Teaching with the Chapel

The Chapel occupies a central place in our lives at Lancing College in many ways. Spiritually, it serves as a place of worship and reflection. It stands guard to the cultural landscape of the Adur Valley. It is the meeting place central to our community. The Chapel fulfils these and many other tasks for the College including some, perhaps unexpected, academic roles.

The Chapel’s stones are rich in layering that reveals their geological origin and history. To any academic trained in the analysis of sandstone, the Chapel is a giant and fascinating puzzle. When one has learned to observe such details, it is like trying to unpick a Sherlock Holmes murder mystery: one needs to learn to see the clues to reveal the story they can tell. There are clues hidden everywhere in the walls about what kind of world there once was. It turned to stone, but it is there for all who want to see it. Seeing the Chapel as an intellectual challenge in Geoscience is the central idea behind the recent Scholar’s talks and the new flyer on the ‘Geology of the Chapel’ currently being produced.

The Chapel is also the focal point of some of my Geography lessons. In the Lower Sixth Form, the geographers learn about the weathering and erosion of sandstone cliffs. Although the waves of the sea do not reach the Chapel’s foundation, its walls have resisted salty winds and pioneering plants for well over one and a half century. It rises from the plains below like any other sea cliff. Regular maintenance is needed to keep the building alive and healthy at the centre of our school community. With some significant differences between its south- and north-facing walls, the Lancing geographers collect data for their statistical tests directly from the Chapel during the lessons. This helps bring the subject to life and gives real meaning to the numbers they analyse in class.

The Chapel also offers practical teaching aids for architecture, art, art history, design, textiles, engineering, physics, chemistry, maths, history, music and, of course, theology.

When Dr Reesink first told us we would be having a lesson outside analysing the Chapel, I was slightly puzzled as to how the building could relate to coastal systems we study; it turns out that is quite a lot! Dr Reesink uses the weathering visible on the Chapel to show in real life the weathering we had identified on pictures of cliffs in class. It was so interesting and useful to see that in real life. The Chapel’s walls show biological weathering (from algae as well as solitary bees burrowing into the walls); chemical weathering (acids dissolving rock and changing its colour); and physical weathering (in which repeated heating and cooling work to break the stones).

We are so lucky to have a Chapel that is old enough to show us weathering processes on the College grounds. I think it is incredible that our Chapel has so many different uses and can play a key role in support of our learning.
Rosalind D, Lower Sixth

The Scholar’s talk really opened my eyes to geology in ways I never thought of before. We learned about the vast diversity of the world’s rocks and the peculiarities that tell us so much about their curious pasts. It made me feel like we did not have to go far to see wonders of nature. Dr Reesink alluded a lot to Sherlock Holmes’ methods of investigating and how we should not just simply ‘look’, but ‘observe’ instead. I think that is very true.
Hilmi M, Third Form