The Parish Magazine February 2026

The Parish Magazine — February 2026 23
around the villages — 2 around the villages — 1
Sonning School celebrate Christmas
into the
New Year!
Christmas is always a special time
for us at Sonning Primary, writes
Phil Sherwood, head teacher
Earlier in the term, our pupils in
Year 5 (Maple class) visited The Mill
at Sonning, where they heard about
life in theatre, and then they were
able to perform their own poetry on
stage.
This was an incredible experience
for our pupils, and as someone who
visited The Mill over Christmas
for their excellent performance
of White Christmas, the chance
to stand on the same stage as
such talented actors and expert
production teams was inspiring.
Thank you, as always, to Sally
Hughes and The Mill team for
providing such a wonderful theatre
house in our village and for always
supporting our school.
As always, we held our annual
nativity and carol service at
St Andrew's Church, when the
entire school came together for
a wonderful performance by the
pupils.
Mrs Walton, the chair of
governors, then joined me to
talk about the school's successes
in 2025, including our best ever
Year 6 assessment results and our
Outstanding Ofsted report.
Bob Peters writes: In January, I had the
privilege again to visit Sonning School
on Epiphany to share some of my large
collection of Nativity sets with all the
pupils.
It is always a pleasure to make this
annual visit as the children are keen
to learn about my collection that dates
from 1982 when, during a pilgrimage
to Israel, I bought my first set in
Bethlehem. It had been hand-carved
from local olive wood. When I returned,
I took it to a school assembly to talk
about it. The children's interest inspired
me to buy other sets to show them how
in different parts of the world we tell
the same Christmas story differently!
Above: Pupils in The Mill at Sonning
Above: Pupils in St Andrew's Church for the annual carol service and below, back in School at
Epiphany they enjoyed Bob Peters' annual visit to learn about his Nativity set collection.