Church Of England’s project inspired a Rogate School to create a prayer labyrinth

After spending the last year planning and raising funds, Rogate CE Primary School has welcomed a new prayer labyrinth and orchard for all pupils and staff to use.

The initial idea stemmed from a Church of England project, where local churches were encouraged to create prayer labyrinths to provide spaces for reflection, contemplation and prayer.

Father Edward Doyle of St Bartholomew’s Church, Rogate, developed the idea through to the school.

After kind donations from the community, the school was ready to get working on the feature.

In order to start the building process, it teamed up with landscape designers Chris, of Graduate Landscapes, and Elaine and Ganesh, of Kings of Creative Willow.

Once work was under way, the children joined in by planting eight fruit trees, along with a living willow cross, and saw the labyrinth created from willow hoops.

The children were delighted to find out how the natural labyrinth would not only be a special space to reflect and create new outdoor play opportunities, but would also create new habitats and benefit different animals in the school environment.

Executive headteacher David Bertwistle said: “The prayer labyrinth and orchard is an amazing resource for the school and will allow our children a space within the school grounds to be quiet and have the opportunity for reflection.

“Visitors are welcome to our school to see the labyrinth and the other outstanding facilities on offer to our children.”

For further information on Rogate CE Primary School and the different events taking place there, visit www.rogate.w-sussex.sch.uk.