CHURCHES TOGETHER IN EARLEY AND EAST READING

SCHOOLS WORK PROJECT REPORT

  SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT  - 2001/02

Introduction

This has been a year of growth in the church’s work with schools, which much time and energy focused on building structures to enable the work to continue and grow in the future.

PRIMARY SCHOOLS

The Alfred Sutton Team

The most exciting area of growth in this part of our work has been with Alfred Sutton School . Lydia Bauge is now the co-ordinator of the team. This is what she writes

"This last year has seen the work at Alfred Sutton grow into a more permanent setting. The tentative links and sessions that were taking place have now moved on to 8 permanent sessions to be done over the year; which means that the initial goal to see each child at least once during the year has been reached. Years 4 and 5 both have an extra session. The relationships with the staff have also reached a point of mutual trust and respect, enabling us to feel more relaxed when taking the sessions. But we need to keep in mind that, although we now have a very good relationship and reputation with the school, we must remain wise in our approach and always remain transparent in what we do.

We are now seeking to encourage input from other faith communities, which feels like quite a challenge. We are also seeking to develop teams around other schools to provide similar sessions. Work at St Peter's School has already started with an aim of doing 6 sessions over this school year. 

The main encouragement for me over the past couple of years, has been to see the children move up school years and remember things they had learnt or heard during their visit the previous year. We are doing something right!" 

At the start of this term I met with Mary Paterson, the headteacher at Alfred Sutton to discuss the work of the R.E. team. She was very pleased with what was being done. For her the two keys to its success are

She also emphasised the importance of other faiths being able to assist in the delivery of R.E. in similar ways. To this end David Skinner and members of the team have met with leaders at the mosque to share what they have been doing and encourage them to take similar initiatives. One of the leaders, Manzoor Hussein has also visited a session in progress.

St Peter’s & Lodden/Hawkedon

As Lydia said, after an initial one off taster session in the summer term,  St Peter’s have asked if the team can do 6 sessions this academic year. This has involved a little re-working of the material as St Peter’s work to the Diocese of Oxford R.E. syllabus.

Dan Tyndall, the Vicar of St Nicolas’, and Pete Stone, the children’s worker from Reading Gateway Church , have had positive responses from the Lodden schools and Hawkedon to run similar R.E. lessons in St Nicolas’ and Brookside churches. In May seven potential volunteer met with Dan, Peter and Lydia to hear about the project and work has been done to tweak the material to fit the Wokingham syllabus.  The final details of when the first sessions will take place are in the process of being decided.  

Headteachers lunch

This was held on September 25^th. Four  of the 12 primary schools in our area were represented and we received apologise from 6 others. Jo Loveridge, Dan Tyndall ,   and David Skinner were also present. Judith Wheatley made a presentation about the Alfred Sutton team. It was followed by a lively conversation about the issue involved and the plans for the future.

Pete Stone.

Pete was the children worker for Kings Church and now works for the new Reading Gateway Church based at Hilltop. He has been involved in our schools work for the last 4 years. Since the May half term we have been ‘buying’ 5 hours a week of his time,  although in reality he does more than that. Below is his report on the work and a reflection on why he enjoys doing it.

“Since September 2001, I have been involved in

·         ten lessons at Alfred Sutton, one lesson at Earley St Peter’s,

·         assisting in a lesson at Redlands School ,

·         planning meetings & preparing the worksheets and resources for Alfred Sutton & Earley St Peter’s,

·         planning for lessons in the two Loddon school and Hawkedon,

·          helping out at the “Starship Discovery” After School Club at St Peter’s,

Words on paper do not communicate the tangible sense of excitement I feel when going along to a planning meeting or preparing a worksheet or a PowerPoint presentation for a school. Wait a minute, did I just say I enjoyed going to a planning meeting! The answer is yes to that! When most people would avoid planning meetings like the plague I tend to enjoy them, the reason, Psalm 133, “God promises in his word to bestow his blessing when people dwell together in unity.” When people from the different denominations that make up CTEER come together to meet and talk through what would be good to do in a lesson; there is a blessing from God on the procedure. When we take a lesson, there is an ease to it that is not manufactured or comes from “experience” I believe it is the blessing and presence of God.

Another reason I enjoy them is that Jesus welcomed children and blessed them. In a way I think we do that when we do a lesson, we welcome the children into one of the churches that host the lesson and then hope and pray they and the teachers that accompany them will be blessed by what is taught.

When David Skinner first asked me to help in a lesson hosted at Anderson Baptist church in September 2000, I had no idea it would lead me down a path where I would almost every week be talking, thinking or participating in some form of schools work. The sense of excitement of what is being built across CTEER’s area is amazing to see”

Other areas of work

Naturally the focus of the work this year has been on the Alfred Sutton team and the developments that have grown from that. However it is important that we don’t lose sight of other work that has gone on this year,

·         New Town visited St Bartholemew’s church for the first time his year. Revd Suzanne Knight from St John’s and St Stephens has renewed her contact with the school and is becoming more involved. A drama team form Wycliffe Baptist church took some assemblies in the run up to Christmas

·         St John & St Stephens continues to be a school with an outstanding reputation for spiritual development and collective worship. It has very strong links with the church, with whom they share a building. Every week an assembly is taken by one of the ministers of the church.

·         St Luke’s has focused on Redlands school as part of its ‘Community Twinning project’. This has involved among other things the visits from the school to the church and the raising of £700 for R.E. in the school.

·         The After School Club at St Peter’s continues to be run by a team of parents headed up by Jill Bird who is a member of  Wycliffe Baptist church. Local Ministers and church workers have been supporting it with ‘guest appearances’. We have also helped to pay for the hiring of the school hall and for art and craft materials. This academic year the age group has been extended from K.S. 1 to K.S.2 and they are now meet in the St Peter’s church hall. They currently have over 40 children attending.

·         Elizabeth Harland, one of the Licensed Lay Ministers at St. Peter’s church, has expressed an interest in developing our links with Aldryngton school.

·         There were new heads at Hillside ( Ron Parkes) and Radstock (Dru Derrick) last year and Whiteknights has an acting head (Liz Budden) for two terms. They are all  happy for the churches to build on the existing links which involve clergy  taking assemblies and providing some R.E. input. 

AIMS FOR WORK WITH PRIMARY SCHOOLS 2002/03

·         Continue to support/supervise the work of Lydia Bauge and Alfred Sutton Team.

·         Support the development of a team to work with Hawkdon & Lodden Schools.

·         Explore the possibility of developing an R.E. team to work with Radstock, Hillside & Whiteknights schools.

·         Continue to support the St Peter’s After School Club.

·         Support/supervise Pete Stone’s work.

·         Increase the amount of Pete Stone’s time ‘purchased’ from Reading Gateway Church from 5 to 8 hours a week.

MAIDEN ERLEGH

Aim for 2001/02 - Continue to maintain and develop relationships with the R.E. department.

The visits to yrs. 7, 8 & 9 all took place. This year Hazel Flowers and the R.E. department have introduced a ‘short course G.C.S.E.’ which students begin in yr9. This will change the nature of the year 9 visit and may led to other opportunities for class room involvement. I have already met with Hazel Flower to plan the visits for 2002/03.

Aim for 2001/02 – Continue to consolidate the assemblies.

The full programme of assemblies took place as planned. In the Lower & Middle school ministers talked to subjects based on the PSE programme. In the sixth form the students generated the topics. The feedback from the annual planning meeting at the end of the summer term was positive. 

 In the  middle and lower school clergy are generally linked with one year group. In 2002/03 it will be Yr. 7 Simon Howard, Yr. 8 Nick Thompson, Yr. 9 Jo Loveridge, Yr. 10Chris doughty Yr 11. Iain Stephenson. Although speaking to a PSE theme enhances the curriculum they are not always the most effective topics to assist in the young peoples spiritual development. Calvin Julian Jones of Lower Earley Baptist church left during the year and Jo Loveridge is leaving after Christmas. We therefore need to recruit some more assembly takers 

The sixth form assemblies continue to have a different style and content. The question that has now arisen is how much of the good practise that is established with the 6^th form can be used lower down the school.

The school was inspected this month (Nov. 2002) with one of Nick Thompson’s yr. 8 assembly falling in the inspection week! Prior to OFSTED Jo Loveridge, David Skinner and I had a very interesting meeting with Dr Thomas, the headteacher,  Heather Pfeiffer and Hazel Flowers. The main reason he asked to meet us was to ask if we could offer any evidence for the ‘Spiritual Development ‘ of pupils. David was able to provide samples of response sheets that students had filed in after 6^th form assemblies. The Lower and Middle school team subsequently wrote offering their subjective views. From the hour long meeting it was clear that Dr Thomas was both grateful and impressed with the work we are doing with the school and would like to take the partnership further.

Aim for 2001/02 – Support the school in the running of their 6^th form conference.

This year Dan Tyndall took the leading role in organising the half day conference as part of the yr.11 induction week into the 6^th form. A team from the Damaris Trust led the day helping students to reflect on the question ‘Who am I?’ The feed back from staff and students was positive. 

Aim for 2001/02 – Support the provision of a 6^th from Ethics and Philosophy conference and help raise its profile in the Wokingham district. 

After the success of last years conference Hazel Flowers invited Red Dr. David Cook back to the school for a half day conference in September. Other schools were invited to come and three brought groups. David Cook was brilliant! Unfortunately he wont be able to come again next year. I have already had a preliminary conversation with Hazel about whether or not a similar event could take place next year without David Cook. CTEER Schools Work paid half his costs.

Aim for 2001/02 – Support David Skinner and the management group in the       planning and provision of the national symposium on work  with 16-19 year olds.

Thanks to lots of hard work by David Skinner and the other members of the planning team, the conference, ‘Dare to Engage’ ,July 5^th/6^th at Easthampstead Park, was a great success. There were nearly 40 participants with a wide rang of experience of both 6^th forms and F.E. colleges. One thing the conference did reveal was actually how little experimental and innovative is work going on in schools and colleges. The 6^th assembly work at Maiden Erlegh is actually quite ‘cutting edge’! The Jerusalem trust would like to make funds available for developmental projects working with 16-19 year olds. The plan is for a follow up conference to take place next year.

As part of the ‘home team’ with Andy Johnson, Phil Vellacott, David and the planning group, I helped as one of the ‘hosts’ for the conference.

Aim for 2001/02 – Take opportunities to introduce Christian educational trusts to the school.

Heather Pfeiffer, the senior 6^th form tutor has met members of  ‘Students Exploring Marriage’, I don’t yet know the out come of those discussions.

Aim for 2001/02 – Develop greater integration between our work and Phil Vellacott’s pastoral work in the 6^th form.

I have taken no action to further this aim.

AIMS FOR WORK WITH MAIDEN ERLEGH 2002/03

·         Continue to maintain relationship with the R.E. department.

·         With the head of Department evaluate the ministerial input in yrs. 7,8 and 9 and review plans for 2003/04

·         Continue the conversation with the head of department about some kind of 6^th form Ethics and Philosophy learning event at Maiden Erelgh in 2003/04. Provide resources to assist in making it happen.

·         Engage in a discussion with year heads in Lower & Middle school about

1-      continuing to link assembly topics to the PSE programme

2-      How assemblies can be developed in the light of the good practise in the 6^th form.

·         Recruit 2 or 3 new people to take assemblies in Lower and Middle school.

·         Continue the conversation with Dr Thomas about developing our partnership with the school.

C.T.E.E.R. UNITED SERVICE – A CELEBRATION OF EDUCATION

The CTEER United Service for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in 2002  was a ‘Celebration of Education’. The service was planned by Jo Loveridge, Eamon Walsh and myself. Every school in our area was represented by pupils lighting candles and placing a symbol of their school on the central table. Judith Whealtey talked about the work with Alfred Sutton School and Ann Griffin challenged the churches to be more active & confident in presenting  its activities for children as opportunities for them to learn and grow. Mr Soper, the head of Music at Maiden Erlegh brought a brass group to play and Mr Thomas, a Maiden Erlegh RE teacher, year head, and member of Park URC, lead the prayers. It was a very suitable occasion to celebrate all that we have been doing with schools over the last 6 years.

THE FUTURE - A SCHOOLS WORK TRUST

A lot of my time this year has been focused on preparing for the future. My job as school work co-ordinator is likely to come to an end during the summer of 2004. The Diocese of Oxford are no longer able to provide a quarter of a stipendiary priest to fill this role. Since the AGM last year therefore we have been pursuing ways of creating a structure that can sustain the current work and enable growth.

After some initial work by David Skinner and me, ministers and schools workers met on May 21^st to look at some of the foundation questions,

1-      Do we wish to carry on working collectively in our schools work?

2-       If, so do we need a schools work co-ordinator, or co-ordinators, to most effectively sustain and develop the work?

The feeling of the meeting was

·         schools work is an important part of the work of the local churches and something that should be encouraged to grow.

·         It works best, especially with primary schools, where it is done locally.

·         There are as many different models for working with schools as there are schools in the area! At its heart it about relationships. These grow well where there is one key contact with the school.

·         It is work that churches should do together. There is therefore a need for some co-ordination of the work and possibly a ‘figure head’ person

·         The indications are that having reached the current levels of involvement in some schools there is now potential for the work to grow significantly.

It was recognised that one way the work could grow would be to set up a structure to raise funds and employ people. A Trust for schools work in Earley and East Reading could be  one way of providing that structure.

These views were then discussed at the reference group meeting on May 28^th and a special reference group meeting was convened on July 3^rd to discuss ways of taking the plans for a trust further. At the meeting it was decided

·         That David Skinner, Jo Loveridge and I should write a first draft of a ‘foundation’ document.

·         To begin a dialogue with Scripture Union, and the Reading Schools Work Trust and other interested bodies about the possibility of a schools work trust for Earley and East Reading .

·         That I would arrange to preach at CTEER churches to talk about the schools work and its future.

·         That we convene a conference of clergy and schools workers in the autumn to put more detailed proposals to them and outline the levels of support we would be looking for from the churches.

These plans have now been carried out. By the time of the conference we had reached draft 4 of the foundation document, having had input from

            A general meeting of CTEER             Andrew Menzies of the Reading trust

            Yvette Gayford of P.A.C.T.                  Jo Fageant R.E. advisor        

Heather Travers and colleagues from S.U

We had also received a significant boost to our plans from Dr Thomas at Maiden Erlegh. In the course of our conversation with him he indicated that he was amenable to putting in a joint bid to local charities for the equivalent of a full time Spiritual Development worker at the school.

The conference was held at St Peter’s on October 22^nd with an excellent presentation of the vision for the trust from David Skinner and an interesting talk from Chris Curtis of the Luton Schools Work Trust sharing the story of how they begun and have grown. From the discussions on the day it was clear that further changes needed to be made to the document. The ‘Vision’ needed rewording and a more detailed account given of what is meant by ‘partnership’. It was also felt that we should not be to limited geographically. In particular we should look to develop work in Bulmershe school which is attended by a large number of pupils from Earley and East Reading

These changes will be presented and agreed/amended at the Schools work AGM.  We made the commitment to the church leaders that we would have draft 5 to them by the beginning of December in order that the decision making bodies of their churches can discuss them and indicate  what level of support their church could give by February 1^st 2003 . In order to have workers in place by September 2004 I believe we will need to initiate work on the trust document by March 1^st 2003 . This will enable us to launch the trust in September 2003 and  so have staff in post by September 2004.

For the trust to become a reality in that time scale I suggest we need working groups to take action in three areas

·         Law – The writing of a trust document and liasing with the charity commissioners.

·         Finance – Exploring further sources of institutional funding.

·         Promotion – Raising the profile locally and identifying individual donors.

The quicker we can create these groups the better!

BITS AND PIECES

Direct Work

In the last academic year I have taken 29 primary school assemblies (including 13 at Hillside & 9 at Whiteknights) and 5 secondary assemblies, two of which have been at Thamesbridge College. I have hosted 2 primary school church visits, taken 1 primary 3 secondary schools lesson. I have also been a member of Hillsides ‘Healthy Schools Group’ as they work for the gold ‘ Healthy School ’ award.

In the summer term David Hopkins the head teacher of Whiteknights School , left in very difficult circumstances. I had worked closely with David over the years and the deputy head is a member of Trinity Church . I was therefore able to offer some pastoral care to the school during a very unhappy time.

Communicating with churches

I have written the annual article for church magazines and preached on our ‘Schools Work – Relationship, Partnership & Service’ at Park URC, Brookside , Trinity and Lower Earley Baptist Church . I hope to visit Reading Vineyard Church , which worships in Maiden Erlegh School , in the New Year. Jo Loveridge has preached on schools work at the Salvation Army.

Wider Contacts

In January I attended a meeting at Wokingham District Council with David Hawthorne, the officer responsible for standards in schools. Jo Fagaent & Leslie Stephens from the Oxford Diocese were also present. The discussion focused on the authority’s  concern about low standards in RE. Some of the initiatives we have taken were offered as examples of what could be done in partnership with local faith communities. I have recently met with Wendy Crossen-Smith, head of the W.D.C.’s ‘Life Long Learning’ team and a member of Trinity Church to discuss how R.E. might be included in their work.

I have attended two meetings of local church leaders at Thamesbridge College   called by Bethan Own, the acting  head and a worshipper at St Nicolas. The aim of the meetings was to highlight and co-ordinate the work of the churches in the school. Although it is not in our area I have taken  2 assemblies there this year. I do not plan to take any this academic year.

I am now an Anglican representative on Reading Council’s SACRE (Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education) and have attended two meetings.  In June I met with Danny Sullivan The Diocesan Director of Education to talk about our work and future developments.

In September I met with Pete Stone and Revd. Mike Hill of Christchurch Woodley, to discuss what could be learnt from our work for the development of relationships between Woodley churches and primary schools. Pete is currently doing some work with Mike in two Woodley primary schools.

My time 2003/2004

I will be on study leave and holiday from May 4^th – August 18^th. We will need to think if there are any parts of the work that need to be covered during that time.

Bishop Dominic and the Trinity church Council have agreed that from September 1^st 2003 to Easter 2004 I can work 50% of my time, that’s 3 days or 6 sessions a week, on schools work. 

And finally

After fours years as Curate at St Peter’s and two years as chair of the School Work Reference group Jo Loveridge is moving on to be Vicar of St Mary’s Burghfield. I would like to offer my thanks for her commitment to schools work and for her support and encouragement to me personally. She will be greatly missed.

 Revd. Simon Howard              20^th November 2002