St Mary’s Twickenham pupils attend Diocesan Governance Group Conference 2025

On Tuesday 7th October, the house captains from St. Mary's CE Primary, Twickenham were invited along to the annual Diocesan Governance Group Conference to be the voice of children.

The children began by leading a short collective worship in the church at St. Matthew's Conference Centre in London. The children carefully chose the reading; Luke 17: verses 11-19 and explained their reasons for their choice.

“Jesus had the generosity to heal them, and it was natural for them to celebrate. The other nine did that but the Samaritan – in his head I think he thought ‘shouldn’t I go back’ – so he decided to go back and say thank you.”

“The other nine were overwhelmed and happy – they were just doing what Jesus told them to do – they weren’t bad. But I would like to be like the one who said thank you.”

“We should keep in mind that even if we are overwhelmed and happy – it is a small thing to say thank you.”

“Instead of rushing through his emotions, the man slowed down – he wanted to say thank you.” –

“He took action. Saying thank you can make you feel good too.”

They lead prayers and beautifully sang a cappella, The Lord is my Shepherd, joined by the adults attending the conference.

The children were then asked what is important to them as children in schools today. They expressed a real love of nature and explained how important it is for children to experience nature during their time at school so that they love nature and will then take care of the future of our world. They also talked about the benefits of being in nature on people's well-being.

The house captains wanted children's voices to be heard and invited the governors to go into schools more to speak directly to children.

The children were praised and thanked for taking part and were generously gifted a small wooden holding cross each.