This week we are sharing a story from Mr Hardy at Parish Church of England Primary School in St Helens about their prayer space in school last month.

At Parish Church of England Primary School, our Chrisitan vision is “Learning and Growing Together in Faith, Hope and Love.” With our vision central to everything that we do, we been working hard as a school community to continually enhance our three permanent communal prayer spaces around our school building. We have one area for each of our core values (Faith, Hope and Love) and these change on a three-week cycle across the academic year. 

Led by our Pupil Ethos Team, we have been inspired by the resources from the ‘Prayer Spaces for School Website’ – particularly after attending inspirational Liverpool Diocese training last academic year. As a school, the prayer spaces are located where the children can use them independently during their free time and it is wonderful to see so many children accessing them throughout the day to reflect and develop spiritually. 

Our Pupil Ethos Team look for their favourite ideas on the website and bring these to life, creating prayer spaces that are important to our school community at that time. As a school, it is important that the children bring their own designs to life so that they can model and inspire their peers to use them. Some examples of recent prayer spaces include our Remembrance Day reflection space, ‘Bubble Prayers’ for New Year and ‘The Greatest Gift’ during Advent. So, what has been the impact? Please read some of the quotes from children below:

“I used the love prayer space to remind me of what I love and also tell God what I love. It made me feel peaceful, calm and relaxed.” (Pristillah, Year 3).

“I use prayer spaces because we can use them to remind ourselves that God loves us no matter what. I also use it to reflect on my mistakes and ask for forgiveness. I like the Bubble Prayer Space the most because I imagine the air inside the bubble consumes our worries and sends them to God.” (Maria, Y5).

“I like the Faith Prayer Space because you can send faith to people and to yourself. I did the bubble prayer and I let my worries be washed away to God.”  (Roman, Y4).

“I said the Lord’s Prayer at the Prayer Space and it made me feel peaceful.” (Laura, Y2).

Our latest initiatives have seen us working on outdoor prayer spaces, prayer spaces for parents and spaces where staff can reflect. With the resources from Prayer Spaces for Schools, the possibilities are truly endless…