"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young but set an example for the believers in speech, in love, in faith and in purity"
1 Timothy 4:12
Spirit Blazers Pupil Voice in the Children Changing Places Project
Spirit Blazers are a group of children formed to work with schools, churches and the wider diocese to contribute to the spiritual, prayer and worship life of their school and local communities. The group act as a communication stream to feed into the CCPP Board, ensuring children and young people are involved in decision-making and empowered to lead. The Group are comprised of 4 children from Bishop Bridgeman, St Maxentius, St James (all 3 schools part of the Archbishop Temple Multi academy Trust) and Canon Slade secondary school.
The group came together on 3rd October 2023 and meet every week from 2.30-4pm at Canon slade secondary school.
The aims of the group;
* To engage children and young people in the project-governance arrangements, in order that their voices can be heard and their wisdom gained.
* To liaise and work alongside school Ethos Groups, Children's Chaplains, Worship Teams etc.
* To support the schools, churches and local groups to be communities of faith.
* To carry our monitoring and research activities to feedback to CCP project manager, CCPP Board and Diocesan Board of Education.
* To plan, deliver and lead activities in schools and churches.
* To be servant leaders in all they do.
The first project the group carried out was research into worship
The second project the group carried out was an art installation on racial justice
The groups in their schools made 300 A4 textile heads. The finished heads were installed on the pitch at Bolton wanderers on 26th May 2024. The heads will be installed in Manchester Cathedral for Black History month in October 2014.
Carrying out the art project in all our schools.
The Spirit Blazers group had a profound discussion discussion racial justice with each other and in their schools. The children and young people discussed unconscious bias in depth also. The group wrote a series of questions that they would use back in their schools as reflective collective worship.
The Spirit Blazer Presentation to CCP Board and Board of Education can be downloaded below. Please read
The Impact of 2023-2024 Spirit Blazers
In our last Spirit Blazer session in July 2024 we celebrated all the amazing work we have achieved this year, the learning we took away with us and the impact we have made to out school, our Trust and the wider diocese.
