Happy New Year from Lambeth & Southwark

Hello All,

Happy New Year! 

What a Winter Term we had!  With the help of my wonderful volunteer Clare, we shared Christian beliefs in 16 Primary schools, mostly in the Lambeth and Southwark areas. The children always love to see us and the Headteachers and teachers appreciate what we do too. 

This term we have been presenting Collective Worship (assemblies) which reflect values. Schools often talk about values like hope, respect, courage etc and this is what we have been talking about in our new assembly series called 'Beyond Belief: Values into Action'.  We add a Christian perspective to these values (and some great artwork!) and schools have been keen for us to do these assemblies. Click below to find out more:

We have received lots of encouraging feedback, including: 

'Through Heather’s support, we have developed and sustained a rich, meaningful approach to worship that nurtures the spiritual, moral, and social development of our students and staff alike.'  - Lambeth School Headteacher

In addition to presenting Collective Worship, I have been supporting teachers with their RE teaching. I have delivered lessons on creation, creation care, the Trinity and why Jesus is the light of the world. I also lead a faith leaders club with some children in a church school (as seen in their Facebook post below) and we have been talking about prayer and what they would like to see in Collective Worship in school.

I spent a wonderful week in October working with London City Mission on the 'Life' exhibition.  We told lots of schoolchildren about the life of Jesus in an interactive exhibition.  The children were given the opportunity to anonymously decide whether Jesus was a prophet, an imposter or Son of God.  It was amazing and supported by Lordship Lane Baptist Church.

In November I had a meeting at St Mark's Kennington to encourage people to 'Bless Our Schools' and we made some good contacts from that and are looking forward to seeing how we can support churches in reaching out.  I really need more volunteers, otherwise it is difficult to expand the much-needed ministry. If you are interested in volunteering in Lambeth please click the link below to find out more:

Volunteer with Spinnaker

You may ask, how can we help?  Prayer is vital; it underpins everything we do. Volunteers would be wonderful; it is difficult to expand the number of schools visited without volunteers.  Financial support is also gratefully received and enables us to do more. 

Heather Hawthorne
Lambeth/Southwark Hub Leader