An Easter Education – Churches and Schools join up to engage Children in Holy Week
Churches and schools have been using the Experience Easter exercise and other hands-on activities to engage pupils in Holy Week.
Experience Easter is an interactive walk between a set of stations where children are taken through the events of Holy Week, from Palm Sunday leading up to Easter Day. The aim is to be present the Easter story in an engaging way for children to have some understanding of the sequence of events as it is presented in the Bible. We have found this to be a wonderful opportunity for children to hear about and reflect spiritually on different parts of the Easter story in an accessible way.
There are six stations to walk around, and the children are divided into smaller groups. At each station they are told what happened in a very straightforward way. They might then be asked to partake in a small activity.
The stations are: Future Hopes, The Servant King, The Last Supper, The Garden of Gethsemane, The Cross, and The Resurrection.
Here is what they have been up to:
St Teilo's CinW High School
This Easter we are looking at 'how the Passion speaks to young people today.'
St Teilo's School put their own spin on Experience Easter with each station relating to a social justice issue or humanitarian crisis today.
Meg Borges, Diocesan Church Army Evangelist said, "It was awesome to see how the school collaborated together to create such a high quality project. It gave their young poeple the opportunity to explore not only big themes from the life, death and resurrection of Jesus but also connect it with current world justice topics too. It was a creative and powerful telling of the Gospel and was great to be a part of!"
St Mary's Church, Brackla, and Archdeacon John Lewis School
Archdeacon John Lewis School, Brackla, was very keen to see the Experience Easter come to life with help from the Diocesan Growth Enablers. As the Easter Experience was unpacked for the pupils of Archdeacon John Lewis, there was an air of excitement among the staff and the pupils. With children walking through the hall saying things like “Oh, it’s like the Christmas one!” and “I can’t wait to come in”. The Growth Enablers engaged with the whole school over 2 days, starting with nursery and then all the way up to year 6. Each class brought a different energy and different questions. Church volunteers led each station and the children seemed to take it all in. Each class were accompanied by their teachers, assistants and in one case a student, who all fully engaged in what was going on and they took photo’s for the children’s books.
After the Experience Easter day with Archdeacon John Lewis School, St Mary's hosted Experience Easter again as a community event. The Growth Enablers were joined by Phil from YFM, members of the St Mary’s Brackla congregation and Rev’d Maggie, who opened the experience with a story and prayer.
The families then participated at each station and all came together at the end for a final reflection and prayer. Yet another opportunity for the church and school to come together.
Ystradowen Church and Llansannor & Llanharry Primary School
Children from Llansannor & Llanharry Primary School visited Ystradowen Church for a ‘Godly Play’ story and Easter crafts. Holy Cross Church hosted a wonderful family Easter Worship with the older children. On that day, Cowbridge Ministry Area engaged 150 children with Easter activities. The children looked at the Lord's prayer and how it fits with the Easter Story and the younger children had Easter Bonnet parades.
Llandaff Cathedral and Llandaff City School
Llandaff City Church in Wales Primary School looked ahead to the joy of the resurrection with a service at Llandaff Cathedral with Canon Jan, Fr Jordan and Dean of the cathedral Fr Richard. The school’s ‘Worship Squad’ of older children led the service and Eucharist.
St Illtud's Church and Williamstown Primary School
Williamstown Primary School worked with St Illtuds Church, Rhondda, and the Diocesan Growth Enablers to bring the Experience Easter to the children.
The children were keen to share their experiences of feeling alone like Jesus did, and responded well to the Bible texts scattered around the garden, referring to God’s loving presence and comfort. The session invited questions from the children about suffering in the world.
At the end of each group session, the children took a pebble and thought about someone who was going through a difficult time. They could then put it in a bowl knowing that the people and situations were going to be prayed for when we were altogether again. This was the most moving part of each session, as the children were clearly holding some very special thoughts.
St David’s Church in Wales Primary School
Children of St David’s Church in Wales Primary School, Cardiff, learnt about Palm Sunday by acting out the story with cut out palm leaves and laying down coats to walk on. They created beautiful mosaic artworks of the cross on the hill out of stone pieces on ceramic tiles and ended celebrations with an Easter hat parade.
St Johns CinW High School, Aberdare
St Johns High School Aberdare are doing a Lent /Easter food drive for their local foodbank.