St Margaret’s Church

Being ‘the church next door’ we have always had a brilliant relationship with our local Church of England parish, St Margaret’s (a part of Woven Churches).

For our end of term services, our Bluecoat family of around one thousand people, walk over to St Margaret’s Church. These services are usually led collaboratively by the Woven team and our Christian Youth Workers. St Margaret’s also hosts our annual Carol Service, Founders Day Service and Celebration of Success. It is extremely important to us that each staff member, parent and student is warmly welcomed into church. Whilst not everyone in our family is a practicing Christian, and indeed many belong to other world faiths, we want all to leave us with a sense of having belonged, not just to our school family but our wider Church family as well.

In more recent years, and in response to the National Church of England’s mission ‘to keep young people at the heart of everything we do’ whilst also growing faith in the intersections of church, school and home, we have searched for opportunities to encourage our students to become more active members of the St Margaret’s Parish community. Some of our students have volunteered to support at St Margaret’s ‘Warm Space.’ Students provided a friendly face to those who attended, serving food and drinks whilst also working with the Food Bank to help those in need. Other students have volunteered to assist at the Parent/Toddler group, developing their communication skills whilst also entertaining young children to give parents a much-needed break!

St Margaret’s opens its doors to our students every Wednesday, afterschool, for ‘Open Church’. Many students, of all faiths, pile in to church to engage with the Woven team, socialise with peers and be served some light refreshments. This commitment to meeting and engaging with our young people, whoever they are, is something we are extremely grateful for as a school. We hope the welcome they receive from the Woven team, will be something that stays with them, long after they have left us.

As well as us going to St Margaret’s regularly, the Woven team also regularly come in to school. We have Holy Communion at least once per term, for all year groups, usually led by Revd. Rich or Revd. Emmie. The St Margaret’s Youth Worker, Jonah, also supports our Faith Ambassadors and Student Leadership Team every Monday, afterschool, and also comes in to deliver collective worship in our school chapel.

Revd. Rich Atkinson, the vicar of St Margaret’s and Lead of Woven, is also the Chair of our Academy Advisory Board. We feel this has been fantastic in working together in a relationship which is mutually beneficial to both church and school. Revd. Rich is a fantastic support and we value his commitment to Bluecoat Aspley Academy.

St Nic’s Nottingham

Since our Sixth Form site moved to Maid Marian Way, we have been extremely fortunate to partner with St Nic’s Church, which is just across the road. Every Monday, our sixth form students gather at St Nic’s for collective worship, and the church team welcome our staff and students, leading us in worship at the start of our week.

The St Nic’s Youth Leader, Esther, has been fantastic at collaborating with our sixth form Christian Youth Worker. Together, they have led projects engaging our sixth formers in faith, worship and social justice. They have established a weekly praise and worship group called RE:Fuel, and engage students in weekly ‘Big Questions’ of faith. Esther also delivers collective worship at our main school site.