With everyone starting back at school this week we have started organising, planning and preparing for the new term and new school year. We’re praying for those starting a new school, particularly those going into Year 7, where the transition from going from top of the school in Year 6 to the bottom of a brand new, unknown school can be scary. We encourage you to think of these children too, that they have a great first week, settle in quickly and make new friends.

Our practical school work starts properly next week with senior lunch clubs starting back. Phil has been invited to have a conversation with some RE teachers and head teachers to discuss what PACE has to offer and how we can grow our work at their school.

Please also continue to pray for new and exciting opportunities this term for the PACE team.

As ever, thank you so much for your ongoing support.

It’s nearly time to get back to school and we’ve got lots of exciting opportunities this term already booked in. It’s looking like a busy term but to see a calendar filled with bookings makes us realise how blessed we are in Guernsey. It’s fantastic that there are so many open doors, and that our schools enjoy having us.

The team will spend the beginning of September organising, planning and getting used to being a team of 3. However we realise that we are not alone and we have our amazing pool of volunteers who will be supporting us and helping us deliver all that we can to the schools.

This week we’d just like to thank God for all the amazing opportunities that we have in going into schools and talking about Jesus. Please also pray for the team, who have some anxiety about not having enough people to do all the work! We know that God has a plan, that it is all in His hands, so we pray for trust and for peace in the waiting. We thank God for the refreshment of the summer holidays and look forward to getting back into the schools.

As the Autumn term approaches, nerves and excitement begin to surface in the students as they move into a new school or a new class. This week we’d like to spend some time praying for the schools of Guernsey, the students, teachers and the States.

You may have seen that we have a new “Prayer Postcard” which bullet points areas that need our prayer. We ask that you spend some time this week praying for each of these areas.

If your church hasn’t received a pack of these, please contact Sarah on sarah.snell@paceguernsey.com and we will get some to you as soon as we can.

Thank you for all your support.

From all of us at PACE, we want to say a massive thank you to all our volunteers. With their hard-work and dedication, the work of PACE is able to grow and flourish. Our volunteers are key in helping us run many of our activities in the schools across the island. From people who come and help lead a lunch club every week, to helping lead a one off lesson, to taking a small group around a prayer space activity, the opportunities are endless.

We also appreciate those people who support us behind the scenes in preparing activities, taking time out to cut out items needed for our sessions. Please take a look at this video to find out what volunteering means to some of our volunteers.

If you would like to become involved in our work in anyway, please let us know. That could mean an hour a week, an hour a month or on an as and when basis when there is activity taking place at your local school.

More and more we want to connect local churches with their local schools and supply opportunities for relationships to grow between them. Most importantly we want to continue saying ‘yes’ to schools when invitations come in.

*Please note that this video is not publicly listed on Youtube, it is only accessible through a private link.

Even by our Baskerville family standards, these last twelve months have been dramatic! Up until March last year I was team leader at Shiloh Church, having served for 3 and a half years, following 5 years as vicar at St Sampson’s church. After a roller-coaster of a journey, however, we sensed God calling me to leave church leadership for a time to work full- time with PACE in our local schools. The vision was to build on the remarkable work that PACE have done for over 25 years by further developing the partnership with our local churches, along with deepening our commitment to supporting schools with their teaching of RE and to provide opportunities to explore spirituality and faith – as our mission statement says:

‘Connecting schools and churches; Communicating Christian beliefs and values and Creating space to explore faith’

Having started with PACE in July 2017, this last year has flown by…..and I have loved it! Meeting and talking to school heads and RE coordinators (and representatives of the States’ Education committee) along with local church leaders has been an exciting experience as I hear the enthusiasm there is for the work to develop and expand.

So many highlights over the year – visiting and connecting with ‘new’ churches that have not been supporting PACE before; being invited into schools where previously we have had limited opportunities; achieving one of my long-standing goals to be teaching our Walk through the Bible programme in every primary school on the island (almost 5000 Guernsey children have now taken part in at least one of these 5-week courses); having increasing opportunities to share in not just the teaching of RE but also in helping schools to explore their whole delivery of RE across the school; hearing some children (in their own words) ‘talk to God’ for the first time; meeting and supporting many excellent, committed and enthusiastic teachers in every school; the privilege of working with our wonderful PACE team and the many volunteers from a wide variety of our local churches.

This first year has confirmed my initial observation that Guernsey really does offer a unique opportunity to share in the life of every school on the island – unlike anything I have seen in my previous 40 years of schools’ ministry in the UK and overseas. Unlike the UK, all our island schools are not just ‘open’ to this work but are really enthusiastic about our working together. We pray that God will continue to keep the doors open – as Jesus said: As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me’ (John 9:4) – we cannot just presume upon this openness.

A huge thank you to all of you who have grasped this opportunity to share in this vision for the work of PACE in helping our local churches more deeply to connect with their local schools – by your prayers, your work as volunteers and in your financial giving which has enabled this new chapter to begin. We are deeply grateful!

The PACE puppets make their way around the primary schools of Guernsey a couple of times a year. This summer they did not disappoint students and made an appearance where they talked to the students about changes. Oscar the puppet, is going to be moving to a new school and he is nervous about what people might think of him. With some help from his friend Amy and the PACE presenter Oscar learns he doesn’t need to change his outwards appearance it’s what’s on the inside that counts. Take a look at the whole performance below.

PACE, the final frontier?

My connection with PACE began during my time as a student at Elizabeth College, where I attended a Christian Union which was run by PACE’s first schools’ worker, Keith Le Cheminant. As I got older I saw the value in the work being done and seeds were sown in me, which grew into a passion for youth work during my time at university and as a volunteer youth worker. As a result I applied for a job with PACE when one became available (around 1998) but was not successful. However Mark Le Tissier (the chairman of PACE) soon realised his mistake… (no, actually it was more a question of God’s timing!) and when another vacancy appeared in 2002 I jumped at the chance to get onboard with PACE. The extra experience I’d had as a youth worker and teacher set me up well for the demands of working with children and teenagers in schools across the island.

I have many fond memories and have made many friends during the last sixteen years. Perhaps the most memorable thing I did was to become a superhero for a month every year and visit primary schools wearing my underpants over my trousers and a golden cape as part of my Lightning Lee outfit. This chapter of my PACE life ended several years ago, just in time to spare the blushes of my daughter as she started school, but I am still reminded of it occasionally by students, now well into their High School years, who call out “Hello Lightning Lee!” as I make my way to an assembly or club, or just walk by in town!

One memorable alter-ego who has stayed with me to the end though, is Oscar the puppet, a favourite among primary-age children, who helped teach many life lessons and stories from the Bible, ably supported by his puppet colleagues.

But the last sixteen years has not just been about the 2000 or so assemblies I have done with the team. It has also been a great privilege to spend time with students in lunch clubs and lessons and get stuck into discussions on serious (and sometimes not so serious) topics. In recent years I have thoroughly enjoyed PACE’s increased focus on lesson support and the way we have brought a creative, interactive and Bible-based approach to R.E. lessons. I have realised that we don’t need to have all the answers to be a good Christian witness in these situations, but we need to be honest about our faith, including the questions that we might still have. This is where the Church in Guernsey can have a massive impact; just being real with people, showing we care enough to engage with schools and taking opportunities to serve and share our faith in appropriate ways.

When I look back at my time with PACE I can see that much has been achieved. The work has developed and expanded, in both volume and variety, and we have sought to plan strategically in line with our mission statement. I have seen team members come and go; I have had twenty-three PACE colleagues if my memory is accurate! But despite all of these changes the heart of PACE has remained: a desire to faithfully represent Christ in Guernsey schools, sowing seeds wherever we go, much like that seed that was sown in me back in the early 90s when PACE started out. I pray that PACE will continue to sow into the lives of young people for many years to come, supported more and more by local churches and individuals.

So as my adventure with PACE draws to an end and I begin a teaching role at Elizabeth College I will take some great memories (and hopefully some transferable skills) with me. It could take some time to get used to being called ‘Sir’ rather than ‘Lee from PACE’ and it will feel strange, but I trust that in this new chapter I will be able to make a positive difference in the lives of many young people. I believe God has plans for each of us, even if he leads us into unexpected places.

God bless

Lee

The final week of term is now here and we started the week by reflecting back over the term. We have had so many great opportunities to share and communicate the Bible to so many students across the Island. We are very thankful for all the clubs, lessons and assemblies we have been privileged to lead this term. Please take a moment to look at our Newsletter where we share some of our highlights from the last few months. Find it here: 2018 Summer Newsletter

This week we have our final transition lessons as St Mary and St Michael’s, Castel and Vauvert. These sessions have been well received by the students who openly discuss the changes and challenges they are going to face at they move to their new schools. Many of the teachers have fed back that the lesson is great and fits in well to the foundation the school has already laid as they prepare the students for their move.

Finally, we had our end of term lunch on Monday but this marked the end of an era. It was Lee’s last team lunch and we were able to celebrate all that Lee has done and brought to the team over the last 16 years. He will be missed by the team and I am sure the schools and students as well. We wish him all the best as he takes up his teaching position at Elizabeth College in September.

As we approach the end of term, our week is mostly consisting of transition lessons for pupils in Year 6 who will be moving on to new schools. Feedback so far on the lessons has been very positive and we’re looking forward to delivering more this week. So far we have been to Notre Dame, Vale and Hautes Capelles. Later in the week we’ll be at La Houguette and Amherst.

Sarah and Sian have just finished their presentation assembly at Forest for the OT Mini course they did with Year 5. They delivered a quick summary of the 5 lessons they taught before the Year 5’s presented the 40 signs to the rest of the school. Well done to all the Year 5’s! We’ve already talked about booking in for next year!

Phil will be visiting St Mary and St Micheal to deliver the last session in their OT Mini today.

Please keep praying for the team as they approach the end of term, and in looking for a new school’s worker. We also ask that you continue to keep the 650 Year 6 students of the island, who will be approaching their last week of primary school and may be feeling mixed emotions about moving to Year 7.