Prayer Spaces - Finstock C.E. Primary School

Prayer Spaces

Our children are innately curious about life. Growing up raises lots of questions, some to do with their experience, both the good and the bad, and some to do with their sense of wonder at the universe we live in and whether there’s more to life than meets the eye. Many have an interest in the non-material aspects of life, the spirit or soul, and want to explore how these ideas and experiences help them to develop their own sense of identity, self-worth, personal insight, meaning and purpose.

 

Prayer space enables children, of all faiths and none, to explore these life questions, spirituality and faith in a safe, creative and interactive way. 

Taking a broadly Christian perspective as a starting point, prayer spaces give children and young people an opportunity to develop skills of personal reflection and to explore prayer in an open, inclusive and safe environment. 

The approach does not proselytise and purposely allows pupils to make their own meaning and to draw their own conclusions.

 

In school, prayer space happens daily and children are encouraged to access prayer space independently and voluntarily. 

 

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Oak Class

In Oak Class, we have explored what prayer is and why time for reflection is important for our wellbeing and the development of spirituality. Each prayer space, we have calming music playing and use a candle to help us say our prayers. Here are some of the activities we have chosen to do in Prayer Space:

Prayer wall

 

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Cedar Class

This term in Cedar we have been having daily prayer space time to explore life’s questions, spirituality and faith in a safe, creative and interactive way.

We have been engaging in a variety of activities:

  1. Shredding worries - We write our worries on a piece of paper before shredding them (see picture).
  2. Stop, think, draw - Take a moment to draw something in nature you find beautiful and be thankful for it.
  3. Turning over a new leaf - We write what we want to improve on one side of the leaf and how we will achieve that on the other.