St. Sampson’s Infant school is the smallest school on the Island of Guernsey. It has just 68 children, with just one class for each year: Reception, Year 1 and Year 2.

All the children were very excited and very curious whilst we were setting up the prayer space the day before it was due to open. Hosting the prayer space in the activities room, with all the apparatus having to remain, was quite a challenge but with lots of coloured material, sheets and net curtains we were still able to make the room look different and with a nice day were able to have two prayer activities outside as well.

It was our first time to use the ‘Big Hand’ resource and it was very popular! A teacher even wrote her name on the hand, in recognition of what the Bible says about our names being written on God's hands - our names are known. The teachers were keen to collect comments from the children when they returned to class and were impressed that they all liked different things, which goes to show that variety is important.

We used ‘magic cardboard slates’ for the 'Sorry' prayer activity. One boy told his teacher “I liked it when I could write something or draw something about being ‘sorry’. I liked putting it back in the cardboard and it was gone forever”.

Someone kindly made us some papier mache hands which we use for the 'Worry' prayer activity. The children were invited to pick up a stone which represented whatever they were worried about, and then imagine that they are giving that worry to God by putting it into the papier mache hands. The hands were mostly full at the end of every session.

The bubble tube was popular, as always, but we put it in a small, blacked-out side room, which made it more effective, and it was met with "oohs" and "aahs". It is good to see the children enjoy this space and to have this response: “I liked the quiet place because it was so quiet and nice; it let me think about things”. Encouraging to know that in our children’s fast paced world, there is still room for quietness."

Becky Hall is a school’s worker with PACE, on the island of Guernsey

Posted by Phil

Phil Togwell is preparing to move North (Whitley Bay, near Newcastle, UK) with his family (three daughters - Megan, Poppy and Angel, and one wife - Emma). Phil is learning to cook, slowly. He likes curries, mountains, lengthy late-night conversations and reading books. He dislikes cats. Phil is part of 24-7 Prayer's GB team and leads the Prayer Spaces in Schools team.