The whole school, from foundation to year six, visited the space for around half an hour to use the activities provided for them. The room was beautifully set up with gazebos, cushions, fairy lights, and lots of different creative things to do. Activities included pipe-cleaner prayers, crowns for leaders, sand trays, roller-coaster emotions, and much more.
Most of the children had remembered the prayer space from previous years with positive memories and were excited to use it again.
Cathryn Baker, member of the Venta Group Benefice explains more:
“When the children came in, we had a few minutes of sitting down together while we spoke about the prayer space and let the children take turns to tell us what they thought ‘praying’ was. We explained how Christians might think of prayer and made it clear that they didn’t have to pray if they didn’t want to – they could use the time just to reflect and be creative if they’d rather do that. We explained the activities and then gave them free, unstructured time to explore the room. Helpers from church supported them through each of the activities as well as a member of staff from the school. At the end of each session, we gathered everyone together to ask about their favourite activities, their experience of the space, and how it had felt to try talking to God in different ways.”
A year one student said, “This is the best place ever“.
A year two student said, “I liked the sand activity because I had a bad dream last night, and I drew my dream in the sand and then I wiped it away.”
A year six child said “When I popped the bubbles it was like God was saying that everything is going to be okay.”
It was a privilege when another year six child asked to pray out loud at the end of the session, saying thank you to God for the “beautiful space” that had been created for them.”
With the success of the prayer space, it was left in place for a few more days so that the year six children could continue to use it as a calm, peaceful space during their SATs tests week.
If you would like to know more about setting up a prayer space in a local school or your church, please get in contact with the Children, Youth & Families Team.