We are excited to bring you a brand-new resource for Advent 2020, Sacred Spaces at Advent. This year, we have partnered with the fantastic organisation Prayer Spaces in Schools to bring you a free, interactive resource for KS2 and KS3 pupils to use in the classroom, for collective worship or at home.
Sacred Spaces at Advent includes four weeks of content to inspire children and young people to explore moments of stillness found in the Christmas story. Each of these moments, or as we call them ‘sacred spaces’, found in simple every day activities. Each week, we have a video from the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, who shares a reflection of the theme.
Each week, the resource includes:
The resource could be used for collective worship in school or church settings, as well as individually or as a family at home. Activities and challenges are suitable for KS2 and KS3, but could be adjusted for use with KS1 and KS4 pupils. Resources come in the form of a PowerPoint, video files and printable sheets.
As we prepare for Christmas, usually things get busier with lots to organise and so much to do to get ready for the big day. But sometimes, we can forget to slow down and miss some of the most important things about this special season. Taking a moment to pause and be still can really help us with our happiness and well-being. So, what better way to pause than by using the Christmas story to inspire us as we slow down. Explore Sacred Spaces at Advent with us.
About Prayer Spaces in Schools
Prayer Spaces in Schools enable children and young people, of all faiths and none, to explore big 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.
A prayer space is usually a classroom sized area that has been transformed for a few days or a week with a range of creative activities that encourage personal reflection on issues such as forgiveness, injustice, thankfulness, big questions, identity and stillness. In some schools, teachers bring their students for a subject-lesson in the prayer space. In other schools, students are invited to visit the prayer space voluntarily, during their breaks and lunchtimes and maybe after the school day has finished. Prayer spaces are being adapted in all sorts of creative ways to comply with the Government’s coronavirus guidelines.