Liturgical purists would have produced this by burning last year's Palm crosses, but that option wasn't open to me and I found that an old copy of Southwark News cremated in the back garden worked just as well
The use of ashes to express sorrow or mourning goes back to Bible times and it was good to talk to the children about the sign of the ash as a sign of sorrow for sin and also a pointer to our forgiveness through the cross - and a few volunteers were quite happy to be 'ashed'. The older children - at Alexis Street - were very struck by this and watched it intently.
Nearly all the children at Alexis Street had consumed a pancake the night before, Shrove Tuesday. I explained that 'shrove' was an old English word meaning to 'confess.' 'What does 'confess' mean?' I asked. 'It's when you have done something and you say you have done it,' said one of the girls.
Close to the Thames, as its name suggests, Riverside occupies one of the earliest London School Board buildings of 1874.
It's a testimony to its Victorian architects and builders that the building is still going strong 140 years later.
Unusually the school has two head teachers. They have worked together for around twenty years and together they have produced the impressive results that Riverside has achieved, with this inner city school being rated one of the best schools in the country.
'What is the secret of your success?' I asked the head. 'Discipline' she replied. Everything else flows from that.
In the hall was a series of paintings of St James Church in the four seasons of the year, painted by the children. In due course we hope to be able to exhibit them in the church for the congregation to view. They were really excellent.
Finally, in this blog post with a school theme: a nice picture from St James School website of year 6's visit to the Shard:
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