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STUDENTS QUESTION
ARCHBISHOP ON ‘DIFFICULT MORAL DECISIONS’ The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, visited two schools and a church during his visit to Croydon on Tuesday 13 November. The day began at St Matthew’s Church where the Vicar, the Rev Penny Brown - who is also Chair of Governors and Chaplain to Archbishop Tenison’s School - welcomed Dr Williams to an assembly attended by 200 Archbishop Tenison’s School pupils, which included an address by the Archbishop and various readings and prayers read by pupils from years 7 and 8. The Archbishop then moved on to Archbishop Tenison’s School, where the highlight of his visit was a question and answer session with AS Level students on difficult moral decisions. Initially the Archbishop joked that people often thought that morality was only to do with sex, however the discussion ranged over topics from assisted dying to super-casinos. The highlight of the Archbishop’s morning was cutting the ribbon to unveil a new piece of artwork in the school foyer in the presence of the Mayor of Croydon. “Light and Liberation” was conceived by local artist Linda Baines and completed with stencils made by pupils at the school Art Club. In a formal service in the school hall, the school’s Man Choir sang “Across the Skies” and a sequence of biblical readings was accompanied by an array of PowerPoint images of light. The Archbishop spoke on the subject of light, saying that the purpose of a light was not to point to itself and that the light of God in creation and in the face of Christ made us see the world in a new way. The Archbishop concluded his morning in Croydon by visiting St Andrew’s, another CofE High School. During his time there, Dr Williams attended an assembly on the theme of ‘Unity’ – which was designed and led by four Year 11 pupils, who are the school's Christian Leaders. He then had a brief tour of some lessons, including two Year 10 Religious Studies classes, stopping to talk to a number of pupils about their work. His visit ended with the performance of an anthem for Pentecost, composed by Mrs Tanya Kirk and sung by a choir of pupils from all ages. St Andrew's is a specialist music college and they hope to be able to forge close links between the school and the Christian community by encouraging local churches to use this, and subsequent compositions, with their congregations. David Matthews, Headteacher of St Andrew’s School said, “The pupils, staff and governors were delighted to have the opportunity to open their school to the Archbishop and would like to thank him for finding time to visit”. Ends.
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