St Philip's Church (10am)
Crèche - Aged 0-3
The ethos of our crèche is that it is not just for our young children, but also for their parents who need to feel confident in our consistent standard of care for their children.
Our crèche is not simply for childminding. We have a small rota of dedicated helpers who set up a variety of toys each week for free play, organise a themed craft activity, and also do a reading from a toddler bible.
A lot of our craft and stories focus on the message that "Jesus loves you" and "You're special".
We also give the children juice and biscuits.
Scramblers - Nursery and Reception
The children are fantastic! They ask great questions like, "How can God be in two places at once?" They are very chatty and we always go on a journey together to find out more about God through stories in the Bible.
We have a different theme each week, using 'Bubbles' Scripture Union material, and we always do craft activities relating to our theme and have a drink and biscuit together.
At Scramblers, you don't have to sit still! Children can be with their friends, sing songs, do drama, and sometimes go back into church to show everyone what we have done.
Every child learns at a different pace, so we always try to make Scramblers fun and interesting, and also involve everyone in talking about what we have learned.
Climbers - Years 1-2
We take the children on to the next level from Scramblers, using Scripture Union material called 'Splash', and they learn new things about God through a mixture of fun, lots of games involving running and jumping, a Bible story, drama, craft activity, painting, cutting and sticking.
We carry a theme on each week and we are always surprised by the children's knowledge of Bible stories and about God.
We sit and talk about what the children have done during the week with their families and what they think about church and God. This always makes you look at your own faith in a different way and their questions and comments help you to see things from a new perspective.
The important message is that God loves us and is always there for everyone!
Explorers - Years 3-6
We aim to have fun and set the children on the right road to developing and strengthening their faith.
We want to give children a grounding in how much God loves them and what He did for them - not just by telling them Bible stories, but also by helping them to understand what they mean and what they tell us about God.
We follow Scripture Union based material called Xstream, and everything we do is pitched at their level, making being part of a church family accessible for them.
All our games, craft, drama and activities are linked to our teaching theme for the week and games involving chocolate are particularly popular!
If you had cornflakes for breakfast you might be asked to hop to the wall and back, or play Chinese whispers, musical laps, or mime.
The point is we would love children to want to come back, not just because we have fun, but because they value the friendships they make and really take on board how much God loves them.
St James' Church (10am)
Crèche - Aged 0-3
We are delighted to make crèche facilities available for our youngest children, when required.
Miniature Heroes - Aged 4-7 and 8-11
We don't think of Miniature Heroes as a school. For us, it's more like a place where children are given the building blocks to find things out for themselves, explore what the Bible might mean, and be given the opportunity to join up the dots and allow their own faith to grow.
Miniature Heroes is the name used at St James' for the younger end of our Youth group activities. For practical running of the groups, we split into two main age groups which are the 4-7s and 8-11s.
Each group has its own leaders drawn from a small rota, with additional older teenager support, and each group follows Scripture Union material at a level appropriate to their age.
Children need to be encouraged in their faith. It's all very well saying they are the future but, at St James' Church, we recognise the need to engage with them and make church an enjoyable experience!
We think our Sunday groups should be, and are, great fun and, over the weeks and months, a running dialogue develops between children and adults in, and outside, of church. You can see their faces light up when they see you in the street and can have a chat with someone in the community.
Often they ask some really inquisitive and difficult questions like 'Why do earthquakes happen?' which can be theologically deep for adults, and we don't always know all the answers. But it's great to see the realisation on their faces that they have 'stumped a grown up!'
We have found that the children think Miniature Heroes is a safe place where they can learn about others and themselves, and share and discuss some really important life issues, which keeps them on their journey of faith.
We follow Scripture Union material and base our discussion, games and activities on a passage from the Bible. We often read this together; we may act out parts in a drama, and tell stories to each other from our individual experiences of when God may have worked in our lives, or do some craft activity related to the topic being discussed.
It's great that the language of the group is not dictated by adults, so every child can relate to what is being said by other children in the group and they can empathise with each other. They are free to express themselves and contribute their own thoughts and feelings, without fear of being mocked.
Meeting in a school means we have access to flexible resources, and a safe, warm, clean, and well-managed environment in which we can learn and grow.
Why not come along and make some new friends?