News and Events
The Avenue Church of England Primary School Application Approved!
Derby Diocesan Academy Trust (DDAT) is delighted to announce that the Department for Education has approved an application to establish a new Church of England primary school at The Avenue development site, near to Wingerworth.
The new school will be developed as part of the Government’s Free School programme.
It will create much needed nursery and primary school places for families as the number of residential dwellings on The Avenue site increases alongside other developments in the local area.
The proposed Church of England primary school and nursery will be inclusive and open to pupils from families of all backgrounds and faiths (including no faith) where every child will be welcomed, respected and nurtured.
The school will offer a family-friendly approach with breakfast club and after-school provision offering a wide range of enrichment activities, operating as a community hub and supporting community cohesion.
DDAT is a multi-academy trust of 28 schools situated across Derby and Derbyshire and has a successful track-record of working with schools (including in the Chesterfield area) to improve provision.
In September 2018, DDAT successfully opened the first Church of England secondary school within the Diocese of Derby when Derby Cathedral School opened its doors to its first cohort of students.
DDAT has the experience of both rapidly improving schools and supporting established high-performing schools. DDAT is excited to create this new provision and will ensure the new primary school at the Avenue is a success from day 1.
Chief Executive Officer of DDAT, Mark Mallender, said: “I am thrilled that the Department for Education has approved our application for a new primary school and nursery serving the Wingerworth and Clay Cross areas of Chesterfield.
"We now have the opportunity to work with parents and the community to develop a highly effective school that will ensure our pupils make exceptional progress and leave fully prepared for their secondary education.
"The DDAT team are ready and excited to begin detailed work on developing this school and will ensure that plans are shared with the community as part of future consultations.”
Derbyshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Young People, Councillor Alex Dale, said: “We’ve worked with Derby Diocesan Academy Trust on planning for this school and I’m sure that they will do an excellent job in getting it built and ready for the students who will attend.
“It’s great to see the government supporting the council in investing in first-class educational facilities to help give children and young people in Derbyshire the best possible start in life.”
The Trust will start planning its pre-opening programme, including consultations and events in the local area, leading up to the opening of the school.
The Trust will share its programme as soon as it is developed and agreed with its strategic partners including the Department for Education and Derbyshire County Council.
Family Fit is a series of videos specially made for the Diocese of Derby as part of the Bishop's Harvest Appeal 2020 and the commitment to supporting mental wellbeing in Derbyshire.
This series of five 20-minute, fun-themed family workouts, led by Kay Skinner, a Church of England sports minister, includes Magnificent Mondays, Talented Tuesdays, Wild Wednesdays, Thankful Thursdays, Fabulous Fridays.
They will premier each morning during the October half term break at 9 a.m. - so make sure you join in!
There is no special equipment needed - just make sure you have ample space for your family to move around while you follow Kay's classes.
This is a great way to get your family active, keep fit, do something together and, most importantly, help to look after your physical and mental wellbeing.
So please share this page with your family, friends, colleagues and schoolmates and let's all get Family Fit!
St Augustine's Church, in the parish of Walbrook Epiphany, has presented three Derby schools with a range of Christian books.
Revd Karen Bradley, vicar of Holy Trinity, Shirebrook, has praised a group of Year 11 students’ handiwork after they built and installed a brand-new noticeboard outside the church door to keep her parishioners in the know.
She said that the noticeboard, which was made and installed by students at Shirebrook Academy, is a “thing of beauty”.
The students took on the task as part of their practical foundation studies, assisted by design technology teachers Simon Dosanjh and Simon Langrick, who guided them through the process from building the noticeboard out of wood and then sanding and staining it to give it the finished look.
They then visited the church to fix it into position.
Karen Bradley said: “We had a noticeboard installed previously, but it had certainly passed its sell-by date and a bit of an eyesore, but the new noticeboard is a thing of beauty and hopefully it will be used more than the previous one was.
“I want to thank the students for all their hard work, it was such a wonderful thing for them to do for us, a real blessing, and it’s brilliant to see the students discovering how the things they learn at school apply to the community.”
Student Thomas, 15, said: “I really enjoyed doing something different for the community and helping people out, but it was also cold installing the noticeboard and getting it level was a challenge.”
Claire Armstrong, head of design technology at Shirebrook Academy, said: “It was really nice as a department to do something practical and contribute to the community.
"We’re in the midst of really uncertain times, because social distancing rules means we can’t do as much practical work as usual, but this project was able to go ahead and allowed us to give something back to the parish after they generously donated some bibles to the school’s Philosophy and Ethics department.”
On 1 March 2025, Belper Town Football Club welcomed their new Chaplain Revd Rachel Burdett. Revd Rachel was joined by Bishop Libby who presented the man of the match.
It turns out that Bishop Libby and Revd Rachel were lucky mascots on the day as Belper Town FC won 2-0 v Garforth Town FC.
Photo L-R: Revd Rachel, Bishop Libby, Ian Woodward (BTFC Chairman) and Lee Attenborough (BTFC Manager)
Revd Rachel said: It was exciting to watch my first Nailers’ game, especially as they won! I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone and adding my support to the team. It is an important part of life in Belper and it is an honour to be the new chaplain.
Ian said we welcome Revd Rachel as our new Chaplain. We look forward to working with her as she continues to build on the existing relationship with Christ Church Belper and we look forward to welcoming her to support “The Nailers!”.
Photo Credit to Tim Harrison (BTFC)
Rt Revd Libby Lane, Bishop of Derby, and the Very Revd Peter Robinson, Dean of Derby, are delighted to announce the planned appointment of the following Honorary and Lay Canons to Derby Cathedral:
Honorary Canons
Revd Alicia Dring
Revd Michael Futers
Revd Alan Griggs
Revd Philip Mann
Revd Dr Nicola McNally
Revd Bryony Taylor
Lay Canons
Alison Craig
Nicola Goodhew
Will Hagger
Their collations will take place across two services at Derby Cathedral on 21 and 28 September both at 5:15pm.
Bishop Libby said: ‘Those to be appointed Honorary and Lay Canons bring a rich variety of experience and expertise from across our diocese. I thank God for them and the ministries they exercise in their contexts. I am grateful that they are willing to offer themselves for the role and responsibility of honorary Canon in our Cathedral. Please hold each of them - Alan, Alicia, Bryony, Michael, Nicola, Phil, Ali, Nikki, Sarah, Will, - in your prayers.’
Dean Peter said: ‘The Chapter and I look forward to welcoming new Honorary and Lay Canons to the life of Derby Cathedral. We are delighted that the Bishop of Derby has appointed such a wide range of lay and ordained people whose gifts and skills will enhance so effectively the mission and ministry of Derby Cathedral from the breadth of the Diocese, and vice versa. Each new Honorary and Lay Canon will make a key contribution to the Cathedral fulfilling its vision and strategy for the future. I commend each new Canon to your prayers as they take up their appointments in September.'
"Serving in Swadlincote in the south of the diocese, I have led and preached in four different churches, and occasionally in another spread across the breadth of church traditions. I have also had the privilege to come alongside people at the highs and lows of life, from sitting with the bereaved, to celebrating marriages and baptising folk, including my own teenage son at Easter in the glorious sunshine.
"Serving God, and ‘doing church’ doesn’t just happen in building, though, and I have led folk in worship in God’s own creation, both a summer Churches Together Ecumenical picnic and praise service in the local park and in mid-winter, for which we were blessed with gloriously clear and dry skies as we shared the Lord’s meal overlooking the fields surrounding Swad.
"It comes as no surprise that with a young family, I have a particularly keen interest in growing church younger and seeing children and young people flourish and grow in the depth of their knowledge of God’s love for them. I have been fortunate to have been able to facilitate schools and scout visits to church, and
assisted in Messy Church, Experience Christmas and the assemblies team. While still finding time to learn about and become a foundation governor at the primary school local to my house, so I can be strategically involved in the flourishing of more of the children in that parish.
"I have tried not to neglect the other missional communities within the minster, visiting as many as I can at least once in my first year, enjoying soup with the sewing group, coffee with my conversation, bingo at the Ark and bible study with prayer groups.
"One of the qualities of an ordained minister in the Church of England is to communicate and interpret the Christian faith in a credible way that respects the context and engages with those of other faiths and none, about issues facing the world and local community. Early into my curacy, I started writing for the local magazine, which is distributed around Swadlincote to around 18’000 residences and businesses, which led to being interviewed on the local radio show talking about, amongst other things, sin, church history and tradition, and God’s immense love. I have also had the opportunity to serve at Download Festival as a chaplain, which led to some really interesting conversations about relationships and Jesus, although, like in church, not everyone always agreed.
"Since being ordained Priest this summer, I have found myself surprised as once again I feel like I am even more myself than I have ever been, and I am really looking forward to what the next year, and years of ordained ministry will bring."
Kara is Assistant Curate at Swadlincote Minister
Church buildings are not currently required to close and there is currently no obligation for churches to re-open in the event of a royal death. It will remain at the discretion of individual PCCs.
Private prayer should not be discouraged for those who feel the need to do this in a church building, but social distancing MUST be maintained for as long as the government restrictions dictate.
Having received one or more doses of the vaccine does not exclude anyone from adhering to the rules.
People should not be allowed to gather in groups.
Any church that wishes to consider re-opening MUST submit a risk assessment and have it approved by their archdeacon prior to opening.
Churches that are already open for private prayer etc may experience an increase in numbers and in some cases it may be necessary for them to re-assess their arrangements to allow for the increase. This may necessitate additional marshalling in and around the building.
Condolence books
An online condolence book is now open for individuals and communities to record messages. Government guidance under the current Covid-19 precautions is that physical books should not be offered.
Flags
Flags should be flown at half-mast during the mourning period(the correct procedure is to lower flags completely and then raise them to half-mast).
Flower Tributes
Visitors should not be allowed to leave flowers inside church buildings as this maybe a route for infection. Flower tributes outside should also be discouraged.
Bells
Guidance on how and when bells should be tolled will come from the cabinet office in due course, and we will share this information to you as soon as we are ableon this page.
When it comes to getting married, not every bride can tie the knot in their first choice of church. One lucky bride who did is Kelly Hewitt.
Video courtesy of BBC East Midlands Today
Drivers are being encouraged to join an unprecedented national information-gathering campaign launched by the Church of England and the Catholic Church in England and Wales aimed at eradicating modern slavery in hand car washes.
Around 5,000 clay figures, depicting players and spectators of Ashbourne’s Shrovetide football game, have gone on display in St Oswald’s church in the town.
Bishop Alastair has ordained eight new deacons in Derby Cathedral.
The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has paid tribute to The Rt Revd Dr Alastair Redfern, Bishop of Derby, who retires at the end of August after 13 years in the Diocese.
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The Diocese of Derby paid tribute to Bishop Alastair and wished him and his wife, Caroline, a fond farewell at a service at Derby Cathedral on Saturday.
Enjoy some of the pictures from the service - and see lots more on Flickr!
Children and groups across the Diocese have received their Bishop's Badge awards from Bishop Alastair and Bishop Jan.
