Parish of Four Saints and
Moordown St John’s School

Moordown St John’s School is so named as it sits within the former Parish of St John’s. The newly formed Parish of Four Saints comprises four churches in the Charminster, Moordown and Winton area of Bournemouth. The Parish of Four Saints is a parish with a rich Anglo Catholic tradition (which means that our services appear a little more formal, with the priests wearing robes, servers, a robed choir and sometimes incense is used) and has a thriving church. We have a large team and in 2019 Dave Griffiths was appointed by the PCC of the parish as Children and Families Minister to support our work in the community.

The school has an increasingly close partnership with the parish church, with Dave leading worship assemblies most Friday mornings. Rector, Michael Smith is no stranger to the school either. The school holds services in St John’s church at important dates in the Christian calendar, such as Harvest, Christmas and Easter. Staff from the church also occasionally help with the school’s RE lessons. There are several children who attend MSJ who are part of our services on a Sunday, and various MSJ connected families that come to our monthly Messy Church at St John’s and Lego Church at St Luke’s.

As a parish we act as a bridge to our other church school, St Luke’s in Winton. Our presence in both schools is a very important part of our parish life and we believe our ministry to children and families is strengthened in multiple ways as we work closely with the schools in our parish.

The Parish has the core values of Sanctuary, Nurture, Compassion and as members of Inclusive Church we are pleased to partner with MSJ in welcoming children from families from diverse cultural backgrounds and faiths. In working closely with the schools, we hope to give children a vibrant awareness of the Christian faith and its ethical framework, which is applicable to life and community whether a person identifies as a Christian or not.