Denend Primary School

Staff and pupils at Denend Primary School and nursery are enjoying the new relationship forming between Auchterderran parish church and our school community. Children have all visited the church for a service created just for us in August last year. Our classes have received weekly visits from Donald Lawrie the minister, they have been learning a bit about the job of a minister and Mr Lawrie has been learning with the boys and girls in our classes about all sorts of things such as shape and Music. Mrs Suzanne Black our P6 teacher summarises the visits to her class:

“Donald has been a regular visitor to P6 and we very much looked forward to his visits. He said he thoroughly enjoyed spending time in our classroom as he liked the buzz and the happy atmosphere. While we were learning about the Titanic he shared his knowledge and great enthusiasm for the topic and it was lovely to see him and the children engaged in exciting dialogue. In Term 3 his visits usually coincided with our art lessons. The children thoroughly enjoyed showing off their art skills as they developed. We very much look forward to more visits, both in class and to the church, when we all get back to our school. “

Mr McMillan took some of our classes on church visits during February and March as part of the children’s learning in RME. Mr McMillan has written a report about how much this meant to the children and their learning:

Denend Visits to Auchterderran Kirk

Throughout the month of March, over one hundred children from Denend Primary School were welcomed into Auchterderran Kirk by the Rev. Donald Lawrie and helpful members of the congregation. Children visited as part of their Religious and Moral Education programme and asked questions from “What is a Church?” to “How is the Bible used in worship?” and “What are the roles in the Church?”

These questions and many more were answered fully and patiently by Mr Lawrie who displayed an admirable ability to communicate very clearly with the children. We learned that the Kirk was built before America became independent and that a Church, like a school, is not the actual building, but much more the people who attend there. This is particularly relevant during current times as Denend School learns about on-line learning while Churches have virtual congregations. 

Children are usually expected to sit still and listen to a Service so these visits were arranged so that they could learn about and become more familiar with the Church building outwith more formal gatherings.  This was deemed a great success as children were able to explore the building with its most knowledgeable guide. 

We learned the names of parts of the church and that the building has limitations, for example, the aisle does not lead to the door, which can be a little awkward during weddings. We learned that the building is designed in a cruciform or cross-shape, as seen from above. 

Mr Lawrie showed some classes how the Bible was brought to the Pulpit by an elder and every child was invited upstairs into the gallery to see the beautiful stained-glass window dedicated by a Mr Ramsay to his sister Mary who had sadly died in infancy. The window has Jesus’ quote; “Suffer the little children to come unto me” which Mr Lawrie explained meant all children were welcomed by Jesus into Church. Each child enjoyed the chance to ring the Church bell, and Mr Lawrie sounded the bell for classes as they left the Church.

Children asked some fascinating and often unexpected questions with one class asking about prayer and whether they could try it. Mr Lawrie obliged movingly as the children were happy to take part.

Children enjoyed walking the 20 minutes to and from the Church with lots of helpful parental support. The weather was always kind to us during these walks. Classes which had listened well, and therefore completed their visit more quickly, were rewarded with a short visit to the Wallsgreen play park while returning to school.

It is hoped that in coming years such visits will become part of our annual curriculum as children learn more and become increasingly familiar with the workings of our local Church.