A kind vicar has improvised so he can hold assemblies for children still having to attend school because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Rev Philip Hawthorn used a ladder to sing over his garden fence for the pupils of St Stephen’s Primary Church School in Bath, Somerset.

With his guitar, Mr Hawthorn has been reeling off various hymns for the 17 students and teachers who are the children of key workers and encouraging them to join in.

Mr Hawthorn, who is the rector of Stephen’s Church, said: “I normally go in there and do assemblies and we are not allowed to do that.

“I just did what I normally do, which is some songs, a story and a prayer.

“With the teachers we are just trying to find as many normal things as we can to give the younger ones some sense of familiarity amongst all the uncertainty.

“In St Stephen’s Church we do a Sunday afternoon ‘scruffy church’ for families and all ages and I am recording one a week for our YouTube channel.

“We had 400 views and I am recording another one. People have shared the link and I have had emails from all over the country.

“A lot of churches are providing communion services, which is great, and I am doing that too for the grown-ups but I am also providing a resource for families.

“I used to work in children’s television for the BBC, before I became a vicar, and I am trying to make the kind of programme I used to make for CBeebies, but with slightly different content.

“Not just entertainment but interactive and engaging, so that people can share something together as a family.”