Over the last few months something has kept popping up on my screen from various sources talking about great things happening with prayer spaces in schools in the UK. Intrigued, I’ve tried to find out more – and the more I’ve found out the more intrigued I’ve become! The following article has been kindly put together for us by Rachel Warwick – over to her:
You might have visited a prayer room at your local church, or perhaps heard about them from others who have? But have you ever considered using something like this in a school? Since 2007, a few people in the UK have been setting up spaces like this in primary and secondary schools, giving students of all faiths and none an opportunity to experience this kind of prayer within their daily school life.
These prayer rooms are a form of the rooms used in the 24-7 prayer movement, which started in Chichester in 1999, encouraging churches and communities to set aside a space and commit to praying together for a particular period of time. Such rooms are often quiet and comfortable, inspiring personal prayer and reflection as well as creativity and a space for expression, with various resources to motivate and facilitate this.
Bringing these spaces into an educational context changes the focus a little – less about maintaining continuous prayer and more about the simultaneous experience of learning about Christian spirituality whilst taking time and space to consider personal spirituality, working within the RE guidelines for learning about and from religions.
The rooms take slightly different forms in different areas but there are themes which run through them all – resources which encourage pupils to consider concepts of self image and forgiveness, awareness of situations around the world and a space to express questions they’d like to ask God and things which are generally on their minds.
Activities in these rooms include dropping stones or fizzy tablets into water to represent forgiveness, sticking post-it notes on a world map to pray for countries and current affairs, mirrors and quotes to think through self image and identity and an opportunity to write down any questions students might like to ask God.
Why is this happening?
Back in 2008, a few groups across the country started taking the ideas from the 24-7 prayer movement and adapting them for a school context. In Colchester, the CYO team were looking for a way to make spirituality accessible and engaging for the pupils they work with, in Farnham, a team of primary schoolsworkers set up a bubble tube in a tent on the school field, and a team in Romford were invited by a school to do “that prayer room thing you do” for the pupils there.
The pupils loved it and it’s grown from there, with over 70 similar prayer spaces in schools since then, and that’s just the ones we know about! One pupil described it as being “like the science museum, except it’s about prayer, not science” – they enjoy the interactive, experiential nature, as well as the opportunity and space to stop and reflect on life.
Educationally, the resource fits not only with the national RE guidelines, but also with the national requirements every school has to fulfil in terms of the spiritual development of pupils. This is an area which has been of interest to Ofsted recently, prompting many schools to look for ways to allow their students to explore and express their own personal spirituality.
Essentially, I think that’s why it works. A recent study on the faith of the teenage generation revealed that most teenagers consider themselves to be spiritual but not religious. The prayer spaces give them the time, space and the tools with which to engage with that spiritual side. A 14 year old boy waited until all his friends had left at the end of the lesson, before saying to the team “Thanks, you’ve shown me that I don’t have to be in a church to pray, I can talk to God anywhere.”
How can you get involved?
There are loads of ways to get involved with prayer spaces in schools near you. The first step would be to contact Mandy at Prayer Spaces In Schools to find out whether there’s anyone else doing it in your area. If there is, you’ll be able to link up with them, visit what they are doing, volunteer on their team and help take it into more schools.
If there’s nothing happening like this in your area, maybe you could think about starting something? The Prayer Spaces In Schools website has all the resources and information you’ll need to get started, including details of how to talk to schools, a timeline for your preparations and an ever-growing bank of downloadable resource files, all for free. More and more training workshops and seminars are happening across the UK too so look out for one of those (or help us organise one in your area!)
Take it Further:
Prayer Spaces In Schools www.prayerspacesinschools.com
Orison: www.orisonschools.org.uk
