Leeds Faith In Schools has been running a club called Rock Solid at Guiseley School over many years. We meet at lunchtime every Wednesday, have lunch together and play games. Even though it can be a bit bonkers, it is a safe place for pupils to come and have a breather from normal school life.
For a while I had been thinking that it would be great to have someone to come and help me lead the group but that was as far as I had gotten, then, out of the blue in January, I had an email saying that a trainee teacher would like to come and help. This immediately felt like an answer to prayer since I hadn’t mentioned to school that I needed another leader. We met up and she was able to attend the group three times before school unfortunately had to stop running groups due to the covid-19 outbreak.
Over those three weeks I could see her passion for the wellbeing of the young people at Guiseley School, through the effort she put into chatting and getting to know them, her enthusiasm to lead games as well as thinking ahead about what we should do. Though it was over just three weeks, the qualities that I saw in her define many, many of the staff we usually work with in schools on a day-to-day basis: their highest priority, as school staff members, is the wellbeing of the pupils they work with.
It is unusual as the Leeds Faith In Schools team to be unable to go into schools that, for some of us, have been our place of work for the last 5 years, as it must be for people in a wide range of jobs at this time. Despite that, it is still important to keep in mind those who are continuing to work in schools right now.
Many of you will have heard of the Clap for Carers (for NHS and key workers across the country dealing with the coronavirus pandemic) idea that has happened over the last couple of Thursday evenings in the UK. It seems only right to also celebrate the teachers and school staff all over the country who are still working to enable NHS and other key workers to be able to do their jobs. We are so thankful for all that they do.
Please pray for teachers and other school staff across our country at this time
– for those who are continuing to work in what must be a strange and
different environment
– for those who are working from home or not working and are now unable
to do the job they love in the usual way
– for those in the middle of their teacher training who may feel anxious
about the uncertainties that this situation brings
– for those smaller school communities that are now meeting together and
may be fearful of having to do this