High Peak school’s new worship wall brings 'the church to its pupils'

Kettleshulme St James C of E Primary School secured funding to enable the school to design and create four murals.

The visions and values of the school were put on the walls for everyone to see.

Headteacher Alicia Bellshaw said: “The focus we wanted for the hall was a 'Worship Wall'.

“This is because, due to the distant location of Taxal St James Church, we rarely have the opportunity to worship in a church building, so our idea was to attempt to bring the church to Kettleshulme.”

The school governors and Mrs Bellshaw worked closely with the design team from Outtareach to ensure that the final piece reflected the school’s stunning location was a true representation of Taxal St James Church and that the visuals were surrounded by words and phrases which were used regularly within the school family.

These phrases which radiate from the church in the hills include ‘soar high on wings of an angel’ and ‘rooted in God’s love’ ‘fellowship of the holy spirit’ and ‘with the Lord by our side’.

The headteacher says as a Church of England school it aims to uphold Christian values and develop a living relationship with God.

“For this design we took inspiration from the work by Hannah Dunnett who also incorporates words into her visual art.

“We are very happy with the result.

“As the mural is floor to ceiling it certainly has the 'wow' factor when entering into the hall.

“Now our daily collective worship is truly grounded by our visuals.

“Other murals around the school remind our pupils of who we are and the values that we live by.”