Reed's School, Cobham, Surrey

Central to the design are words which encapsulate the Christian belief and compassionate action of the school’s founder, Andrew Reed, “the Bread of Life and Bread for Life”. Andrew Reed’s desire to give both spiritual and physical food to those he sought to help emulates the compassionate and caring ministry of Christ himself. The words are set within one of twelve baskets, being part of the overall composition depicting the miracle of the Feeding of the Five Thousand [Matthew 14: 13- 21].

The loaves and fish seen in the basket in the central panel were blessed, broken and distributed by the disciples to the multitude – and twelve baskets (seen in the design) were needed to gather up the fragments – such is the overflowing generosity of God.

In the left panel looking down into a basket we see hands offering the unbroken loaf, in the right panel the hands break the bread, and in the centre they offer upward to God the two halves in the act of sharing. This act of giving and sharing relates to the message of teaching, as when we share our knowledge freely this in turn multiplies and grows for the greater good of society. The offering of the loaf to God could also be seen as symbolizing the offering to God of the totality of the life and work of those making the offering – and hence the offering to God of the whole life and work of Reed’s School, in and through its worship together.

This new stained glass window for the Chapel of Reed’s School was unveiled by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip on 6 March 2014, as part of Reed’s School’s bicentenary celebrations.