Our Vision, Ethos and Aims

The Mini Chaplains started out as a group of 20 Year 6 children, who volunteered to meet weekly to help raise the profile of St Mary's as a church school. The first project was to explore the Values, Ethos and Aims of our school, and present them in a creative way to our school community. We decided to create a video and explain the values, ethos and aims in a way that everyone would understand, including younger children. Unfortunately, due to the schools closing early 2021, this was delayed, however eventually we were able to share the video on Class Dojo.

Below is a link to our video, which is on You Tube, if you would like to have a look:

Mini Chaplains video

Autumn Term 2023

During the Autumn term. The Mini Chaplains have been busy in our local community. After our Harvest Festival where we supported our local foodbank. The Chaplains organised for the foodbank to come and collect the donations.

After half term, the Chaplains decided that they would like to support our community by supporting our local care home. The children decided that the project should be called 'Gifts of Joy'. The children wrote a letter and then collected items. They then spent an afternoon visiting the residents and supported them to take part in activities. We concluded by singing several carols. The children had great fun and the residents were very appreciative.

Autumn Term 2022

During the Autumn term. The Mini Chaplains have been busy in our local community. After our Harvest Festival where we supported our local foodbank. The Chaplains visited the foodbank and helped them prepare bags for local families. They also got to visit the new foodbank that is currently being built. 

Our Year 5 and 6 Mini Chaplains visited Wells Cathedral and took part in the Pupil Chaplaincy Retreat. The children really enjoyed the day.

After half term, the Chaplains decided that they would like to support our community by making Christmas presents for local people who were lonely or homeless. The children decided that the project should be called 'Boxes of Wonder'. The children wrote a letter and then collected items. They then spent an afternoon after school putting the presents together. Rev. Suse then distributed them to the community during a special lunch that was organised by the church.

Our next project was a community project. The Mini Chaplains wanted to share our Christian Values by doing something special for the wider community. They had so many amazing ideas, including raising money for those who had lost their jobs over the pandemic, helping the homeless and supporting those people who might feel lonely. We had a tea party with Reverend Suse and made plans to attend a coffee morning in St Mary’s Church. Our intention was to bake cakes and biscuits to take with us and provide company for the people, some of whom may have been lonely. As the coffee mornings did not reconvene soon enough after lockdown, the children had another idea, which was to bake cakes for nominated people who had been very charitable over the past 18 months.  The school community were asked to send in nominations, and eight people were selected. The Mini Chaplains created a logo for their project,  ‘ Operation Sweet Treat’, and wrote special thank you messages to the recipients. They baked cakes and shortbread and then delivered the boxes in person. I was proud of the way the Mini Chaplains spoke to the recipients and delighted in the responses they received. One of the Mini Chaplains said, ‘This is the best day ever - I just love making people smile’, and another said, ‘ This feels so good’.