Staff training on working in a Quaker school
Members of the Quaker and Peace and Global Studies team, Céline Potts, Nikki Havercroft, Miriam Gosling, George Wayne and Lucy Birnie, were very happy to facilitate a session on ‘Working in a Quaker school’ on Monday morning for over 70 staff.
We started our session with a Quaker Quiz, to establish some Quaker history and basics (Who was the founder of Quakerism? Can you name three Quaker businesses? How many Quaker schools are there in the UK? When did Quakers win the Nobel Peace Prize and why? etc.) We also explored what the Quaker Testimonies (Simplicity, Truth, Equality, Peace, Sustainability) meant for us and then thought of practical ways in which to use our testimonies in the classroom and in various scenarios with students.
George and Lucy, two of our Student Quaker Elders who gave up their Monday morning to join the session, then made a powerful contribution about how they wish Meeting for Worship to run in the future and asked for our help and support in bringing this about. They impressed everyone, and we are forever proud and grateful for their energy, dedication, and ability to lead.
We concluded our session with a short Meeting for Worship in which a member of staff ministered about her inspiring new year’s resolution: looking for a positive act every week and writing it down on a slip of paper to put in a jar, in order to look back on a year filled with optimism at the end of 2017.
Iain Kilpatrick closed the session with a timely reminder of George Fox’s words "…walk cheerfully over the world answering that of God in everyone." (George Fox, 1656)
Céline Potts (Senior School Quaker Overseer) and Nikki Havercroft (Junior School Overseer)
For more information on Quakerism at Sidcot School, watch the video below or send an email to celine.potts@sidcot.org.uk and nicola.havercroft@sidcot.org.uk