This week's message from Andrew Teale, Diocesan Director of Education
At the Threshold of Despair
In his video this week, Bishop Richard examines the final line of The Lord’s Prayer.
For thine is the Kingdom
The power and the glory,
Forever and ever.
Amen
As always, I would recommend a few minutes of rich theology by watching the video to understand exactly where this part of the Lord’s Prayer comes from (It isn’t included in all forms of the Lord’s Prayer).
Bishop Richard explores how the moments in our life, when we feel most vulnerable, are the moments that can and do bring us closer to God. Where we feel lost in the darkness it can be easier to see a guiding light.
In the world of education, as in life, there are moments when we feel close to the edge. When we stand at the fully stretched limit of our capacity, on the threshold of despair.
Click here to continue reading Andrew's message...
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Year 6 Leavers' Services 2023
Morning service is now full, places now only available for the afternoon service.
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Thank you to all those schools who have already booked their places at our Year 6 Leavers’ Service at Hereford Cathedral. We have had a wonderful response and the morning service is now full, but places are still available for the afternoon session.
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Thursday 22nd June 2023
1:00-2:00pm
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Schools can now book for just the afternoon service. Both services will be identical, but will have different people taking part. Book here: Year 6 Celebration Booking Form
Places service are limited so please book early to avoid missing out, bookings will close on Friday 28th April 2023.
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New to being a church school governor or would like a governance refresher?
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This course is freely open to all categories of Governors, Directors, Members and Local Governing/Academy Board members of church schools and academies in the Diocese of Hereford. Attendance is required at all four sessions. This course is FREE to all church schools and academies in the Diocese of Hereford. Being a Governor in a Church School/Academy: 21st, 22nd, 28th & 29th March 2023 or 14th, 15th, 20th & 21st June 2023: each session is 5.00 - 6.00pm. To book your place, click on the link.
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Do you need a practical guide to help you develop your School's Christian Vision?
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The session will explore the elements of a Christian vision and give schools an opportunity to consider and discuss their own priorities with regards to evaluating the effectiveness of their own vision. Schools are encouraged to send more than one delegate to the session and to share their own established vision or the progress they have made to date.
Practical Guide to Developing your School's Christian Vision (SIAMS focus): 23rd March 2023: 9.30am - 12 noon. To book your place, click on the link.
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Next Term's online training at a glance...
RE Teaching:
Creative RE - Teaching About Hinduism - 18th April 2023: 3.30 - 5.00pm
Global Christianity - 20th April 2023: 3.30 - 5.00pm
Exploring Worldviews in RE - 17th May 2023: 3.30 - 5.00m
Creative RE - Teaching About Islam - 23rd May 2023: 3.30 - 5.00pm
Church School Leadership and SIAMS:
New SIAMS 2023 - 17th May 2023: 9.30am - 12 noon
Getting to Grips with a Theology of Education - 25th May 2023: 1.00 - 3.00pm
Developing Spirituality - 14th June 2023: 1.00 - 3.00pm
How to Develop and Embed your School's Christian Vision - 8th June 2023: 9.30am - 12 noon
Collective Worship in Schools:
Developing and Energising your Pupil Led Worship - 25th April 2023: 1.00 - 3.00pm
Creative Collective Worship - Worship Through the Church Year - 10th May 2023: 1.30 - 3.00pm
Governor Training:
Being a Governor in a Church School/Academy - 14th, 15th, 20th & 21st June 2023: 5.00 - 6.00pm each session (all sessions to be attended).
SIAMS 2023 - The Role of the Governor - 3rd July 2023: 5.00 - 6.30pm
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Please see our Education Events Page for a full list of our training courses. An unlimited number of places at the majority of our courses are included for all Partnership Schools. Please do get in touch with the Education Team if you wish to discuss our Partnership Agreement and the support on offer. Details of our Diocesan Partnership Agreement are available in the link.
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RE RESOURCES
Religious Worldview Videos
Shropshire SACRE have their own YouTube channel with short worldview videos from different faith and non-religious worldviews. Shropshire SACRE - YouTube that are available to watch now. More content added to the channel over the next few months.
RE Hubs accreditation for places of worship visits and RE visitors.
RE Hubs is a national project that is developing regional websites as portals for supporting RE. The West Midlands site will list places of worship and accredited RE visitors for our regions. They are providing accreditation training for people who wish to work with schools to support RE or for those providing visits to their places of worship. To register or to find out more please see the leaflet.
Understanding the Role of the Rabbi - Live Talk!
17th May 2023 at 7.00pm in Church Stretton. Click here for more information.
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Calling all schools with musical groups and choirs…
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The Royal Three Counties Show has been held at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern since 1958 and the Church has had a long association with the show, with the Dioceses of Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester working together to maintain a visible Church presence.
The Churches Tent will once again be at the Three Counties Show show in 2023 and they are looking for schools to join them and perform there. This year, the show is being held between Friday 16 June and Sunday 18 June. Each day, there will be a number of 20 minute ‘slots’ available on the stage at the Church Tent for school groups to perform and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. If your school is associated with a community choir or a parish group who might like to perform on either the Saturday or the Sunday, please get in touch.
Please contact k.bland@hereford.anglican.org to register your interest or if you have any queries. Further information about the show can be accessed here.
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Andrew's message continued....
During my degree, I studied psychology and, during a module on ‘Human Factors’ psychology, I remember examining the capacity of air traffic controllers through a simple simulation where the number of planes steadily increases and increases to the point where there is a collision. As they become more practised and more experienced, the controllers can cope with a higher and higher volume of air traffic. They build cognitive schemas and recognise repeating patterns and sequences, which enable them to process more and more information. It is a bit like the chess grandmaster who can recall complex sequences of moves by chunking them together in larger blocks.
Great teachers and headteachers become more and more efficient and effective at managing increasing loads of complex work and interactions with children, parents, governors and staff in less and less time. Just one more thing. Do you have 5 minutes?
Whether you are a headteacher or a chess player or an air traffic controller, and you are super-efficient and well-practised at processing information, you sometimes reach a sort of ‘flow state’ where you can deal with a huge amount of information in a way that the ECT or beginner player or ATC in training, could not begin to deal with. This level of proficiency and expertise can be invigorating. But even for the grandmaster, there is always a limit. If you keep adding planes to the simulation, there will always be a crash eventually. Almost all chess players can be beaten, if the opponent is strong enough. School leaders and teachers can only cope with so much before they reach that ‘threshold of despair’. It has certainly happened to me at various points in my career.
Yet, it is often the darkest of times, when the face of God can become clearest for us. It can be easiest to know Him and connect with him, when we face the biggest challenges of our lives. He can hold you up, when you’re not sure how to take the next step.
I did well on my Human Factors essay. So much so, that for a time I thought that was my career path. A six-week placement at Nuclear Electric helping to design some less-confusing displays for nuclear power stations, cooled my enthusiasm for this branch of psychology. However, instead I switched the main focus in my final year to developmental psychology and I did some research on children’s drawings in a primary school in Hertfordshire. I found that the buzz, excitement and fun of a school environment was more my cup of tea, and the rest is history.
Thanks be to God that real life is not like the air traffic simulation. Although it sometimes feels like it, the planes do not in fact, increase to an infinite level. There will be ebbs and flows. Though they will pass eventually, there will be periods of busy intensity where we live at the threshold of not coping, and these are sometimes the best moments to turn to Him and ask for some help. You won’t actually need to ask.
Bishop Richard makes clear in his video message that in truth, ‘Life in all its fulness really is all about God’. It is about His Kingdom, His power and His Glory. Forever and ever.
Amen
Collect (3rd Sunday of Lent)
Eternal God,
give us insight
to discern your will for us,
to give up what harms us,
and to seek the perfection we are promised
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
I hope that everyone has now thawed out after last week’s snow challenges.
Well done to Liz Orton, Vic Goodman and the team at Pencombe CE Primary who had their SIAMS inspection this week.
Prayers and best wishes to Kerri Phelps and the team at Tenbury CE Primary School, who have a SIAMs inspection next week.
Thank you all for everything you are doing in support of schools, at every level in schools across the diocese. Your work to keep our schools as places of sanctuary for every child and young person who crosses the threshold, is vitally important and will be, for many, life changing.
You can be certain, that your work each day, is known and loved by God, as are you.
Andrew
Canon Andrew Teale
Diocesan Director of Education
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