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This is a text-only version of an article first published on Tuesday, 26 March 2013. Information shown on this page may no longer be current.
CHILDREN aged between three and seven wore their best clothes at St Nicholas CE Infant School in Wallingford for a role play wedding.
The Revd David Rice and pupils staging the 'role play wedding' at St Nicholas CE School.
As the whole school gathered together for a 'pretend wedding', with some of the oldest children in the school taking the lead roles of bride, groom, best man, bridesmaid, and so on, while the rest of the children and staff became the congregation with an extra 60 or so parents. St Nicholas C. E.
Infant School and Foundation Stage Unit has strong links with St Mary's Church, Wallingford and the children are used to having the Revd David Rice in school when he leads assemblies and in his role as a governor, but they were delighted to see him on Thursday dressed in his full vestments as he 'officiated' at the wedding.
He brought last term's RE lessons to life as the children had learnt about 'what a vicar wears' by dressing paper dolls, but now they could see the life sized version!RE Coordinator Jill Ling said: "We are a school that loves to learn through play and by taking part in this event the children have learnt about what happens at a Christian wedding.
We tried to make our hall look like the inside of a church, the children decided themselves what should be in the order of service and then the Revd David led the children through the pretend ceremony with prayers, singing and traditional music before we all attended the 'reception'.
In this way we have provided an opportunity for the children to learn about religion as well as learning from religion as they experienced a sense of belonging, a formal occasion and an insight into how important the Church can be in people's lives.
Research has shown that pupils who excel in RE as a curriculum subject, are those who understand the 'back story', so our children have gained an insight into how Christians make promises to each other before God and how Christian people want to include God in their lives."Head Teacher, David Jackson led the three cheers for the bride and groom before helping them cut the wedding cake and then he thanked the parents for coming, dressed for the occasion in a various array of hats! Great fun was had by all.