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There are exciting opportunities for God’s work at Lyndon School!
There are exciting opportunities for God’s work at Lyndon School!
Two years ago I had the opportunity to represent our church as a community governor for Lyndon School and it has proved to be a most rewarding experience. From the start I was welcomed and my contribution encouraged and valued. I have always believed that what matters is the ‘whole child’ and not just exam results. This is the approach of the school as well, where their values are “care, challenge, co-operation, communication and citizenship” and they embrace the governments theme of “Every Child Matters” with enthusiasm and commitment. The school has a national recognised excellent system of pastoral care for every pupil. So it is very easy to put forward ideas and comments in meetings that are about the whole child’s well-being and the school is very receptive to the idea that:
“Every Child’s Spiritual Needs Matter”
As a school governor I have attended the termly governors meetings where we have been engaged in decision making concerning the future direction the school will take. Over this time this included the school gaining ‘Trust’ status with outside partners legally committed to the continuing development of the school. Such partners include John Lewis, Land Rover, Birmingham University and Solihull 6th Form and this is giving exciting opportunities – not least for us as you will see as you read on!
As a governor I have also had the privilege of presenting the prizes at one of the end of year assemblies. I have also undertaken the very sad duty of representing governors at the funerals of two pupils but I know that the staff really valued our support.
But there is more that we as a whole church are engaging with in school. From the start, Julia was keen to see how we as a church could work within the school and so she and I met with Selina Westwood to discuss possibilities. The ideas included setting up a chaplaincy, supporting the RE curriculum, assemblies, groups within school and offering pupils opportunities for work experience. The Head has indicated that she is most happy to support any work we would like to do within the school as she understands that our approach is to encourage pupils to value and have a spiritual life.
So what have we done and what is in progress?
Julia has taken two assemblies with year 7, involving the pupils in the planning and delivery of these. One was attended by the Head Teacher, Selina Westwood, who commented that it was one of the best she had ever attended! Another group of pupils worked with us to produce the wonderful Easter collages that hung at the church windows this year.
Myself, another governor and a senior member of staff (all committed Christians) worked together with Muslim faith group from the school to review the policy on assemblies. In the coming year we hope to work together with a number of pupils to produce some prayers that are acceptable to all faiths that staff can use in the assemblies so as to encourage ‘worship’ within the weekly assemblies.
Julia and I have explored the ‘chaplaincy’ idea by researching what other schools and colleges do. This led us to visit Neil Attwood who is the full time chaplain at Solihull 6th Form College and to see the very exciting way that he has developed his role in the college. As you may know Neil sometimes worships at Lyndon and is involved with our Brigades. In October we had a meeting at school, which included Neil, and agreed that we need to work more closely with the pupils to find out what they need from a chaplaincy. If you remember the 6th Form College is a trust partner and so there is a hope that the college might allow Neil to work at Lyndon maybe a morning a week for the rest of the academic year to make progress on the chaplaincy concept. We have also been able to offer a matched contribution because Karen Hilsden from Queens would very much like the experience this would give her and she is offering two mornings a week for the next two terms. So this is all very exciting and we are waiting with bated breath for news.
We have been asked to set up a Christian after school club. The school have already identified an interested group of youngsters. We are hoping that Catherine Ralph will be able to run it as it will need a weekly commitment from someone able to engage young people. If we can achieve this then the group could also play a role in the development of the chaplaincy and the writing of prayers for assemblies if they wished. We also now have our own Sunday Breakfast Church that youngsters could come to if they wish to worship with us.
Lastly, I am hoping that there will soon be a meeting to look at the Citizenship and RE curriculum and discuss ways in which different faiths could contribute and ourselves in particular. Within the curriculum are such topics as ‘how does faith influence your work’ and I am hoping that we may be able, along with other churches and faith groups, to offer members of the congregation who are willing and able to talk to classes about their personal experiences.
So could you help with our outreach work at Lyndon?
Would you like to talk to students about how your faith influences your work life?
They are looking for work experience placements for students for one or two weeks during 28th June to 9th July 2010. The school is finding it increasingly difficult to find suitable placements so if you are able to assist it would be great.
Could you pray for our outreach work at the school? We will be able to achieve all of this and much more with guidance and support from God – it is his work and we are his people.
Please contact WENDY MAGEE at Church or via the Church Office if you can help.
Wendy Magee 13.11.09