​​​​​​​The Chaplaincy will remain very much open as we navigate a new season of being. I want to support pupils, staff and parents and be here for you during this time, so please do contact me via email should you need to. We can then work out whether you or your child would like to talk on the phone or via email.

I am learning new ways of being an online Chaplain; the beauty of this in today’s ever more connected world is that hopefully you feel supported knowing that one of the many things that makes Bethany so special, the Chaplaincy and Christian foundation, is very much open for business so to speak.

Sunday 22nd March is a national day of prayer and I’d like to invite you, along with thousands across our nation, to light a candle in the darkness at 7pm. I will be doing this for our community in my home so please do join me from yours.

As well as being available via email and phone, I will also be posting a Virtual Chapel each week for pupils and parents to watch. This is new territory for me I can tell you, but maybe it’s about time I learn. This is one different thing for me that’s come out of this time.

I spent the loveliest of Tutor times with Mrs Sturrock’s Tutor group on Thursday morning and Miss King’s Tutor group today; we really do have wonderful, thoughtful, caring, funny, sensitive and kind young people here at Bethany. You should be very proud that they are showing the resilience and maturity that I’ve seen from them whilst here this week.

My prayers today are with our amazing Year 13’s and Year 11’s as they come to terms with exams not happening and a very different end to the year than they’d hoped for or in fact deserved, so tough. It shows how much they love Bethany and each other!

Of the many things that have been posted on social media this week I saw this which I rather like:

When this is over

May we never again
Take for granted
A handshake with a stranger
Full shelves at the shop
Conversations with neighbours
A crowded theatre
Friday night out
The taste of Communion
A routine check-up
The school rush each morning
School friends and exams (I add!)
The stadium roaring
Each deep breath
A boring Tuesday
Life itself

When this ends

May we find
That we have become
More like the people
We wanted to be
Were called to be
We hoped to be
And may we stay
That way – better
For each other
Because of the worst.

May God give you all his comfort and his peace and know at all times that my prayers are with you.

Reverend Serena Willoughby