Culham St Gabriel's Project Page

Culham St Gabriel’s Award

In summer, 2022 St Barnabas school was awarded a £1000 grant from Culham St Gabriel’s. The grant was to fund a project, which would aim to promote a greater understanding of religion and worldviews within our school community through the development of storytelling.

The project facilitated people of different worldview traditions, enabling them to come together to share their sacred texts in an environment of mutual trust and respect. This happened through the creation of a series of story tent festivals and family workshops for the local and wider school community.

What is a story tent?

Although the word tent is mentioned, at St Barnabas School it can simply be a quiet, comfy place indoors or out. A place to relax, listen and enjoy each other’s company. The project was developed following research by school staff based on the work of Anne Moseley. 

‘The story Tent project is the belief that dialogue around faith stories can help children develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to communicate across religious and cultural barriers , it provides a safe space where children can develop acceptance and understanding of others whilst still honouring genuine differences in religious and cultural beliefs.’
http://www.storytent.concordant.online/index.php

Click here to discover more about the work of Culham St.Gabriels. www.cstg.org.uk

Story tent events at St Barnabas School

Throughout the year, family workshops have been organised to promote the advantages of storytelling. These workshops have been linked to religious and cultural events such as Diwali, Harvest, Eid and Chinese New Year. Children and carers had to opportunity to take part in a range of ‘hands on’ activities alongside hearing the stories associated with festivals. It was a wonderful opportunity to promote the advantages of storytelling to families and staff were able offer practical advice to help aid and develop communication skills at home.

Here are some of the stories shared with families… Rama and Sita, Diwali, The Great Race, Chinese New Year, the Creation story, Jonah and Whale linked to Christian and shared values.

On Thursday 5th May, Michelle from Liverpool Community Spirit came and spoke to the children about her faith and beliefs. She shared with the school facts and information about Judaism. Pupils enjoyed a story telling session, Michelle retold the story of David and Goliath, explaining how it inspires her every day to make a positive difference within her community through the choices and decisions she makes. http://www.liverpoolcommunityspirit.org/

“David was a young boy and the story proved size does not matter, it’s what you think and how you behave” Josh Y3

“The Torah is so holy you cannot touch it with your fingers.” Bella Y3

On Friday 6th, we had a fabulous Eid celebration in school organised by Bewsey Mosque. Children and staff tasted food, created Mendi patterns and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon discovering more about the Islamic faith. During the afternoon pupils listened to stories and had the opportunity to ask questions and share ideas.

“It’s interesting for my friends to find out about Islam and try new foods” Rahib Y3

“It was fun to try to recreate the Mendi pattern, it was tricky.” William Y3

“I enjoyed trying different foods and finding out about Eid al- Fitr.” Zuzanna Y3