Church offers pupils a ‘pocket of peace’ during hot weather

Children from St John’s CofE Infants’ School, Glastonbury, have been finding a cool and peaceful space in St John’s Church during the recent hot weather.

With temperatures reaching record highs, staff at the school were keen to find somewhere pupils could cool down away from increasingly warm classrooms. The school chose to remain open during the heatwave, recognising that some families live in smaller homes without outdoor space and would need somewhere for children to stay cool when temperatures were at their highest.

Headteacher Kerry Devane approached Revd Alice Watson, at St John’s Church, to see if they could work together to provide a suitable space. Revd Alice offered the church, which the children are familiar with as they attend events at St John’s, and is close enough to the school for children to walk across to it, espcially on afternoons when it is particularly hot.

Once inside, the church building provided a cooler place where pupils could continue their school activities, spend time together and take a moment of calm. They brought school work and activities with them and also practised mindfulness, finding a “pocket of peace” inside the church and lying on the cool stone floor.

Alice said: “It’s been lovely to be able to offer the space to the school. They know that it’s their church too, and that they are our school — we are both St John’s places. And for me personally, it’s been so nice to spend more time with them.”

One of the children shared this prayer about the hot weather.