Education

Here to help

Diocesan Director of Education

Church of England Schools and Academies are a vital part of the work and ministry of the Diocese.

They provide education for the children and young people of South Yorkshire and a part of East Riding. There are currently 38 primary schools and 1 secondary school in the Diocese of Sheffield educating about 8,300 students. 

The Diocese of Sheffield Board of Education (DBE) is committed to

the development of effective collaboration with, and between, our Church Schools
the celebration of the excellent work that has been, and will be, carried out in our Church Schools
and to the supporting and enrichment of Church Schools’ distinctive offering of teaching and learning within a Christian context.

We have five areas of mission in relation to schools: 

Cultivation of Christian distinctiveness in the ethos and practice of our schools 
Securing of excellence for all children, with schools meeting and, in time, exceeding core expectations 
Strong leadership and capacity to improve within our service 
Networking leading to excellence through the sharing of school-to-school development across the Diocese 
Offer of service beyond the Diocese through schools affiliating and drawing upon our provision, in the wider community

Huw’s latest blog:

Prayer Like Breakfast

There’s a moment in the 2013 film “Gravity” in which astronaut Dr. Ryan Stone, played by Sandra Bullock, having been buffeted and bashed around in space, finds herself alone and believes she is destined to die, out there in space. In the middle of a touching speech she says the words:

“No one will mourn for me. No one will pray for my soul… I mean I’d pray for myself, but I’ve never prayed—nobody ever taught me how.”

I suspect this may be a line that resonates with many folks. If you’re used to prayer it may come naturally but, if you’re not, it is an activity that can feel somehow one leap away. In reality, it is as close as thought. One of the things we try to do in our schools in bridge the gap.

For younger children that gap is a mere step. In early childhood, right up to around Key Stage 2, children are less systematic about life. They see it more holistically. At this age the spiritual stuff of life is mushed in together with everything else. At this age, to quote a textbook on child development, “religion is as natural as breakfast.” As we get older we become more compartmentalizing and may put prayer in a place apart from the stuff of life.

In a school in this Diocese we aspire to every child experiencing prayer. What staff in schools need to know is that it is recognized that this is a bit of an ask. To be asked to lead and guide prayer can be daunting—even for those of us quite used to it. (Don’t ask me why, but if anyone asks me to pray to begin or end a meeting, my mind always goes blank. As someone for whom prayer is a joyful part of living—ask me at a committee table and I forget God, and the agenda.)

This is where the idea arises of prayer like breakfast. It’s about making prayer easy and meaningful.

It involves simply framing a way of gathering together thoughts and feelings of a moment and making, of them, a moment in prayer for those that wish to make it so. It involves pausing whatever is taking place—whether collective worship, end of the day, the aftermath of a difficult time or a straightforward curriculum lesson, and using a frame like this:

Let’s think about…
[INSERT WHATEVER HERE]
I wonder what you think and feel about…
[REPEAT THE WHATEVER, PAUSING TO GIVE TIME]
If you want to let’s think those thoughts as our prayer to God
[PAUSE AGAIN]
Amen

Or it could be with someone in mind, just allowing thoughtfulness:

God is with us…let us pray for…[INSERT WHOEVER HERE]
And if you want to join me to say ‘Amen’ we say together…
Amen

The example I sometimes give is that it can be as mundane as a lesson on fractions (in my experience, teaching that was something that could drive me to crying out to God!)

Let’s think about fractions
I wonder what you think and feel about fractions [PAUSE]
If you want to let’s think those thoughts as our prayer to God
[PAUSE]
Amen

Or in the second frame you just pop in a name or names:

God is with us…let us pray for… and you may then say the name of a person who is on the class’s mind or something special happening in the life of the school. The main thing with both these is, we’re opening the space for thoughts and feelings of the pupils in the room.

To my mind, this is far more valuable than any of those awful books of “Prayers for the Young” or collective worship prayers touted on the market. I dare to suggest God probably finds them more interesting too.

In a school, prayer can provide a way of marking a moment in the day as worthy of lifting in our thoughts. It can provide a way of channeling feeling and responses classes may have to things. We just need to make sure it is relaxed and natural.

Like breakfast.