Church & Community

Ising Pop Concert at St. James

As a Church of England primary school, Dursley C of E Primary Academy enjoys a very close relationship with the local church, especially the Parish of Dursley with the communities of the churches of St James the Great and St Mark’s Woodmancote.  The Incumbent (the Rector of Dursley, Canon Michael Cozens) is automatically one of the Foundation Governors (the ex-officio governor) and he is currently Vice-Chair of the Governing Body and Chair of the Ethos Committee.  The two other Foundation Governors are nominated by Dursley PCC (Parochial Church Council) and have a particular responsibility for ensuring that the Christian ethos of the school is maintained.

Canon Michael leads the whole school in a collective act of worship every Monday.  Ministers from the local Methodist and United Reformed Church also come into school to lead worship.  The Open the Book team is made up of people from the local churches and they take part in the KS2 worship every Wednesday, telling different Bible stories and using some of the children to help them.  The children enjoy dressing up and taking part and the adults like it went they are spotted by the children out in town!

  During the year, the whole school community meets together for worship in the parish church of St James the Great, to celebrate Christmas and Easter and the end of the school year to say goodbye to the leavers.  The school also visit both St James and St Mark’s to take part in the ‘Experience events’ including Experience Easter and Experience Pentecost.  These are hosted by members of the church community and allow the children to experience the events of the Easter story, both inside the church and outdoors, and to explore the story of Pentecost in an interactive way.  

Church members pray regularly for the school community and every Tuesday morning from 9am, a small group meets at the Academy, for a short time of informal prayer which anyone is welcome to attend.  During this prayer time, special prayers are offered for the life of the school and prayers that have been collected from the Spiritual Spaces in the classrooms are used.