This week in our school community: 28 November 2025

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor...(Isaiah 61:1)

 

Christmas Hamper Appeal: Bringing hope

This week we launched our annual Christmas Hamper Appeal to students and staff across the school, once again hoping to bring some Christmas love, hope and joy to others.  Reflecting on the passage from Luke 4, where Jesus returns to Nazareth after his time in the desert, we hear how Jesus stands up in the temple and declares before everyone present that the Isaiah passage (below) will be the very essence of his mission on earth as the Messiah. 

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” (Isaiah 61:1)

Jesus lived out this scripture in his three year ministry, seeking the marginalised, the downtrodden, the lost, lonely and oppressed and shared a message of hope with them.  As we come towards the end of the Jubilee year, ‘Pilgrims of Hope’, we consider how that spirit of hope can be brought to others in so many ways.  The message of Luke 4 is Jesus stressing how important it is that we emulate the example he gave to us in his time on earth. The gift of our witness to hope.  We must look for how we can bring hope to others as we journey through our Christian lives.  In our assemblies I shared with all our students how those who are ‘poor in spirit’ can welcome our generous gifts at Christmas as much as the materially poor.  My own first-hand experience of unexpectedly spending Christmas in hospital with a seriously ill child taught me that a small gift can have the most uplifting effect.  My own daughter was temporarily lifted in spirit when she realised that Father Christmas hadn’t missed her even though she wasn’t at home. 

Each year group will be putting together a hamper over the next few weeks that we will deliver to the appropriate places in time for Christmas:

Year 7 – Children’s Ward

Year 8 – Julian House (homelessness)

Year 9 – Care Home

Year 10 – Women’s Refuge

Year 11 – Mixed

Sixth Form – Children’s Ward

Mr Robinson

Lay Chaplain