Herne Juniors are delighted to partner with St Martin’s church with both organisations benefitting from good conversation and attendance at each other’s events.

The school choir and the worship team have been invited to help sing and lead parts of the Sunday service over the years with an obvious break during the pandemic. Working with the vicar, curate or reader, who have come into school,  the children together with a teacher, have contributed ideas, prepared video messages, acted, read scripture readings and even organised their own ‘Talk’ and ‘Quiz’ for helping explain the message for the day in a children friendly, inclusive manner much to the congregation’s delight. Well supported by parents and their families, volunteers from the school choir have also sung beautifully thus using their talents to serve both the church family and the local community.

School house captains, accompanied by the Head teacher, have represented the school on Remembrance Sunday. Here they have laid wreaths or placed crosses with handwritten messages of hope and peace around the memorial.

School enjoy using the church as a venue for special worships- Harvest, Remembrance, Christmas, Easter and Pentecost along with other special events for the Y6 leavers, prayer stations and an end of year, Songs of Praise with the infant school.

The church building and its grounds are a valuable resource for curriculum learning which classes make use of throughout the year. The worship team enjoyed a special treat of going up the tower to ring the church bells.

The school were grateful for a donation by St Martin’s PCC to pay for the worship team to visit Canterbury Cathedral and experience a special tour in costume with activities afterwards in the education centre. Bishop Rose met them too that day to say hello which was a lovely surprise for the children.

The church also gift a Mark’s Gospel to each school leaver every July.    

In the past, both church and church schools have collaborated in fundraising.  

Our children and staff, whether they have faith, a little faith or no faith at all, see St Martin’s as their church and a safe space where aspects of spirituality and pastoral care, as well as rites of passage that mark major life transitions, can be explored.