In October 2023 the Schools Team at Off The Fence (Brighton & Hove) set up a permanent prayer space at St Andrews C of E school in Hove. One lunchtime every week in term time they take over the school library and run prayer activities for students in years 3 to 6. 

Becky, who heads up the space says, “There’s only space for about 10 students to come at a time so we repeat the same activities each week for the whole term until every student has had the chance to come and get involved.” 

This term the prayer theme is thankfulness. Students play a thank you game using a giant a dice. They roll the dice and move round that many steps in the circle, landing on a whiteboard with a category attached, where they write something from that category they’re thankful for. The participants continue taking turns with the dice and moving round the circle until the whiteboards are FULL of things to be thankful to God for. Students then have the opportunity to turn this into a prayer and stick it onto the prayer space wall. 

Becky says, “It’s been great to see them engage with this activity and be amazed by the amount of things God has given them which they can thank him for.”

The team are also working with the schools RE lead and student faith council to create a permanent outdoor prayer space. Students have been coming up with amazing ideas for this space which they will try and make into reality over the next term. We’ll keep you updated with how it goes!