Since retiring from Finedon Mulso CE Junior School in 2018, I have maintained a link with the school through being a Foundation Governor and a Bishop’s School Supporter. One of my main activities in the school has been to introduce the children to Prayer Spaces. Over the years, we have held Prayer Spaces on various themes – Easter, Advent, the Lord’s Prayer and they have been very well received by staff and children and we have also opened them up after school hours for children to bring back their parents.

Recently, I have been working with the Governors and Headteacher on the school’s vision, which focuses on ‘Nurturing children to flourish, enabling them to live life in all its fullness.’  This is, of course, based on John 10:10.  We wanted the children to understand what it means to live life in all its fullness and what Jesus meant when he said these words. We decided that we needed the children to understand the whole context of Jesus’ words by looking at the whole chapter in John’s Gospel.  This meant that the children needed to understand Jesus’ metaphors when he talked about being the ‘Good Shepherd’ and the ‘Gate for his sheep’.  A series of lessons were planned on this theme, which are taught annually throughout the school, as well as a focus on the school vision on the July transition days.  

We decided that to further the children’s understanding the subject of our next Prayer Space could be on the theme of the Good Shepherd. We planned five stations:

Christmas Shepherds, where children were asked to think about Jesus’ birth being announced to the shepherds, who were quite ordinary people. They then reflected on people who may not feel special and to write a thought or a prayer about them.

For Psalm 23, the children were asked to consider how the shepherd cares for his sheep and provides all they need. In thinking about God’s provision for us, the children were also invited to think of ways we could help others who have less than we do.

The Lost Sheep parable was shared and its meaning explained. The children were asked to reflect on how God’s care made them feel and respond by writing a sentence to God on a sheep shape.

I am the Good Shepherd – here the children learnt about how the shepherd protects his sheep from predators by being the gate to the sheepfold. The children were invited to think of people who protect and care for them and to give thanks for them.

Life in all its fullness – this was the concluding station, where everything that the children had learnt about Jesus’ love, care and protection were summarised, with the invitation to them to respond to this love by becoming part of God’s family.

The children came to the hall in classes and had around half an hour to browse the stations, complete the activities and reflect on the themes. Children considered how the Good Shepherd loves and cares for his sheep. The sheep know his voice, he calls them by name, he provides them with all that they need and he protects them from threats. God wants us to enjoy the same love and care as the shepherd gives to his sheep and invites us to be part of his family and to enjoy life to the full.

A team of volunteers from the church helped to focus the discussion and reflection at each station. The headteacher commented that it was a great opportunity for the younger members of the community to engage in a positive, spiritual way with older members.

A member of staff new to the school, said she found the experience really positive and a great opportunity to allow children dedicated time to reflect, often responding with insightful comments about how each station made them think about the school vision and how it helps them live their life.  

Some of the children’s comments:

“I learnt how important the shepherd’s job is and how risky it is – I imagine we are the sheep and Jesus is the shepherd looking after us – I feel looked after by Jesus.”

“One of the stations was about living life in all its fullness which is our vision – we put our name into sheepfold to show that we wanted to be part of God’s family.”

“I learnt that the shepherds have to get food for the sheep and it can be dangerous – they might have to spend hours of a day getting food and at night they have to sit at the gate – it shows how much they loved the sheep. It made me think about how people help me to live my life.”

“It linked to yesterday’s worship which was about being thankful for food and not taking food for granted. At the station with the flower we were reflecting on all the children who don’t have food and drink in the world and this was like the worship yesterday.”

“Each Prayer Space we have had is different and it’s fun because they teach us new things. It is a good opportunity to have conversations with children about what they think about God.”

“I’m thankful to the volunteers who sacrifice their free time to come and talk about God with us and things we can learn about how we live our life. It’s like an RE lesson and it’s really fun.”