Fileygardener: Filey has done Prayer Spaces in Schools

Sunday, February 02, 2014

Filey has done Prayer Spaces in Schools

Cant take pics -just feet then!

I used to think that we were well behind the times in Filey.

I used to think that no one but me did Twitter, that no one had heard of proper coffee, that one couldn't buy Tahini Paste or Preserved lemons here and that only the retired of Selby and Bradford moved here.

I was wrong of course, except for the Preserved lemons. The retired of all over the known world come here, not just from the West Riding. If that is true for those who are the retired in the order of Melchizedek , but still priests for ever, it is also true for those retired from the Teaching Profession , for 6 of them were at Filey Junior School for the day on Friday.

Our Space!

It was a privilege to take a Prayer Spaces in Schools workshop into our local school when the organization and preparation by Sarah Prentice (SU intern) was so good, the material from the Prayer Spaces movement perfectly fit for purpose. Of course I applaud Pam Roberts for her care of the volunteers, with kettle, waste bin, space for us to sit for breaks and her unflappable nature.

In the days when I was BRIDTEACHER, when I started this blog, I knew how to interact with Year 6, how to remember to drink plenty of water, to talk quietly to children and to listen and to be unshockable. Its 7 years since I retired , BUT I was very nervous to go back into school, especially to an unfamiliar school. I hardly slept on Thursday night.

For the school day the classes came in to the hall for their 25 mins to browse the 'spaces'. Sarah gave a 2min welcoming intro to each group and an explanation including all the PC phrases for the children who did not have any faith.She was not demeaning, and smiled a lot. A 19yr old teaching us a thing or two.

There were 10 Prayer Spaces, each with a different activity. write your Prayer here" space was well used every time. I know as I had to change the paper over so each class got a clean sheet.

I was amazed at the Questions the children wrote on the "ask God a Question Space", and surprized that some children had had no teaching on Prayer at all and did not even know what it was. Spouse manned the Light a candle Space, where children were encouraged to pray a prayer in their head just for God to hear. Many of us were humbled by the delight and engagement of the cohorts with the different activities. Sugar dissolving away in a cup of tea to explain our sins given to God were gone Might not have been scientifically accurate but the point was simply made.

I thought the exciting one like the Plasma Ball would have been the most popular, but I was wrong. Children did not look for novelty or the visual. All learning styles came into play. How I remember all the courses on VAK (Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic (VAK learning styles ) that were buzzing around 10 years ago. Nothing new under the sun in my book .