Prayer Spaces in Schools: Development DayRachel Roxburgh - 17 Sep 2014

The prayer space was one of the most effective sessions I have seen during my career. Too often schools give into Ofsted pressures and neglect the spiritual needs of their students. The prayer space is a unique way of redressing the balance 
Head teacher, Cumbria - 2014

More than 1000 temporary prayer spaces have been hosted in schools since the accidental launch of Prayer Spaces in Schools in 2008. It's estimated 300,000 pupils, mostly non Christians, have been reached in 16 different countries across 4 continents.

The feedback from students, staff and parents who have participated in these prayer spaces has been overwhelmingly positive, and the story-reports that we continue to receive are encouraging and inspiring.

As a result of these temporary prayer spaces, many schools are establishing permanent prayer spaces and chaplaincy programmes, while others are using the feedback and outcomes to reflect on the spiritual, moral, social and cultural learning across their whole school community.

This year the Prayer Spaces in Schools team will be running two Development Days, in London (Friday 3rd October) and York (Monday 13th October), where they will be exploring the theme of 'Supporting Spiritual Life in School'.

The programme already looks very exciting and includes:

• keynote input (from different speakers in each location)
• time for individual reflection and small-group discussion
• 'open-to-the-floor', panel-style discussions with keynote speakers and practitioners
• the launch of our new 'permanent prayer spaces and chaplaincy' video
• news from international prayer spaces
• first look at our brand new website
• a prayer space...set up just for you
• plenty of new friends
• coffee and cakes!

Our keynote speakers across the days include an Ofsted inspector, current and former head teachers, Chaplains, Educational Advisors and lots of experienced Prayer space Practitioners. (You can read the complete list along with speaker bio’s here)

To learn more about the day, you can check out the details on the Prayer Spaces in School website.

It’s going to be an inspirational day and tickets are selling fast, so if you’re interested, get booking!