Author Archive: pacestaging

Happy New Year!

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We have arrived into 2024 with some very exciting news! Jo Le Page has joined the PACE team. Lisa and Sarah are delighted to have Jo join them with lots of experience and an enthusiasm for sharing God with children and young people.

“Hi, I’m Jo.  I joined PACE in 2024.  I was drawn to PACE as I feel it is so important and special to be able to tell children that they are important and to allow them to learn about the Bible in such an imaginative and vivid way.  I am married and have two children.  I have been brought up in the church and committed my life to God at a very young age, but as a teenager I really came to a cross roads where I made my faith my own, and despite being raised in a Christian family I realised that I wanted God in my life because I personally found his existence to be undeniable and I wanted to be a Christian for this reason and not just because that was how I was brought up. This made my faith my own. I attend Fort Christian Fellowship at St Saviours Community Centre.  I have a heart for leading people into worship and have been blessed to be able to do this at Delancey Elim as well as at my home church.  We are a family who love animals, so outside of work when I am not spending time with my family or taking my children to activities or playing with them I am very involved with caring for our four guinea pigs and a dog who was born deaf, I spend a lot of time training my deaf dog sign language and taking him to agility classes and scent training which is very challenging but rewarding.”

At the beginning of term, Sarah also went back to Lee Abbey for her SWYM Conference week. It was a cold but refreshing week! Sarah says, “I really enjoy going to Conference, the lectures take us deeper into our faith and understanding of God as well as training us to be confident leaders in our placements. This time we looked at the topic of Value – what we value and how God values us. We also studied the Character of God, learning about the different names and meanings. Be Transformed is really helping me grow as a person, a Christian and someone working with children and young people.”

We’ve got some exciting things coming up over the next term, please continue to pray for the children and young people in our schools, as well as the staff and PACE as we go into deliver different activities.

PACE Winter Newsletter 2023

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For our last blog post of 2023 we would like to share out latest newsletter with you all. It contains some important information regarding a change in our leadership. We hope you will also enjoy reading about all that we’ve done during this term.

This term has bought its challenges for the team, but we have strived to continue to serve the schools of Guernsey as best as we could, trusting that God is in control. 

We’d like to thank all of our volunteers who have been an incredible support to us, giving their time to deliver a lot of amazing activities in schools. 

Thank you for your ongoing support.  

We wish you a very Happy Christmas and all the best for the New Year. 

Pace-newsletter-Winter-2023-Download

PACE Update

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Last week we started our first Christmas in a Box lessons at La Mare Primary which continued this week. The lesson was received very well and enjoyed by both children and teachers. During the lesson and the discussions we ask the children to write advice that they may receive from the characters and it is always lovely to read their reflections. This week we also visited Blanchelande College to deliver the lesson to their Year 3 children. During the box about Mary, one child wrote, “Mary might say you are special in your way.” We encourage the children that Mary was an ordinary girl but God saw something special inside her and included her in His story. She was precious to God as is each one of them.

Last week we also held a Prayer Spaces event as Beechwood. We transformed their library into a reflection space with activities thinking about being thankful, letting go of difficult emotions, sharing worries and being special and unique. During the two days we were at the school, many children came through the space and learnt about what Christians talk to God about and engaged well with the stations. Our thankful station was particularly poignant as the children wrote down what they wanted to say thank you for.

PACE were invited back to The Rock Community Church to add a Christmas tree to their Tree Festival. In our secondary lunch clubs we asked students to get involved with the decorating. They were very creative and made some lovely decorations which we put on the tree. We hope that everyone who visits enjoys the festival and seeing lots of wonderful organisations represented.

As we approach the end of term, please continue to pray for the work, the team and volunteers. Thank you!

PACE Update

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Christmas is fast approaching which means Christmas in a Box lesson preparation is in full swing! We’re starting our first lessons next week and we can’t wait!

Our volunteers are and will be folding, counting, cutting and sorting all the resources so we are ready to go!

On Saturday 18th November, we had our Walk Through The Bible OT Live day with visiting speaker Tom Greene. We had a great day! Nearly 40 people joined with us to learn the Old Testament story line and dive into Bible stories. We’ve had some really positive feedback and people keen for a New Testament day too! Watch this space! Here are some pictures from the day.

Following on from that, Tom stayed on island to train up 3 new OT Mini presenters; our very own Mark Le Tissier, Rev Jacky Cotterell and Natasha Luggar. They will be joining our current wonderful team of OT Mini presenters and be supported as they begin the journey of teaching in schools.

This week has also seen a Prayer Spaces event at Blanchelande, this time for their senior students. Tom Saddington was invited to host an event and asked PACE to assist and together we ran a two day event for those in Year 7 -11. We looked at self worth, conflict in the world, worries and being thankful for those who lift us up when we are down or need protecting. There were some really deep responses to the activities and all students were amazing! We pray that it was a helpful time for the school and students.

PACE Update

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It’s been a busy few weeks! Sarah attended her second SWYM conference at Lee Abbey in Devon where she spent 4 days in lectures! The theme of the week was Radical Welcome and there were some fantastic, thought-provoking speakers.

Eleanor (Guernsey’s Area Coordinator) has written up a little about the week.
Our Guernsey SWYM cluster have just been away to conference where it was great to catch up with all the other trainees and compare notes about how things are going. Teaching topics included Child Development, Old Testament overview and Biblical themes. The sessions on the Old Testament were fab and reinforced what a great way of communicating God’s word OT Mini is and how fantastic it is to be able to share the story of God’s love for his world in schools – we’re looking forward even more to Tom Greene coming over even more now! 

We’ve also started a new OT Mini course at Notre Dame for their Year 5’s and Year 6’s. Frances, Bryan and Sarah-Jane are taking these on which is fantastic. We love that we have a team that can confidently run these courses. We’re very excited to train some new presenters too when Tom Greene comes over for our OT Live day on 18th November.

Christmas is fast approaching now that we are into November, so we have started our preparation for Christmas in a Box 2023! This year we are aiming to be delivering this 2 hour lesson to 7 schools reaching 250-300 children. We love these lessons because we get to dive into the Christmas story and characters and discuss with the children their response to how it can be relevant to us today.

PACE Update

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The last few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind so we are very much looking forward to half term!

This week we were invited to take part in a Retreat Day at Blanchelande College with their juniors. We set up a Prayer Spaces room in a Year 6 classroom and throughout the day children came and visited us, spending 35 minutes going around prayer stations. One of the popular stations was a new one for us – Pipe Cleaner People. We asked the children to make a cross or a person to remind them to pray for other people. They loved getting creative and made some amazing things! We also had a quiet area with some calming colours and space to lie or sit next to our bubble tube. We encouraged the children to really be quiet and still in this section. The Our Prayers station was also popular with the children being very reflective and writing some lovely prayers for themselves and others all over the world.

We were so pleased to have been a part of this wonderful day and very much enjoyed seeing all the children that visited us.

Last week Sarah travelled over the Jersey to see Life Exhibition which is a multi-media experience designed for primary school children. Set up in Town Church, Sarah got to see first hand and up close what this looked like and how it might work in Guernsey. The children all seemed to love the experience and the feedback from teachers was very positive. They had over 530 children from across Jersey schools visit. The exhibition consists of going through different sections looking at Parables, Prophecy and Miracles before watching a short video on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. We would love to do this in Guernsey. Watch this space!

Update from the Guernsey SWYM Cluster

It has been a busy first half term for our new SWYM trainees. They were away for the first two weeks of September in the UK for SWYM induction and conference, a full-on time of making new friends, worshipping and learning together. Since then they’ve been back on island working in their churches and in local schools. Sophie is based at Shiloh, Natasha at St. Martin’s and Sarah at PACE and Les Camps.

We always get together on Tuesday afternoons to support each other as we reflect on the week, pray and eat biscuits. Yesterday afternoon we helped out together at the Blanchelande Retreat Day with the Prayer Spaces.  After we’d packed down, we had a cup of tea while we reflected on the experience and thought about how we could use the prayer spaces idea in other contexts before praying for each other.

It’s been a good start to the year.  It’s great to grow and learn together, and all sorts of ideas are popping up for ways to work together across churches and schools. After half term, we’ll be back in Devon for another week of SWYM conference and then the few weeks before Christmas are always busy ones. Do keep praying for Sophie, Natasha, Sarah and me – we really appreciate it. 

Love Eleanor      

PACE Update

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In September we get stuck in with our Creation Lessons with Year 1 and Year 2. These lessons are spent discovering what Christians believe about how the world began. We explore the Creation story using Godly Play and going through the 7 days of creation. We then have a discussion with the children about which day they think is their favourite and is there a day that could be left out? This helps us realise that each day is very special and we couldn’t do without them – even the rest day! When they realise if we didn’t have that we wouldn’t have weekends and holidays they soon see the importance of it!

The children also get to create something themselves with PlayDoh and talk about how they might think God feels about his Creation. The big question we look at throughout the lesson is, “Should Christians look after the world?” To end the lesson we use a treasure box with a mirror inside to reveal that God’s most special, precious creation is each one of them, that God created them and loves them!

We’ve also started our Harvest assemblies, with Lisa delivering them alongside Tom Saddington and Howard Davenport. This time we look at the story in Exodus where the Israelites are travelling in the desert and they start grumbling about the lack of food. But God provides them with Manna and Quail. During the assembly, one presenter acts a bit silly and distracts the other by cutting and folding paper to make a quail and a basket for the story – a bit of added fun! We then end with encouraging the children to remember to be grateful for all that we do have and all that we can share with others.  

Bible Stories - Manna and Quail - Yr B P11 — Corissa Nelson

Finally today is National Day of Prayer for Schools. On their Facebook page, Prayer Spaces in Schools have been posting prayer prompts throughout the day. They started the day posting this prayer:

Loving Father, we pray today for our schools and colleges, for all who work and learn in them.

We pray that they will be places of learning inspired by creativity, knowledge and wisdom.

We pray for our children and young people, that they will flourish in body, mind and spirit.

We pray for all who work in schools, the teachers, support staff and site team, that they will be resourced well, be able to give of their best and know that they are appreciated.

We pray for all who serve and support schools, especially those from local churches, that they will contribute with grace and so reveal Jesus through their deeds and words.

We pray, your kingdom come, in our schools, as in heaven.

Amen

Please join us and thousands of others praying for all those involved in schools and schoolswork!

PACE Update – We’re back!

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We are back, after a lovely summer break, we’re back for another fantastic year working in the schools of Guernsey. 

The term started with Sarah going off to the UK to begin her SWYM journey (with a broken ankle…).  She spent the first week at Hill House Christian Centre for Induction Week where she met with the team and her fellow SWYM trainees. There are 23 of them doing the Be Transformed course 2023-2024. Sarah has written up a summary of her time away. 

Induction week was spent getting to know each other and hearing one another’s testimonies and how they got to SWYM. Everyone had an incredible story and it was so clear to see Gods hand in each person’s journey there. Sessions introduced the course to the trainees and included looking at personal and professional boundaries, what makes us who we are and healthy relationships. We also had training in safeguarding, risk assessments, public speaking and planning sessions. The final day was spent writing and filming our testimonies for our first assignment. 

After a weekend break, we had our first Conference, which is four days where the whole of SWYM get together at Lee Abbey in Devon for a time of devotion, fellowship and teaching. This will happen six times over the year. This week we started our lectures, looking into The Gospel, breaking down the beginning of Genesis and learning about our human purpose being image bearers. It was amazing to dive into the Bible more and learn so much in a short time. Other lectures included looking at moments of Encounter with God and showed us creative ways we could run sessions with children and young people. We spent time outside in the beautiful setting of Lee Abbey, just being in God’s presence. 

These first two weeks were an amazing start to the year and makes me very excited to see all that God is going to do. I’m now back starting my placements at both PACE and Les Camps Methodist Church and looking forward to the year ahead. 

Meanwhile in Guernsey, Lisa has been busy making bookings, writing assemblies, preparing lunch clubs, meeting with various people and all the busyness that comes with a new school year!

Finally we would like to remind you of our upcoming OT Live event. We would love to see as many people there as possible! It’s a fantastic day learning the storyline of the Old Testament together in a fun and engaging way. Please book your place by visiting https://www.bible.org.uk/wtb_event_tickets.php and typing in your postcode! Lunch will be provided. Tom Greene has put together a new video for us too.

Last Day of Term!

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Today is the last day of term before the summer holidays. As we have reflected over the last year we are so incredibly grateful for all the work that we have done in the schools of Guernsey. We thank God for all the opportunities we have had with the children and young people across the island. We are also so thankful for your support, financially, prayerfully and through volunteering.

Please find below our Summer Newsletter detailing this term and our exciting upcoming OT Live event in November.

PACE-Newsletter-Summer-2023-Download

This week we also had a lovely Quiet Morning with Rev’d Claire Claxton at Forest Parish Church. We spent time reflecting on 1 Kings 19:9-13, walking the lanes and resting in the presence of God. These mornings are so valuable for us as a team and we also come away feeling refreshed!

We hope you have a wonderful summer with your friends and family, see you in September!

PACE Update

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Last week we held our AGM at Trinity Church. We had a great number of supporters, some new to our work, attend and hear all that we have been doing over the past year. After giving an update on the work, we had some time where those attending could wander around and look at each area of our work. We had set up stations for Prayer Spaces, OT Mini, Primary Assemblies, Secondary Work and Christmas in a Box/Easter in a Box. Our wonderful volunteers led these stations and chatted to supporters explaining what they did, what they enjoyed about the work and allowing people to explore the props and resources we use. It was a great event, a highlight of our year and we thank those that came to support us!

We have also been very busy delivering our 17 Leavers Lessons to all schools across the island. With a fantastic team joining us we have really enjoyed speaking to all the Year 6’s who are getting ready to move to secondary school. We met up as a team to go through the lesson and enjoy some Iced Tea in the sunshine. During these lessons we hand out each child an “It’s Your Move” book created by Scripture Union and donated generously by the local churches of Guernsey. These books are full of advice, puzzles, and stories to encourage the children that it’s an exciting move but also allowing them to explore that it’s ok to feel anxious and worried. Part of our lesson tells the children that PACE will be at their new school and that we are a friendly face they can look out for. We are looking forward to September when we can see them again. Please do pray for all students moving to new schools, new classes and new adventures over the next few months.