Children and Young People
Soulscape is one of the designated charities in the Parish, and as well as providing financial help, parishioners volunteer in local schools with them.
St Paul’s Church has run a Messy Church style event on Good Friday for the last few years, which has been well received by parishioners and other locals.
The Choir and the serving team welcome children and young people enthusiastically and are an important element of our outreach and mission.
Tadpoles provides coffee and play for under 5s and their carers every Wednesday in term time, offering a gentle Christian approach.
Of the 12 schools in the Parish, we have an ongoing relationship with 8. The two church schools have parishioners among their governors. The clergy regularly lead assemblies in many of the schools, and some hold services and concerts in the churches.
Sunday schools (called J-Club at St Paul’s Church) cater for younger children during Sunday services in term time. At St Nicholas it is run less often. Woosehill no longer run their Sunday School, but resources are available for children to use during the service
J-Club member (aged 5)
Other activities that have been successful in the past and we would like to revisit:
- 5678 was started during Covid as a weekly online group for children in years 5, 6, 7 and 8. A second in-person meeting was briefly added.
- Messy Church has been run very successfully.
- Open the Book has been run in some schools to introduce the children to Bible stories.
- Footsteps, the youth group for young people in the Parish
Children’s Advocates represent children’s and young people’s needs at Council meetings.
We are conscious that we need to understand the aspirations and desires of our children and young people better and work with them to provide better provision and involvement opportunities.
You will be working with us to look at ways to coordinate this work across the Parish to put children, young people and families more firmly at the centre of our mission and ministry.
