Year 6 were lucky enough to visit All Saints’ Church in Tudeley this week, the only church in the world to have its 12 stained glass windows decorated by the great Russian artist Marc Chagall. Read Mrs Savage’s account below:

“The unassuming church is tucked away, virtually on our doorstep, in the Tonbridge countryside and is a truly magnificent jewel in the Kent crown. Year 6 had the inspiring learning opportunity to visit the church and appreciate the beauty of the Chagall stained glass windows first-hand. They really are breathtakingly beautiful, even on an overcast day. Chagall, a multi-talented, generous man was commissioned, after many beseeching letters, to design the main window of the church. The East window at Tudeley is a memorial tribute to Sarah d’Avigdor-Goldsmid who died aged just 21 in a sailing accident off Rye. Sarah was the daughter of Sir Henry and Lady d’Avigdor-Goldsmid, who lived at the fine Jacobean house, Somerhill (now a school) which is situated nearby. In 1967, when Chagall arrived for the installation of the East window, he saw the church and said, “It’s magnificent. I will do them all.”

Year 6 captured the magnificence of the stained glass windows in their sketches and photographs. One of the wonders of the Tudeley windows is that they are at eye level; one can go right up to them and see the marks of Chagall’s hands. He would scratch and mark his windows right up to the final stage of making – some say even after they were installed. They captured elements of Chagall’s love of nature, celebration of life and goats! Year 6 tried to envelop this essence in their drawings, using coloured pencils and wax crayons to reflect the palette of calming blues and invigorating mauves, angels and animals that dominate the stained glass masterpieces. It was a magnificent and enlightening experience; it is one that Year 6 and I would highly recommend to any other aesthete!”