Welcome to the inaugural Rev’s Round Up, a celebration and summation of all that has been happening within our school community from my role as School Chaplain.

Pastoral Support

The main part of my role as chaplain is to be present and available, able to get alongside members of our school community as and when needed. As part of the pastoral teams at Prep and Seniors, my door is open to anyone who may need a safe space to download or just ‘to be.’ Chaplains are good listeners, trained to get alongside people where they are, as they are. ‘All feelings are welcome here’ cushion is my latest addition to my comfy, creative space, where people come and go as they need to. A colleague once described a chaplain as ‘someone who lifts and soothes spirits.’ I hope this has been people’s experience of me in my time here to date.

Alongside my pastoral role, there are many other aspects to my work here, hence this ‘mini-blog’. Rev’s Round-up is something I’ve been asked to draft each half term, just to wrap up all the ‘doing’ aspects of my small part in this amazing community. So here goes!

Start of Term & Boarding Community

Our Summer Term began with our Start of Term Services – one at Seniors for the whole school, one for Prep and one for Pre-prep. As this was around St George’s Day, we considered the role of the Knights of Old, their Code of Conduct and (as we held our shields high), we considered how we might ‘promise to do our best’. Being kind, courageous and sagacious were just three to several knightly shields to choose from. And so the term got off to a very promising start.

In our boarding community, I welcomed our boarders back by creating a wellbeing bag for each of them – a gentle way to support them as they settled back in for the summer.

Student Leadership & Mentoring (ACHE Programme)

We commissioned our new ACHE Mentors at the start of the term. These are Year 12 students (36 of them this year!) who have completed their 16-week training programme and are ready to pick up the baton from their Year 13 colleagues and get alongside our younger pupils, being a listening ear and supporting Years 7–10 as they navigate their way through school. I run this programme with our school Health & Wellbeing Lead and our amazing Sixth Form Team. Together, we watch these students grow in confidence and compassion through their training, actively seeking ways to support and encourage others in our school. They were each given a footprint lapel badge and a reminder of John Wesley’s motto to ‘do all the good you can.’ I have every confidence that they are going to be a great help and support to many in the coming months.

World AIMS, Sustainability & Social Justice

As chaplain, I coordinate our World AIMS Programme (exploring how we can be ‘Good Global Neighbours’). This includes our charitable outreach, our eco-sustainability work and our engagement with social justice in today’s world. The World AIMS Teams are busy all year round, with groups led by many different staff and pupils across both sites, our most recent addition being a ‘World Peace Committee’, set up by Year 12s, and a new ‘Charity Club’ for younger years launching in the autumn term.

Once a year, we take each site off timetable for one day to focus on ‘how can we be good global neighbours?’ This year’s theme is ‘Rights for All Children’, and on 6th May, Prep and Pre-prep had their World AIMS Day 2026. We created a Tree of Rights, with children’s handprints and pledges to help others; we shared stories from UNICEF and created shields to ‘shield children’s rights’, and we made bread – lots of bread! Each child made bread rolls, encouraged to share with others, which they did brilliantly. We donated food to our local foodbank from our ‘trolley dash’ activity, and together we gave thanks for children’s rights in the world, committed to protecting them for ‘all children in all places’. I think Mr Wesley would approve.

The Seniors World AIMS Day is on Monday, 29th June and will be learning about supporting Children’s Rights in Cornwall and around the world with partners and resources from Trussell Trust, Cornwall Community Forum, Shelterbox, Amnesty International and UNICEF. More on that in my next ‘ round-up’.

Faith, Reflection & Chapel Life

Throughout the year, we have a calendar of key faith festivals and key awareness days, which I share in chapels and around school. We had Vesak Day (Buddhism) at the start of May and encouraged our pupils to ‘be mindful’ of themselves and of others, especially those facing exams this term. One example of this was in our ChapelFM group, who enjoyed doing a chocolate meditation – a relaxing way to enjoy a single piece of chocolate and slow ourselves down in the busy day. ChapelFM meets each Friday lunchtime in the chapel, a space I offer to explore questions about life, faith and all world views are welcome. We’ll be taking this group on a trip to visit the Cornwall Faith Forum Peace Poles (along with our Peace Committee) after half term, learning about the different world faiths in Cornwall and how we can work together on common ground (dorkemyn).

During half term, members of our community will celebrate the Christian festival of Pentecost and the Islamic Hajj pilgrimage and Eid al-Adha. Both opportunities for spiritual renewal and affirmation of God’s love at work in our lives. 24th May is also Aldersgate Sunday, the day we remember John Wesley’s experience of his heart being ‘strangely warmed.’ So I encouraged pupils across both sites to consider what might set their hearts on fire for good, quoting St Catherine of Sienna who said ‘be who you were created to be and you will set the world on fire’ (sounds very familiar to our school motto!).

Prep Activities, Transition & Clubs

Over at the Prep, I’ve held a number of ‘chats with the chaplain’ for our Year 6s on Thursday mornings, giving them space to explore the bigger questions about life and the universe and encouraging the art of ‘how to have a good conversation with different opinions.’ They enjoy this space, and I look forward to seeing them continue asking good questions as they move up into year 7. I’m also part of the Year 6 transition team that supports pupils going from Prep to Seniors, with taster days coming up after the half-term break.

I run a Puppet club each Tuesday for Years 5 & 6. They are currently busy preparing for their two summer gigs, with songs themed about ‘confidence’ (for our Year of Confidence). Up to 12 puppeteers in Years 5 & 6 have great fun doing this throughout the year, and I hope you enjoy their shows when they go live (Prep Summer Fayre 13th June and Community Day 20th June at Seniors).

Trips & Outdoor Learning

We’ve taken children from Year 3 and Reception to Gwennap Pit this term, a Cornish Mining Heritage Site and Methodist Chapel (in the shape of an amphitheatre) – John Wesley’s favourite place to come to in Cornwall. Here we explore our Methodist Ethos of welcome, hospitality and kindness here in the outdoors, stepping back in time to when Wesley came to meet the miners and up to 25,000 came to listen to him preach. Our children enjoyed having a go at finding their voices in the pit too!

Eco Work & Environmental Awareness

Our Eco-teams have led chapels this term, encouraging us to do our part in caring for the environment, including doing a Beach Clean at Fistral, which was great fun for all. We were inspired by our pupils introducing the search engine ‘Ecosia’ to us, and we have enjoyed reflecting on the life of Sir David Attenborough and his ability to be curious and kind for 100 years. The Eco teams do an amazing job here, and it’s a great privilege to encourage and support their vital work in the school.

Reflection

As I write this, I have just packed away my latest ‘Godly Play’ treasure box – the Parable of the Great Pearl. This was shared with our Year 1s this afternoon, who then decorated their own scallop shell and thought about what the great pearl may mean for them.

There are so many treasures yet to be discovered in this amazing school. It is a great privilege to be chaplain here to encourage each of us to find what lifts and soothes our spirits, what gives us hope and inspires all in our community to be the best they can be.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this and the photos to go along with it. Wishing you all an uplifting and blessed half-term break. Enjoy the sunshine!