St Mark’s Church

St Mark’s Church Community

Through working with the St Mark’s Church community, our pupils have learnt that getting on and growing together can achieve great things!

Academic Year 2023/2024

Reverend Gill Visits St Mark’s Primary School – Thursday 30th November 2023

On Thursday 30th November, Reverend Gill led our whole school worship in the school hall. The theme for worship was on equality, which is our school value for this half term. It was wonderful to have worship led by a member of St Mark’s Church ministry team.

Year 5 and 6 Children Read the First 4 Chapters of St. Mark’s Gospel at St. Mark’s Church – Thursday 30th November 2023

At the request of Reverend Gill, Year 5 and 6 children from St. Mark’s Primary were invited to read the first 4 chapters of Mark’s Gospel at St Mark’s Church. The children were very brave, standing up in front of their classmates and delivering their lines with confidence and clarity. Well done to everyone who took part!

Coffee Morning – Tuesday 24th October 2023

Termly coffee mornings are held for parents and both Reverend Gill and Reverend Catherine attend these too. These mornings are an opportunity for the parents to talk freely to the Headteacher, Deputy Headteacher and other staff members as well as the pupils sharing projects they are working on within school. It is also important for members of the Church to connect with the community too.

Big Breakfast – Wednesday 4th October 2023

This year’s Big Breakfast was in aid of supporting those who have been affected by the catastrophic flooding in Libya. So many families and friends came to enjoy breakfast together and as a result we raised almost £300. This autumn, all the profits from this breakfast will be given to the British Red Cross charity who are raising funds to support those affected by the flooding in Libya.

Harvest Appeal – Autumn Term 2023

At St Mark’s, we strive to support our local community and those less fortunate than ourselves. For this year’s harvest, pupils and their families kindly donated food to the local Foodbank. All donations have been collected and gratefully received.

‘On behalf of Stoke-on-Trent foodbank, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your generous donations in 2023. In 2022, we fed 20709 people which this is the most we have ever fed in a year. We couldn’t do it without your support and donation. THANK YOU. We will use your donation to help feed the people who are hungry in Stoke-on-Trent.’

Urban Wilderness – Tuesday 12th September 2023

Through Under One Roof, Year 5 were invited to work with a local photographer from Urban Wilderness, to capture the beauty of our Church. The pupils were taught how to use a digital camera and be creative in capturing the history that the church holds.

Under One Roof is a community heritage project based in and around St Mark’s Church in Shelton Stoke on Trent. The aim of the project is the restoration and conservation of this important Victorian building.

Come and take a look!

Under One Roof - St Mark's by Urban Wilderness

Academic Year 2022/2023

Greening Project 2022-2023

Working with a local artist the pupils designed and created a community garden which is now situated in the church grounds. The aim is to provide a garden that can be used by the local community to grow fruit and vegetables. Year 1 and 5 planted a range of vegetable seeds which some were then harvested in the summer term to make a delicious courgette cake. The other vegetables will be harvested in the Autumn term so that the Year 6 pupils can make a Woolton pie.

Summer Fayre – Wednesday 5th July 2023

It was great to have the support from Church in expanding our summer fayre. Our ‘Now and Then’ exhibition got the community hooked. Everyone, including former pupils and staff, got to look at the archives of photos, behaviour books and the headteachers’ diaries. Some of which dated back to the 1890s. The Greening Project got to show off their new community garden and Mr Nicholls along with a few other members of staff, got very wet in the stocks! Thank you to all the staff for their continued support and commitment on making these events a success.

Eucharist – Thursday 30th April 2023

Even though the building work has started, we were delighted to have our spring Eucharist at St Mark’s Church. The service was led by Reverend Gill who was accompanied by our Songbirds choir. It was great to see so many families come together and enjoy time to worship God.

We would like to say thank you to Reverend Gill for her dedication and commitment to making our summer Eucharist take place. Due to the building work preventing us from going into the church, staff and families enjoyed the Eucharist which took place in our school hall. A church is more than a building!

Messy Easter – Thursday 23rd March 2023

It was great to see all the families that came to our Messy Easter Event. Thank you to all the staff, Reverend Catherine Matlock (Pioneer Missioner) and Reverend Gill for their continued support. Both staff and families understood why Easter is an important time of year in the Christian calendar.