Chaplaincy at Haileybury, as in most boarding schools, is focused principally on the school community. Naturally, the pupils and their wellbeing are a first priority, but chaplaincy is inclusive also of the teaching and support staff and their families, as well as taking into consideration former pupils and members of staff. Baptisms, Weddings, Funerals, and Services of Thanksgiving are natural outworkings of ministry within the school community.
Some of the work of chaplaincy is obvious. At Haileybury, pupils begin each day in chapel with a brief service consisting of a hymn (and the singing is truly
inspirational), a reading (read by pupils) from scripture, followed by a brief address, and a prayer. The Eucharist is celebrated twice weekly, and larger School Services occur on Sunday twice a term. Feast days such as Ash Wednesday, Christmas, Candlemas, the Epiphany, and All Souls’ Day are properly marked with celebrations of the Eucharist, and the Office of Compline is said weekly. Together, this constitutes both compulsory and non-compulsory service attendance, with the goal being to offer a range of services, properly considered and crafted, so as to nurture Christian faith as well as being able to speak intelligently to people of other faiths and none. In this sense, there is both a spiritual and pastoral element to chaplaincy as well as a concern to integrate chaplaincy fully into the intellectual and academic life of the school.
Chaplaincy extends its reach into the 12 boarding houses, into the charitable aims of the school, and more broadly into the work of pastoral care, wellbeing, the medical centre, the school counsellors, and diversity and inclusion – all of which are crucially important in a modern boarding school. The Chaplain also plays a role in visiting key preparatory schools in the area, not least those with whom Haileybury continues to value strong and fruitful relationships. In many ways, the Chaplain is the one person in the school who is encouraged to work and be known across the entirety of the school.