Journey Day - what's all the fuss?

Every term we plan a Journey Day for all our pupils.  In life being able to think and reflect is really important for our mental well-being.  Journey Day is where our children go off the traditional time table, gather into house groups, family groups and focus on one area of personal/spiritual development.  As we are a Church School we choose significant days on the Christian calendar to delve deeper into the meaning.

We hope that through the experience pupils learn to live lives that make a difference in society.  The days are underpinned by our school values: creativity, respect, courage, friendship, perseverance and forgiveness.  

We add to the gallery of photos each time we have a Journey Day so please have a look at all the photos below which capture the days enjoyed together. 

Epiphany.

Our first week back in school and our first Journey Day of 2023. Today the whole school gathered to celebrate the story of The Wise Men and how this incredible journey can be celebrated.  We have spent time together reflecting, learning about customs around the world, exploring what courage means and identifying how we can make a difference in the world. What a great start to the year. 

National Prayer Day.

Today was a special day to reflect, pause and pray for our local community.

22nd September 2022 is National Day of Prayer for schools.  We have had  'mini' Journey Day today focusing on prayer, the difference it makes in our lives and stepping out to pray for our community. We know that prayer plays a major role in Faiths across the globe.  We took a moment to look at what prayer was like for the great examples of People of Faith in the Bible. Are you someone who prays? We love these quotes from the children when asked what is prayer for:

"Peace and Harmony" (Year 1 pupil)

"When people pray together God hears and he answers them" (Year 5 pupil)

Christmas Journey Day, 2019.

At this special time of year we gathered as a whole school to celebrate the miraculous story of Jesus born among us. Together in the hall we began our day with a wonderful story retold, in character, by the Inn keepers wife.  After our reflection time to explore the real meaning behind the season awaited us all, as we took a journey through a range of workshops in our House Teams.  

Journey Day is a special time each term where children can work with their family, support other children, share all their ideas or maybe just take some time out in the peace room. This year are them is ‘Born in a Stable’. We focused on the individuals who would have come into contact with Jesus born in the manger, explored how Mary and Joseph might have felt, sang songs together and created a stable scene outside. 

We recognise it is important to take time out to reflect on those who may not have any money to spend on gifts this Christmas, so we explored the book “No Money Day” and thought of all the things we can do for free.  God gave us a great big world to enjoy in all its fullness. 

July, 2019 Summer Journey Day.

Today we worked together for our final Journey Day of this year. Together we worked in different groups using our school value of Creativity. We explored how each person has a journey through life and how we are all completely unique.  The journey which we have may be similar to the person beside us but no journey is identical.  We talk about how we need to give our mind space to be creative, we also explored how we need to appreciate the world around us also.  We worked together to enjoy spending time together, lots of joy comes from relaxing together as a family and having fun.

As we moved into the afternoon we focussed on the charity MIND.  Parent and carers were invited into school to join in with the rest of the children.  We raised £42 from selling tea and cake for the charity MIND. 

The Bible teaches us that relationships are key to our happiness, to day we celebrated our relationships with one another - CRIFTINS family!

March, 2019 Journey Day.

The theme of our Easter Journey Day is - Here I am to worship.

Today is a special family day here at Criftins as we think about the ways we can help others.

We have explored the verse from Mark 12 v30-31 where Jesus tells the people to ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.....Love your neighbour as yourself’.

We have explored how Jesus came to set us free so that we can love each other with our HEART, HANDS, FEET and MIND. We have encouraged one another to look beyond ourselves and really challenge ourselves to make a difference in the world. 

For GOD so LOVED the World. 

Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year. A time of love, friendship, gentleness and a time as Christians to remember the birth of Jesus. This journey day we gathered together across our two sites. All of Cockshutt CE Primary School KS2 pupils joined with Criftins CE Primary School KS2 to develop a greater understanding of how we can show love to one another. All pupils were organised into 3 main groups which included working with local charity Fizzgigs to create the theme of Light of the World.

Take a look at our wonderful day together.

‘Made in the image of God’ 

Summer Journey Day 2018

God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.  Genesis 1 v 27 

In Genesis we have an account of how mankind is made in God’s image. Lots of references are made throughout the Bible about how we see God in creation and that he created us to look after his world.  Unfortunately mankind chose to go its own way and the world has become a place which sadly is not like the lush world God created.  However, Jesus talks in John 15 about being the vine and we are the branches.  He says that we can make a difference in the world, but we need to get our truth and strength from somewhere.  When we stay close to God we will ‘bear fruit’ –love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  These are called the Fruit of the Spirit.  The spirit of God is one part of the Trinity – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit was sent to live in each of us if we invite Him in.  Have a look at our photos when we explored this theme together across our federation sites. 

​​​​​Easter Journey Day, March 2018.

Our theme is based around the message of the cross for Easter 🐣 

For God so LOVED the world that he gave his one and only Son so that if anyone believes in HIM they will not die but have eternal life. John 3:16

The Bible teaches that every person has free will to make decisions about what they believe in and what they can do in life. Our focus today is there are NO OUTSIDERS to the message of the cross, Jesus came for everyone whether we have a relationship with him or not, no one is excluded.

All of our pupils join together to work in their house groups across 4 different workshops. This is a fun day with a mixture of reflection and activity around the whole 'big idea' of Easter which brings together our whole school and our community.  We are delighted to welcome the TGI Messy Church team from St Matthews Church to join to join us today.  

Follow the STAR.

When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother

Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Matthew 2: 10-11

How far would you be prepared to travel on a camel ? Imagine the journey of the wise men who travelled over a thousand miles to see the baby Jesus. All of Criftins pupils were grouped into their house colours and worked on a wide range of activities relating to the journey to see the Baby Jesus. This special day is where the whole school work together in mixed age groups and with different adults to reflect upon and understand the big idea behind 'Christmas'.

Let your light shine!

One of the ways the children were able to support the local charity CHALK, during Journey Day, was to make Christmas cards for those people who would be alone this Christmas.  The children know that it is important to look beyond what we have and help those less fortunate than themselves.  Be the light you want to see in the world.

The Great Big Family of God.

We began our Journey Day by thinking about our own family. Journey Day is a special time across all the school to work together and celebrate our Christian distinctiveness.

One of our activities was held at St. Matthews Church to look at the footprint and memory left by members of our local community. Despite a rainy day, it was another example of our caring relationship with all the community.