Its not always easy to know how to make the Christian faith known and
real to children and young people in their school context. Here are details of
forthcoming workshops and training opportunities providing simple but effective
ways to tell the Christian story and bring the spiritual dimension to life in
schools.
Open the Book
Already a much loved feature of the week for quite a few community and Church schools in the Diocese, Open the Book is a really easy way of telling and explaining key stories from the Bible to primary-aged children. Interactive presentations of between ten and fifteen minutes fit easily into assemblies or time in classes (see an example).
If you like the sound of this but arent confident with where to start, the Open the Book website is very helpful.
Prayer Spaces in Schools
Prayer Spaces In Schools is a scheme that does exactly what it says creating a space for prayer. Obviously an amazing way to help children and young people explore faith and spirituality from a broadly Christian perspective, there is no single way of doing prayer spaces but there are loads of case studies and guidance on the website to help create interactive, experiential spaces for encounter with God.
Enable qualification
Run by Schools Work in conjunction with the Centre for Youth Ministry, Enable is the only national qualification for Christian work in education and starts in September. Thousands of Christians offer work in primary and secondary schools, colleges and other educational institutions every week but there are increasing requirements for those working with young people to be qualified.
The Enable course is recognized by schools and has been devised for anyone visiting schools or working in education as a volunteer. It can be pursued as an Award (7 credits), a Certificate (20 credits) or a Diploma (37 credits). The full Diploma includes six days teaching, personal study and on the job experience.
Advice
For advice on getting in touch with schools and working with children or youth, don't hesitate to contact Schools Adviser Katy Staples
or Children's & Youth Work Adviser Dan Jones.
Resources
School and Church: growing together in faith and service in the community - a leaflet from the Diocese to print off for your congregation or PCC. It's full of ideas to kick-start discussion on 'growing together in faith and service in the community'.
Websites, books and booklets - these resources are a great place to start or develop the many and various ways schools and churches can work together.