Rev’d Sarah Watson and Rev’d Rachael Brooks, St Hild alumni, are thrilled at being appointed together in a creative partnership designed to reach the 4300 children of school age across four parishes in two suburbs of Derby and an adjacent village.
As priest in charge and associate minister, their brief is to spend 50% of their time in ‘normal’ parish life and 50% on mission to the young families, and the children and young people and their families who attend the nine schools across these parishes.
Sarah originally trained as a secondary school teacher, becoming Head of Faculty and Lead for Christian Distinctiveness at Bluecoat Academy in Nottingham. It was during this time that she began to experience a call to ordination.
“Through working for the Church of England in education & becoming increasingly involved in school chaplaincy, pastoral care and leading worship, I began to feel a call into ordained ministry. I prayed this through, tested it with others and had the calling affirmed by the church,” says Sarah.
After leaving teaching in 2015, Sarah trained at what was then St Barnabas and saw the formation of St Hild during her training. Whilst at St Hild, she completed an MA with a research focus on mission in schools. Her dissertation on school chaplaincy and further research led to a Grove booklet on the topic.
Sarah was ordained in 2017, serving her curacy in Derby Diocese as Assistant Curate in the Walbrook Epiphany Team Ministry. However, she maintained her links with St Hild by becoming a guest tutor for the Missional Entrepreneurship module.
More recently, she has been an enabling minister at St Philip’s, Chaddesden, an estate church in an area of significant need, where she launched the community café and new worshipping community. She was Appointed Area Dean for the Derby City Deanery in 2022, she lives in Derby, is a big sports fan and a chaplain to Derbyshire Tennis, she is married with a sports mad and musical son.
Rachael is a former primary school teacher, with a supportive husband and adult son. Her discipleship involved becoming Church warden and various other lay roles, including as lay chaplain at a vocational training college.
“Initially resisting my calling, I began training at St Hild in September 2017, for three-years, part-time. Learning alongside people from such different traditions and contexts was such a gift. Both tutors and students contributed more than they’ll ever know to my formation. And, in a delightful spot of serendipity, I bumped into Sarah while there, as my tutor on the Missional Entrepreneurship module in my final year!
“My curacy at St Peter’s, Littleover, which began in 2020 – yes, I’m a covid curate – has confirmed in me a deep love for parish life: for enabling lay discipleship and for helping churches turn outwards to embrace their local community.
“This feels like a Kairos moment, the joint appointment of two former teachers with complementary skills and experience who love collaborative working. And who are passionate about introducing children and young people to Jesus, about social justice and building community. Two priests grateful for the training and formation they received at St Hild.”
