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Maggie in Salisbury

17th January 2024

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We heard from Maggie in Salisbury who shared with us about their prayer space in school at the end of November, Maggie shared,

We had a great day, a one off but hopefully to be repeated. We led one in March 2022 which was well received and the children remembered much about it and looked forward to this one. As a result prayer boxes are being introduced into the classrooms and a more communal prayer space is being planned in the school. 

We held the day in the church which is opposite the school This meant less disruption to the school day and less work for teachers and gave the children the chance to come into the church. 

The volunteers from the church community enjoyed participating, and found it moving and enlightening.

We ran

– Sorry Sand

– Fizzy Forgiveness

– Thank you Playdoh and petals

– Bubble tube prayers

– The world

– Hopeful hopscotch 

This latter was a new station and helped the children think about listening to God as well as talking TO him. We taped a ‘message from God’ on each of the squares, the children rolled a stone and read out the message which was for them. We are giving each child a copy of the words they heard for them that day as a reminder that God is interested, caring and understanding, and values them. The phrases were all Biblical and affirming eg. You are God’s Masterpiece, God delights in you etc. Seeing the children’s faces as we read them out to each was a delight in itself. 

We also had a bead station where the children made bracelets and thought of friends or family, or things they were sorry for or grateful for as they made them. This was very popular. 

Some children who had issues with anxiety commented that they felt ’safe’ in the prayer space and didn’t need their supportive devices

A child who had experienced a family bereavement found the stations helped them deal with some of the pain they were feeling, and articulate it.

A visit to the school 2 weeks afterwards was encouraging in that the children remembered what they had done, and why, and were able to say which bits they had enjoyed. Comments incuded:

‘I loved all of it’!

‘We saw what happens when we say sorry’,  

‘God told me I was special to Him’

Jesus is with me always and will never leave me’,

‘I felt better because I was able to say sorry to my friend’,

‘We prayed for peace and asked God to stop all wars’. 

We all learnt a great deal from each other and have fixed a date to repeat it, with some different stations, in the summer term.