27th April 2023
Working in collaboration with our local children’s and families worker at St James’ Church, a team from Turret House of Prayer(Clitheroe – North West England), hosted a Prayer Space at our local school. The school had approached the children’s worker asking if they could help with their Wellbeing Week and a Prayer Space seemed the perfect fit!
The amazing children’s worker has a great relationship with the staff and pupils and works regularly in the school providing assemblies and clubs, encouraging links between the school and church community. Our 24-7 House of Prayer team were so excited to hear about the prayer space as we have been wanting to develop this area for some time. We offered to work together as team which has been brilliant. We met together to plan, prepare, and pray, designing the Prayer Space around the school’s Wellbeing Week. We picked up on the 5 steps to improving mental health and wellbeing that they were focusing on; to connect, be active, be mindful, keep learning and give. We chose activities from the Prayer Spaces in Schools website that linked and then got planning, preparing, and praying! Some of our team were able to be practically be involved in setting up and hosting the prayer space and others provided the prayer support before and during our three day visit.
The school absolutely loved the Prayer Space and asked us to return next term. Staff commented that it had given them time to really listen and engage with their class which is often challenging to do with the demands of our education system. Both children and staff loved having the time, space and freedom to think and to be in the Prayer Space without having to ‘complete’ a task or show anything if they didn’t want to, but to just be still and enjoy the space. Pupils commented that they felt peaceful, calmer, relaxed, and happy, and we observed them engaging in the activities in many ways. Children particularly loved the ‘Heavens Above’ space where they could be still in a sensory blackout tent with projected stars and reflect on creation. Staff also mentioned how they would like to start using some of the different activities and ideas in their own classrooms. We loved that staff also popped in during their breaks to enjoy the space for themselves too! The school really appreciated the prayer space and loved how it supported the work they were doing around wellbeing throughout school. Staff said, ‘The children learnt how to pray, think, and reflect in different ways and how to look after themselves mentally. It was a lovely, relaxing area to spend time in, to just stop and think and the children benefited from this.’
It was so great to meet children that had visited the Prayer Space at the town’s big summer BBQ and for them to continue their journey of learning about prayer and faith. We love being part of Kingdom partnerships and are excited about hosting more prayer spaces in our local schools soon!