The beginning of September means the start of a new school year and we are looking forward to all the new and exciting opportunities that this year has in store. There are a couple of pieces of team news we would like to share with you. Firstly, as many of you will know, Phil was due to have a hip replacement at the start of this term (4th September). We have had word from him that all is well and he is recovering on the ward and hopes to be home by the weekend. Please pray for Phil as he takes some time to rest and recover following his operation. 

The second piece of news is that PACE is hiring. We are looking for someone passionate about children and young people to come and join our team. If you know of anyone who would be interested in a part-time schools worker position please encourage them to get in touch at hellopace@paceguernsey.com. Please also pray for the right person to come along and join us. 

The start of term has been a mix of meetings and emails as we start to contact schools and plan out our vision and goals for the year. Lisa had the opportunity to go to a School’s Worker day conference put on by Youthscape held in Luton on Monday. She was able to connect with other organisations who are doing similar work all over the UK and beyond. Lisa was reminded of the importance of being a Christian presence in schools. Scripture Union state that 95% of children and young people don’t engage with a local church. Therefore the work that PACE does could be the only interaction that some young people and children have with Christianity. If you would like to get involved in our work in anyway please do get in touch. 

Finally, please pray for the team as they embark on the adventure of a new school year. You may have missed our summer newsletter so we have attached it for you to look at. 

The last two weeks of the summer term were spent at Vauvert and La Houguette for Prayer Spaces.

Please enjoy these photos from both events. Thank you to all our volunteers who helped make these events possible!

With not long left of the term and the summer holidays waiting, we’re not exactly slowing down just yet! This week we’re in Vauvert for their Reflection Spaces. Starting this morning and running for three days we have a mix of different stations set up in a classroom. The stations include;

• Seeds of Hope
• Sorry Bin
• Light Lilies
• Thankful Ducks
• Quiet Space
• Finger Print

We’ve got a number of volunteers helping us over three days, thank you to all of you!

We will also be taking a number of Transition Lessons in the following schools; Hautes Capelles, Castel and Amherst. Please pray that the students respond positively and find the lessons helpful.

All of our lunch clubs are coming to an end this week too, including Vale and St Mary and St Michael’s BOLT clubs and St Sampsons and Grammar senior lunch clubs. These have been great fun and we’ve loved getting to know the students more each week!

Please see some of the photos below of our set up for Vauvert!

Wow, it has been an incredible week. Bob Hartman spent the week with us, visiting 8 schools, speaking at churches and running a storytelling workshop.

Bob’s busy week began by speaking at our AGM last Monday. On Tuesday we visited Beechwood, where Bob led an assembly and two lessons for Year 5. They really enjoyed it, there was a lot of laughter! Some of the children even asked Bob for his autograph, which soon had nearly the whole class getting one! That afternoon we took Bob into St Martins where he again led two lessons this time with Year 3 and an assembly.

On day 2, we started with St Mary and St Michaels, holding multiple lessons and ending with an assembly. This was followed by two lessons and an assembly at Amherst. A lesson with Bob usually involved him telling a number of interactive stories, answering questions and inventing a brand new story with the children.

Thursday started with a junior assembly at Vauvert followed by the morning at La Houguette. Here Bob did two lessons and an assembly. An assembly with Bob consists of just him (and occasionally some volunteers too!). He stands at the front of the hall and tells a story, always with a message alongside. The children will join in and do the actions and noises to help bring the stories to life. It’s a lot of fun! After La Houguette we spent the afternoon at Notre Dame. Again the children were very enthusiastic. One child even said that she thought Bob’s books looked very intriguing and that he had inspired her to write stories too.

On the last day in school’s Bob visited Vauvert and La Mare, taking lessons and workshops. These were received very well.

On Saturday morning we had invited teachers, church leaders and children’s workers to a storytelling workshop run by Bob. It was a fantastic morning, Bob taught us lots of tips and tricks about storytelling and we had a lot of fun as well! Thank you to everyone who came, donated or helped bring the morning together!

Bob ended his busy week by speaking at two churches on Sunday, Les Camps Methodist and Vazon Elim.

We would like to say a huge THANK YOU to Bob for visiting us and teaching us so much. Thank you also to his hosts, those who donated and made this week possible. We ask that you join us in thanking God for this opportunity and also pray that Bob has a restful week!

This week we will be continuing our Transition Lessons at Notre Dame, St Mary and St Michaels, St Martins and Forest and taking a number of assemblies in Castel, Amherst and La Mare Primary and High schools.

Please see these photos below of Bob in action!

Thank you to all of those who came to our AGM to hear about the work of PACE and all that we have been up to over the past year. A highlight from the evening was hearing our guest speaker Bob Hartman share on the importance of being passionate. He spoke on the parable of the lost sheep and reminded us that God is a passionate God, passionate about every single one of us. We would like to say a massive thank you to the Salvation Army for hosting the event and providing lots of yummy cake for us all. 

Bob Hartman is visiting Guernsey for the week and is booked into 8 primary schools to lead lessons on Bible stories and story-telling workshops. He will be visiting Beechwood, St Martin’s, St Mary and St Michaels, Amherst Juniors, La Houguette, Notre Dame, Vauvert and La Mare. Bob will be leading a training morning on Saturday 29th June at Les Camps Methodist Church from 9am-12pm and costs £10pp. Please email pace@cwgsy.net for more information. This will be a great morning as Bob shares about the art of story-telling and communication. Bob will also be speaking at Les Camps on Sunday 30th at 10:30am and Vazon Elim at 6pm. 

The PACE team will be delivering primary assemblies at Capelles Infants and Forest as well as taking a Transition Lesson at Melrose. In BOLT club’s at Vale and at St Mary and St Michaels we’ll be looking at “Jesus came to do good.” In senior lunch clubs we are looking at the importance of having a healthy lifestyle and looking after yourself.

In primary schools, we will be starting our second summer assembly this week. Visiting Vale and Acorn House, our theme is “Friendship”. We will be encouraging the children to make the most of their summer, spend time with their friends and have fun! Our starting activity will be a jigsaw, with volunteers putting together a picture of a BBQ. We’ll look at how Jesus liked a BBQ too! Using the story of Jesus and Peter, we’ll explore friendship, what makes a good friend and how we need to be good friends to others.

We will also be visiting La Rondin, to deliver our final puppet assembly. We’re really looking forward to this as the children love the puppets! A big thank you to Nigel Lewis and Kate Hatton for helping us out with these! We couldn’t do it without you.

BOLT clubs are going strong, we started at Vale last week with 6 children coming to the first session. This week we will be looking at “God Created The World”. At St Mary and St Michaels we’ll be looking at “God Speaks To Us Through The Bible.” Here numbers can vary from week to week, but we have a core group which is great!

This week in senior lunch clubs we continue with the theme of Social Media and the impact it can have our self-esteem. Sometimes we need to stop and reflect on the effect Social Media can have on our self-image, and remember we are so much more than the amount of ‘likes’ or ‘hearts’ we receive for our post. Christian’s believe our value is found in who God says we are, humanity is the pinnacle of God’s creation, God created us in His image (Gen 1:27), therefore we are of utmost importance to God.

Last summer we trialled Scripture Union’s ‘It’s Your Move’ lesson and it was a huge success in the 9 schools we visited. This year we will be presenting this session to all 14 primary schools as they look at transitioning to secondary school.  This session looks at the changes, challenges and choices that Year 6 students may encounter as they make their move to high school. This week we will visit La Houguette for the first of these lessons.

After a refreshing half term it is great to be back in schools. In senior lunch clubs we are looking at Social Media. We ask the students what Social Media platforms they use and the impact it can have on them personally and on other people. Social Media is a great tool for connecting people but sometimes we need to stop and think about how and why we are using it. We encourage the students to reflect on what they post online and challenge them to think about if the words they are using are positive and encouraging.

Phil and Lisa will visit Ladies College to deliver an assembly on the theme ‘admitting when we are wrong’. This can be challenge for all of us but particularly for Lisa who is running late to the assembly and invents a very interesting story, including road closures, ducks and snow!! Only to be outed by Phil for the real reason she is running late… she overslept!! Christians believe that God wants the best for all people and through his love for humanity he offers the opportunity of a fresh start. The story of David is an example of someone who got it wrong and who turned to God for forgiveness. We challenge the students to think about the character it shows when someone admits they are wrong, a person who is: trustworthy, humble, sincere and honest.

We will also visit St Sampsons to deliver a lesson on the Christian views on Poverty to Year 10 students. This has been a powerful lesson in the past as we discuss why people live in poverty, what the Bible says about how we should help those in need and how christians are actively making a difference around the world today.  

In primary schools we’ll be visiting Melrose twice this week for assemblies. Phil will be giving out the OT Mini certificates from their course earlier in the year. We will also be bringing the puppet assembly to the school. As we’re nearly finished delivering this set of assemblies, we’ve started to plan for our next one, please pray for us in our preparations!

Phil continues OT Mini at Blanchelande and St Mary and St Michaels. Both courses are going really well with lots of enthusiasm!

As half term approaches we’ve got a quieter week with only one primary puppet assembly taking place at Vauvert and two senior assemblies at Elizabeth College looking at “Perseverance”. We use a clip from the film Cool Runnings to explain the importance of not giving up despite the struggles and difficulties we might come across in life. We conclude by looking at the life of Paul and how he encourages his followers to keep going and to keep looking forward (Philippians  3:13-14).

Our lunch clubs are going well with BOLT club at St Mary and St Michaels on Week 3, “God Loves Us”. Our theme for senior clubs is “Priorities” as students approach exam season we remind them of the importance of making wise decisions on how to use their time well.

Please make a note of our upcoming AGM on 24th June with guest speaker, Bob Hartman! We are delighted to have the amazing opportunity of having Bob in Guernsey for the last week of June. He will be visiting a number of our primary schools delivering assemblies and lessons.

Here’s a bit more information about him! “Internationally acclaimed Bob Hartman is a much-loved performance storyteller for children. Renowned for his dynamic, energetic and interactive performances, Bob has entertained audiences on both sides of the Atlantic – from the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum to schools, bookshops and major festivals throughout the UK – including the Edinburgh International Book Festival and the Northern Children’s Book Festival, both of which he has been a well-loved favourite at for a number of years…

Bob’s storytelling programme combines traditional folk-tales from around the world, retold in his own inimitable style, with his own inventive stories. Bob loves to help children create their own stories on the spot, and also runs practical workshops for older children and adults who want to understand the power of storytelling and improve their skills.

Bob Hartman is the author of the Lion Storyteller series, a number of picture story books including Noah’s Big Boat, Dinner in the Lions’ Den, The Wolf who Cried Boy and The Three Billy Goats’ Stuff as well as Mr Aesop’s Story Shop and a series of books for adults: Telling the Bible and Telling the Gospel in which he offers his thoughts on storytelling and tips on how to tell stories in fresh and intriguing ways.”  (www.lovereading4kids.co.uk)

Bob will also be running a morning workshop for anyone involved in working with children in churches. Please email pace@cwgsy.net to book a place! We would love to see you there, this is not to be missed!

More information can be found on the flyer below.