year, with fewer covid restrictions, we were so excited to visit our Christ Church Cathedral here in Oxford.
The day started at school with the young people finding their own stone in a big pile. At Easter, they had all spent some time in church colouring in a stone with their hopes and dreams. We talked about how we all had hopes and dreams for our new schools, and maybe some of these hopes and dreams had changed even from Eastertime. I invited the children to carry their stones on our journey, not just thinking of the dreams we wanted to take with us but also of those things we wanted to leave behind. Then it was time to set off.
Our journey took us back through history, learning first about St Margaret’s back to St Philip and James Church (they loved seeing the old school) and back to what was their mother church of St Giles, before ending at the cathedral.
We were met by Philippa who is the Precentor. She told us a little about her job and even let one of the young people hold a thurible. She introduced us to Jim who was a big hit with everyone. He told us St Frideswide’s story by getting everyone (including Daniel) up on their feet to act it out.
After our packed lunches on Christ Church meadow, we joined Philippa and Jamie, an ordinand from Wycliffe, who led the children in a guided reflection reminding us of all the people that walk with us on all our journey’s of change.
The pilgrimage finished when we got back to the school with the children deciding whether they wanted to lay down their stones to make a cairn. Did they want to leave some things behind or did they want to take them with them?
Daniel and I had a great time spending time alongside the staff and children on this little journey. We’re looking forward to doing it all again next year!
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