Welcome/ Welcome back to St. Philip’s
Church School! We are glad that your
children will be joining us this year to grow in
their Christian knowledge spirituality.
For those who are new to St. Philip’s
Church, the Church School program takes place during the 10am Sunday
Service. The
children have a special time of focus in the worship before they go to their
classes and return in time to receive Communion with their parents.
We are very excited to
be continuing with the Godly Play
program at St. Philip’s.
In 2010 Marilyn introduced
Godly play to St Philips by introducing some Godly Play based elements in her “Sacred Story, Sacred Space” sessions that she
did with the children once each month.
Because of the overall positive reception from the children, the Godly
play program was fully introduced three years ago on most Sundays each month
with the children in Kindergarten (if they are ready) to grade 7. On Sundays that we don’t do Godly Play, there
is an intergenerational service (e.g. Blessing of the Pets), or a multi-age
class activity (e.g. music sessions, bread making (for St. Philip’s Day, etc.).
We plan to continue
the Godly play program this year in generally the same format. We have 5 regular Godly play teachers and are
planning a training session run by Marilyn to enable 2-3 new teachers to lead
the program! We are always looking for more teachers so do come and speak to me
if you are interested!
Godly Play class
As some of you may know,
one of the premises of Godly Play is that the children build their relationship
with God in a space that is purely for them for this purpose only. We are lucky to have the use of The Totem room
each Sunday as it is a calm space, and will look each week as if it is dedicated
to Godly Play alone. In order to
preserve the room as their space, children must be comfortable attending
without their parents. For children, who
need to be with a parent, they are welcome to attend the Class for Younger
Children. Having said this, we run a
session each September on welcome back Sunday where the parents may join in to
see what the program looks like.
A couple of things to
note about Godly Play:
- The curriculum does
not follow the liturgy.
- The program is
Montessori based for those familiar with this method of teaching/learning
- The story is intended
to be a surprise for the children, so that a sense of mystery and wonder can be
maintained while the story is being told.
- Any ‘work’ the
children do in response to the story is theirs and they are not required to
share it with anyone. If they choose to bring it home, they may do so,
but they are also welcome to live it in their Godly Play space. We will
save it for the entire year.
- The Godly Play space
will not be open for the children to play in after church (again, this
is preserve the ‘specialness’ of the space as a place to learn about God).
We understand that
some parents may be curious to learn more about Godly Play, so please ask us
and we will be happy to tell you more about it (and may be able to offer you a
sneak peak of the space). Also, check
out: www.GodlyPlay.org or www.GodlyPlay.ca
Liturgy School
Caitlin is continuing
with Liturgy school this year during the 10AM service for youth from grade 4 -8
that will consist of several different kinds of classes and ways to worship.
Youth will have a choice of joining this group or the Godly play classes or remaining in worship each week.
Class for Younger
Children (Preschoolers and Kindergarteners)
We recognize that some
of the younger children may not be quite ready to begin Godly Play without a
parent. Therefore we continue to offer a
more traditional Church School class option. This class is run by Janet England
and Amanda Holley. It will be in the Tom
Thumb room downstairs and any child of preschool or kindergarten age is welcome
to attend (with or without a parent). When these children feel ready to attend
without a parent, they will be welcome to join the Godly Play class at that
time.
Intergenerational
Services occur a few times each year. On these Sundays, the children will remain in
Church for the entire service. For the
fall, these services are scheduled for October 5th (Pet Blessing) and November
30(St. Nicholas). For these services, students in the Church School are invited to help lead parts of the service by serving as readings, choir members, prayer leaders or in other roles.
Other
Church School Activities
There are a few special services (i.e.
Christmas Eve 5pm Service, Good Friday) in which you will be asked if your
child would like to participate.
The Church School is involved in a
number of other activities including Outreach Projects such as supporting a
needy family through the Christmas Hamper Project.
We try to have 1
or 2 social events each term such as a Halloween Lunch or Easter Egg Hunt. We also coordinate the annual Advent Wreath
Making on the first Sunday in Advent (Dec 2nd ).
We have started
Open Gym sessions on Friday evenings once per month where children with or
without their families are able to come and play games and join in a potluck
dinner. Look for notices about these in
the email bulletin and on the Children and youth notice board.
More information will be provided
about these activities as the time for them approaches. We are always looking for extra hands to help
out, so please let me know if you can help out in any way. If you have any questions about the Church
School, please feel free to contact me by phone or via e-mail.
Erin McDougall
Church School Coordinator
