Earlier this year, Coppice school was visited by OFSTED. The result was that the school was rated as good overall with the Nursey in particular being singled out as exemplary.

There are currently a few nursery places available so if you have a child in your care of nursery age you couldn’t do better than enrol them in Coppice nursery.

For details see the poster below.

It’s a bit hard to swallow isn’t it? I mean come on!  Admittedly there  is a lot of independent evidence that Jesus did indeed exist around the early part of what we now call the first century AD, that he was an inspirational speaker who shook up the Jewish establishment and who was executed by crucifixion. All of that is recorded by Roman historians among others and virtually all modern historians accept that the evidence is overwhelming and in fact more compelling that it is for the existence of historical figures such as Julius Caesar, whose existence no one seriously doubts.

OK so Jesus existed and made enough of a mark to have a footnote in history but  that same ‘history’ confirms that he was crucified. Throughout the period of the Roman Empire where crucifixion was a common form of execution and estimates suggest that up to 1 million people were crucified. There is no record of any survivors! So why should we believe that Jesus was the only exception?

We shouldn’t!  There is no doubt whatsoever that Jesus along with all the other people who were crucified  did in fact die. The Romans were experts, but to be absolutely sure, a spear was  driven into his heart before he was taken down from the cross.  So what’s all this stuff about him ‘rising from the dead?’ about you might ask. Once again it is well documented that the body of Jesus was put into a tomb dug into a rock face and that the tomb was sealed and guarded. Now remember that Jesus’ disciples had run off at the first sign of trouble before he was arrested and one would expect them to be terrified of being rounded up and executed in the same way. In fact they were (terrified) they all went into hiding. It was only a few women who dared to sneak over to the tomb while it was still dark to see if they could finagle  their way into giving him the ‘last rites’ due to a corpse in the Jewish tradition of the day.  They found the tomb empty and spread the word. A few weeks later these same disciples who had run away and hid were standing on street corners and telling crowds of people that Jesus had risen from the dead as proof positive that he was the Messiah that they had been waiting for, for 1,000 years.  Something miraculous had happened to turn cowards into heroes. And why didn’t the authorities simply produce the body to refute what they were saying? Clearly they couldn’t—it wasn’t there!! Are we really to believe that a handful of cowardly despondent men in fear of their own lives  had managed to overpower a guard, move a boulder sealing the tomb, remove the body, hide it so well that it has never been found and then  put their own lives at great risk by  confronting those same people who had shouted for Jesus to be crucified with a made up story of his resurrection?  And this was far from being a flash in the pan. These same people plus the growing number of followers whom they convinced of the truth of the resurrection  of Jesus,  took this message, the Gospel, throughout the known world.  Could all of this really be based on a lie?  However difficult it might be to believe in the resurrection of Jesus isn’t it harder to believe that a collection of mainly uneducated fishermen could make up a story and then sell it to the world?

I don’t think so do you??

A small boy on the way into the hall asked a vicar “Why is it called Good Friday when Jesus died on that day? Surely it should be called Bad Friday?”

If you think about it, the day when Christians commemorate Jesus Christ’s crucifixion does seem black and bleak. According to the Bible, the son of God was flogged, ordered to carry the cross on which he would be crucified and then put to death. It’s difficult to see what is “good” about it.

There are a number of explanations as to why the term ‘Good’ has been widely adopted as the name for the day on which Jesus was crucified but, whatever its origin, it was indeed a good day for  humanity.  Although, quite rightly, Christians celebrate Easter as the moment when Jesus was resurrected, the resurrection was the result, the evidence, that Jesus had taken the sins of the whole world on his shoulders when he who was entirely sinless, allowed himself to be crucified. It was on Good Friday that Jesus atoned for our sins and in so doing defeated death itself. Good Friday was indeed a very good day for us!       

The events leading up to the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus are well-told by the writers of Matthew Mark, Luke and John in the bible, But why Jesus died is why Good Friday is good?

The Roman authorities and the Jewish council wanted Jesus dead. He was a political and social trouble-maker. But what made the death of Jesus more significant than the countless other crucifixions carried out by the Romans and witnessed outside the city walls by the people of Jerusalem?

As Christians we believe that Jesus was far more than a political radical, he is the Son of God. For us the death of Jesus was part of a divine plan to save humanity.

For Christians it is through Jesus’s death that people’s broken relationship with God is restored. This is known as the Atonement.

The word atonement is used in Christian theology to describe what is achieved by the death of Jesus. William Tyndale introduced the word in 1526, when he was working on his popular translation of the Bible, to translate the Latin word reconciliatio.

Atonement (at-one-ment) is the reconciliation of men and women to God through the death of Jesus. That reconciliation is needed because of the wrongs we do each day of our lives (sin). In the beginning God’s creation was perfect but the Devil tempted the first man Adam and sin was brought into the world. Everybody continues to sin, just think of the things you think say and do each day that damage the relationship you have with God, other people, and how you see yourself. None of us are perfect and this sin separates us from God, just as Adam and Eve were separated from God when they were cast out of the Garden of Eden. It is like a great Chasm exists between us and God and no amount of being good, saying the right thing or going through the actions can bridge that gap. Only Jesus who was perfect can bridge that Chasm through his death on the cross,

Thinking of getting Easter gifts for your child? Want to avoid the chocolate and encourage your child to think. This could be the book for you to get for a child you know.

Questions are so important – they are how we learn to live our lives. That’s a Good Question! is a collection of 32 tricky questions which children commonly ask. Questions like Who made God? Where is heaven? Does God sleep? Were there dinosaurs on the ark?

J.John sets about answering these in a clear and concise manner. Of course, the answers to these important questions are complemented by a set of fantastic illustrations.

It is worth a look.

 Badger’s parting gifts.

At some point in our lives we will all experience the death of a loved one. Parents often ask about helping their children through grief. This is book is a tool to help with this. CHILD BEREAVEMENT UK has said that ‘Badger’s Parting Gifts provides young children with a means to understand grief’. It tells the tale of Badger.

Badger is so old that he knows he must soon die, so he does his best to prepare his friends. When he finally passes away, they are grief-stricken, but one by one they remember the special things he taught them during his life. By sharing their memories, they realise that although Badger is no longer with them physically, he lives on through his friends.

The 35th anniversary edition of this multi award-winning picture book about losing a loved one features a helpful reading guide from Child Bereavement UK that provides tips for reading Badger’s Parting Gifts with children and helping them better understand grief. It is worth having on your child’s bookshelf.

The Huge Bag of Worries

The world can be a worrying place and children can be anxious and have worries to. The Huge Bag of Worries is a reassuring picture book encouraging children to be open about their fears and anxieties to help manage their feelings.

The perfect book to soothe worries during stressful times. The story features Jenny. Wherever Jenny goes, her worries follow her – in a big blue bag. They are with her all the time – at school, at home, when she is watching TV and even in the bathroom! Jenny decides they must go, but who will help her get rid of them?  A funny and reassuring look at dealing with worries and anxiety, to be used as a springboard into important conversations with your child.

The Shack

A book for adults or teenagers

With 20 million copies sold worldwide The Shack is an international bestseller that explores life’s toughest questions through the gripping story of one man’s struggle to find answers to his suffering.

Mack’s youngest daughter, Missy, was abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later, still trapped in his great sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack. Against his better judgement Mack arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon. What he finds there will change his life forever.

The Shack wrestles with the timeless question, ‘Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?’ Mack’s experiences when he faces up to his darkest nightmares will astound you, and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. This is the kind of book you’ll want to tell everyone about. Millions have discovered it already.