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.

Prayer Spaces at La Mare last week went extremely well. We really enjoyed spending time with the children, getting to know them better. They seemed to connect well to each station and particularly enjoyed the calm jars. This was great because it was the first time we had done it, but they loved it!

This week in between all the bank holidays we’ll be visiting Vale, Acorn House and St Martins with our puppet assembly. The first one last week went really well!

Phil will be starting a new OT Mini course at Blanchelande and all our lunch clubs in our senior schools are back up and running. It was great to catch up with the students last week and hear about what they got up to over the Easter holidays. This week we are exploring the characteristic of being servant-hearted and discussing how we can serve others.

Below are some photos from La Mare. Some of the Year 6 students took some for us so more will be on the way!

After a refreshing Easter break we are back and ready to go. This week we have started our new primary assembly. The wonderful Nigel Lewis has written a great puppet play for us to present to students this half term. The puppet Oscar is super excited about a new holiday he has created called ‘Oscar Day’ where everyone has to give him presents and eat his favourite food in celebration of him. He thinks Oscar Day is far more exciting than Easter and Christmas to the point where he thinks they should be got rid of!! His best friend Amy, with the help of the PACE presenter helps Oscar to see why Easter and Christmas are rather important and getting rid of those celebrations might upset God. Oscar realises that he is perhaps being a bit selfish as he reflects on God’s greatest commandment to love God and to love others.

Our first lessons of the term happened last week with Year 5 at La Houguette. We looked at the Easter story asking the question “Did God intend Jesus to be crucified and if so was Jesus aware of this?”
In the lesson we went through what happened during Holy Week. One child commented that God was “very organised”. And as funny as this might sound, we thought he was right! God had every bit planned and we drew back to this when we visited the question again at the end. The children also got the chance to plant a sunflower seed. While they are away this week in France, we’re hoping they’ll start to grow for when they come back!

This week we are also busy with Prayer Spaces at La Mare. Our first day has gone very well with KS1. Some older children from the school are working on making a video for us so watch this space! A highlight from today was when a child from reception wrote “GOD” when he could make anything he was thankful for out of Plahdoh!

We would also like to share with you the latest Spring Newsletter giving an overview of all we got up to last term!

Last weekend it was great to have Tom Greene over from Walk Through the Bible UK.

Tom came to lead an OT Live event on Saturday 6^th April from 10 till 4, helping us to explore the Big Picture of the Old Testament. We had about 40 people attend from a number of churches and the feedback was very good.

OT Live is the adult/Church version of the OT Mini programme we run in primary schools across the island – a work that has grown dramatically over the last few years. Since we started in 2008, we have now taught 154 courses in all 14 primary schools……..to 5,249 children! With the growth in demand, we have needed to train some new presenters to join the team, so Tom stayed on to run a 3-day training course and we now have 3 new presenters: Nigel Lewis (Les Camps Methodist), Major Claire Hill (Salvation Army) and Emma Backhouse (Holy Trinity). We are very grateful to Tom; and to Delancey Elim church for hosting the events and Angie & Richard Pollard for accommodating Tom.

The end of term has now arrived and we are grateful for the opportunity to rest and re-energise ourselves before the start of another busy term. We thank God for all the amazing opportunities we have had to serve the schools of Guernsey this term. We have delivered 13 Walk Through the Bible courses, over 25 lessons have been taught and over 45 assemblies have been presented plus so much more! The diary for next term is filling up fast and we are looking forward to all the events we have booked in!

We hope you have a lovely Easter.

This week our BOLT clubs are coming to an end. We have our last week where we round up all that we’ve learnt and then have some fun with plenty of games!

We are also visiting Year 1 at Vale delivering three lessons on Creation. This lesson uses Godly Play to help the children discover the story of Creation.

Phil will be finishing the OT Mini course at Notre Dame too, they’ve been a fantastic group!

Our annual Tower Building Competition has commenced in senior lunch clubs. The students are given a newspaper and some sellotape and they have to build the highest free standing tower possible! The tower has to hold a Cadbury’s Cream Egg and the height is measured to wherever the egg sits! So far, we have had one successful tower reaching the height of 46cm – we will see if students in other clubs can beat this!

We will be visiting La Mare High this week to deliver a newly developed lesson titled ‘What is Christian Marriage?’ We will be exploring what students think about marriage and what is included in a marriage service held in a church, particularly looking at the vows and commitments the couple make to one another. The first of these sessions was a huge success. Phil decided to act out the service with the Year 11 students and great fun was had by all… we did tell the students that whilst Phil is a licensed minister that the wedding was not legal!!! See the pictures below of the “happy couple”.

The team will also deliver the ‘Making Good Choices’ assembly at Blanchelande.

Don’t forget there is still time to sign up for our ‘Old Testament in a Nutshell’ training day on Saturday 6th April! See picture below for more details!

We had a fantastic lesson with Year 2 at La Houguette last week. We were looking at the question “Was Jesus Friends with Everyone?” We first looked at what qualities the children thought made a good friend. Suggestions included; loyal, kind, helpful, caring, honest and fun. Followed by splitting into groups to hear the story of when Jesus chose his disciples. We looked at their backgrounds, what jobs they were and did an activity labelling who was a fisherman, a trader or speaker.

We then moved on to hear the story of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. The children discussed what kind of a friend Jesus was and how much he cared for this family. They finished with a colouring activity of the house of Mary and Martha. Enjoy the brilliant photos below!

This week we’ll be completing our round of primary assemblies for this term, visiting St Martins, Forest, Beechwood and St Mary and St Michael. We will also be going back to La Houguette to deliver a lesson to Year 4, looking at forgiveness and Peter.

Phil will be completing three courses of OT Mini this week at St Martins, La Houguette and Melrose. Notre Dame continues into Week 4.

Lisa and Phil will be visiting La Mare High and Elizabeth College to deliver an assembly on the importance of making good choices. We draw upon Frodo’s struggle in Lord of the Rings film where he questions his purpose of destroying the ring… Gandalf offers some advice in this time of hardship that we all face difficult circumstances but ‘all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us’. The choices we make affect the person we become and the Bible teaches that we should ‘hate what is wrong and hold tightly to what is good’ Romans 12:9b. We encourage the students to make the most of the opportunities that come their way and to make good choices.

In senior lunch clubs we are exploring the Easter story, finding out what the students know about this event and asking them ‘what they find hard to believe about this story?’ Please pray for us as we discuss this story and explain its significance for Christians today.  

This week we’ll be visiting Hautes Capelles, Vale, Amherst, La Mare, Melrose and Vauvert to continue our Lent assembly. So far these have been going really well, the game is definitely a highlight!

BOLT clubs are on Week 8, looking at “Jesus Died For Us”. We’re really enjoying getting to know the children and seeing them each week. It’s always great to walk into the school and the children are eagerly waiting for us!

We will be delivering a lesson to Year 2 at La Houguette looking at “Jesus as a Friend”. We will be looking at the key questions: “Was it always easy for Jesus to show friendship? Was Jesus friends with everyone?” We’re really looking forward to this lesson, please pray that it goes well and that the children enjoy it!

This week in senior lunch clubs we are exploring the importance of perseverance when taking on new and difficult challenges. We look at the life of Jonah and how he chose to run away from his task but actually in running away that caused more problems for him. Christians believe that God has a plan and a purpose for each person and although it may not always be easy it often turns out to be the most fulfilling and exciting!

Our visits to Trinity Church continue with two more classes from La Mare coming along to find out how the local church can have an impact on the community. Sue Le Friec from Guernsey Welfare explained what the charity does and how it supports people all over Guernsey. See the pictures below of the students visit last week.