Bishops to visit every church school in Nottinghamshire

Two Notts Bishops will be joining in celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary of the first free education in Britain, which was set up by the Church of England in the form of church schools. Both the Bishop of Southwell & Nottingham and the Bishop of Sherwood plan to visit every church school in the Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham in the coming 12 months.

The Bishop of Southwell & Nottingham, the Rt Revd Paul Butler will begin this week with a visit to Nottingham Bluecoat School at 2pm on Wednesday 17th November, when he will meet pupils and staff and join in their annual Founders Day service.

The following month he will join children for lunch at Sutton-cum-Lound Primary School in Retford, when he will take part in the Christmas service on Wednesday, 22nd December at 12 noon.

The Bishop of Sherwood, the Rt Revd Tony Porter has also begun the series of visits this month and will join children at 2pm at St Stephen’s Sneinton Primary School on Friday 26th November.

The Bishops’ visits will continue throughout 2011 and will form part of the local celebrations in churches and schools. Director of Education for the Diocese, Claire Meese, explained: “We’re delighted to be marking this special year and we have called the celebrations in our area – ‘Burning Brightly: carrying the light of Christ in church schools’. We’re hoping churches will link up with local schools to join the celebrations, which will include a candle travelling around each school during the year.”

The ’Candle journey’ will begin at Holy Trinity Infants in Southwell, on Wednesday 12th January 2011, when Bishop Tony will light the candle and join in special activities to mark the anniversary. The candle will then move from school to school during the course of the year, finally returning to The Minster School in Southwell and a celebration for all the schools at Southwell Minster on  November 19th at 2pm 2011. Each school will have the opportunity to mark the anniversary with their own celebrations and events while the candle is at the school.

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