OVER four consecutive days this June, more than 2,000 Year 6 children (11-year-olds) will be spending a full day at the Cathedral.

Each day, about 600 children will take part in a range of workshops building up to a special service in the afternoon, marking their final term at their Church of England primary school, celebrating all that has been experienced and looking to the future. 

You can imagine that these ‘Leavers Services’ and the experience of a day, gathered with so many other schools, in the Cathedral and The Close, make striking memories for the children, teachers and staff. On these joyful and exuberant days, I feel that the Cathedral is responding, with all its resources, to its call to be ‘Mother Church’ for the Diocese. The family home is open wide and welcoming the children back, to gather and feed them and support them in moving into the future with confidence. 

Each year has a theme and this year’s is ‘Gamechangers’, including individuals who have made a difference and have changed the world, in some way, and how teams have worked together to make positive change for people and the planet. 

This year, inspired by Antony Gormley’s Field for the British Isles, the pupils have each made a simple clay statuette to bring to the cathedral and be placed in the crypt, or near the entrance, to build up into a huge installation. I loved hearing some of the children reflect on preparing this artwork: ‘I can make a mark in clay, and I can also make my mark in the world’ and, ‘The sculptures are all basically the same, but each has its own personality.’ 

It's so uplifting to hear a child say, ‘I’ve learnt that though I’m just a child, I can change the world’ and how learning about inspirational people has inspired their sense of their own capabilities. One little girl connected, ‘Our teacher says we are all the body of Christ’ with, ‘when you work together you can change a lot.’  

The children are excited by the prospect of their art coming to their Cathedral and you will be able to see the installation created by Year 6 leavers, and perhaps catch some of their energy and vision, June 18-29. 

Perhaps the statuettes can also remind us of the precious value of each child, the faithful work of our local schools and how we too are called to make a difference in the world. 

Do call in to the cathedral, or look at the website, to find out more about the wide range of services and events, for all ages, that are happening at the cathedral, this summer. 

The Very Rev Catherine Ogle,
Dean of Winchester