Circus Prayer Space
Sarah Folkes is a Family Link Worker in Salford Priors. She works with St Matthew’s Church and Salford Priors CofE Academy. Here she writes about her experience of creating a creative prayer space for the children at the school.
In June, as part of Kindness Week at St Matthew's Church, I created a special Prayer Space at Salford priors CofE Academy for all of the school to engage with. There was a range of prayer stations based around a circus theme, including; kind clowns (thinking about someone who makes you laugh), the ringmaster (saying thank you for skills and talents), the power ball (if you could ask God one question, what would it be?), the bin (saying sorry and forgiving others) and hook a duck (to find an encouraging quote).
I believe that it is so important to support all pupils in finding ways of thinking about emotions, forgiveness, saying sorry, expressing their fears and hopes in a quiet and personal manner. It was encouraging to see pupils reflect, ask big questions and be thoughtful.
The children found the space very inspiring, with one saying, “I could imagine hearing God talking to me” and another saying “It felt calm to be in there.”
A visitor to the school made the following comment: “A member of staff kindly took me to view the Prayer Space at Salford Priors and it simply blew my mind. In fact, I was moved to tears. What a lovely idea – clearly a positive inspiration to all the children too. I do hope it will remain there for some time to come. Thank you so much.”
