Chaplaincy
Chaplaincy @ THA
Contact:
chaplaincy@theherefordacademy.org.uk
For those of you who haven’t met me in person I am Barry, The Chaplain to the Hereford Church of England Academy.
If you are a parent, you may have even come to the youth group I use to help run at Hinton Youth Centre 20 odd years ago! Give me a call … it would be great to catch up … especially if you were part of the South Wye Youth Forum!
It’s my privilege to share a little about what I’ve been doing over the last year and maybe give a few spoilers about the near future.
In October last year I was asked as Chaplain to be a co-worker with the Early Help Team on the Triple P and Fear-Less Triple P, parenting workshops, which included cognitive-behavioural parenting interventions that support parents to help children manage their anxiety more effectively.
Fear-Less and Triple P aim to help parents to set a good example of coping with anxiety, coach their children to become more emotionally resilient, and develop a toolbox of strategies and choose the most effective to respond to their child’s anxiety.
Themes include:
Understanding anxiety
Promoting emotional resilience
Setting a good example and encouraging realistic thinking
Understanding avoidance
Responding to children’s anxiety
Constructive problem solving and maintaining progress
The Chaplaincy and The Hereford Church of England Academy pride themselves on creating safe spaces for parents to share openly about the struggles they face and to know they are not alone.
The courses welcomed parents from across Herefordshire … we will be running more!
The Hereford Church of England Academy and I played host to a very special guest from Recife, Brazil in June. Cicero Felix shared his journey from extreme poverty, living in the favelas as one of the millions of street children, to having a degree in Physical Education and setting up a project which now keeps children in education, giving them a fighting chance to stay off the streets.
Cicero's Dad had been murdered when he was only 4, as a result of being involved in criminal activity, leaving his mum to bring up 8 children in a small wooden hut and soil for the flooring. The pressure took its toll with his mum who sadly became an alcoholic.
Cicero says he was taken to a place of no hope until some Christian Missionaries came to his street and started to play football with them. He said there was something different about these people and they showed care for them, even though they would steal and take drugs almost every day.
Through these missionaries Cicero was taken to sheltered accommodation with some other children and eventually was fostered by a Christian minister and his wife.
He told some of the classes that he had noticed the values of the school. He added if he had not been given aspiration from the missionaries, if he had not been cared for by them, if he had not trusted in God, If he had not been respected as a human being despite his status as a street child and finally if he had not had resilience ... He had no doubt he would be dead now.
Instead, he worked hard at his education and now many children are being given the same opportunity for a better life because of his project.
Finally, he says it was a real privilege for him to come and share his story with THA and he hopes to come again.
Cicero shows a clip about his football coaching project on national American T.V. network Fox News and Sergio shows a poster explaining what the football project does to keep young Brazilian children from ending up on the streets of Recife.
Some of the pupils express their thanks for Cicero and Sergio coming to talk about the project in Recife.
A form of hand played shuttlecock popular with the children of Recife in Brazil given as a gift to Miss Adcock and Miss Vincent
Left to Right: Cicero Felix, Miss Vincent, Miss Adcock and Sergio Nascimento
In May/June I also partnered with Miss Long, technician for art, to run a photography group for Year 9 on Wednesday afternoons. The principle for this was to address a lack of an art course for Year 9 at the time, to encourage learners to be creative in their expression and to work towards images which reflect the values of the school and a selected scripture such as 1 Corinthians 13. There is then the opportunity to explore how this creativity can be used as a legitimate expression of worship in a group … in particular in forming reflective spaces.
We have also partnered with youth worker, Heather Martin from The Diocese of Hereford to provide a mental well being course called Kintsugi Hope to help those pupils who are prone to struggle with lower self esteem or anxiety.
A Kintsugi Hope Group is a safe and supportive space for people who feel or have felt overwhelmed, providing tools for self-management in a facilitated peer mentoring style setting.
It consists of a structured yet flexible series of 12 weeks of content, which includes group and individual activities designed to help participants to accept themselves, to understand their value and worth, and grow towards a more resilient and hopeful future.
The role of the Group Leader is to facilitate the sessions using the material available, signposting people if necessary to further help and support. It can feel vulnerable and scary starting a group, but the benefit of a Kintsugi Hope Group is that Group Leaders are not on their own.
Issues covered include; disappointment, loss, anxiety, anger perfectionism, shame and resilience. Feedback so far has been amazing so we will run some more soon.
Youth Retreat Day
In March, the Chaplain and the Curate from St Martin’s Church Hereford took a group of pupils to join many other students from Ayleston, Bishops Blue Coat, The Cathedral School and others from Hereford.
They participated in a series of retreat activities including drama, craft, reflection and prayers. They also saw an amazing presentation of the Gospel through the medium of magic. All who went enjoyed themselves … but not everyone go to the top of the cathedral tower! (Barry)
On the 24th of January, Chaplaincy launched a new group on Friday Lunch times called FLOURISH where the students get to meet and discuss, topical issues, items in the news and debate aspects of Christian and other faiths and to share in worship.
We approach all these issues with the values of open-mindedness, understanding, Support and Harmony … While also having fun.
We have had over 20 students attend so far … this term we are looking at what it means to be happy through a resource called 10:10
The Hereford Academy Prayer
Loving God, bless the Hereford Academy.
Help us to respect and trust one another;
to care for one another in your name.
Guide us as we aspire to be all that you created us to be.
When we face challenges,
give us resilience and the promise of your hope.
In the name of your Son our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen