During Jun-Jul 2011 an interactive educational experience called GSUS Live came to Wokingham secondary schools. The project enabled young people to explore life issues like fear, rejection and forgiveness from a Christian point of view. WASCWT coordinated the project as part of our vision to connect churches and schools.
It was a real success – we’ve had a lot of positive feedback. Thanks to everyone who gave their time to help make it happen.
A HUGE congratulations to Anna and Ben Adams on the birth of their twins, Thomas and Martha. As many of you know Anna was one of the schools workers who worked on the GSUSLive project last year. I’ve seen the photos on facebook and they are just gorgeous!
I’m pleased to say that the Christian Unions have started to pick up so thank you to everyone who prayed over our constant re-juggling to meet the requirements of each school. Please continue to pray about our Edgbarrow lunch time club. This has not taken off at all, which is shame as quite a good number came along to welcome week. We are meeting with the deputy head this Thursday to discuss running a Philosophy Club, which would be open to all age groups, as an alternative to a Y7 games club.
We are continuously encouraged, as we go around the schools, by the warmth of welcome that we receive. It was a real pleasure to be invited along to see the Holt School Harvest Festival. The involvement and attitude of the girls toward a particular charitable issue was very heart warming.
As always thank you for your prayers.
The schools work team
Jane, Laura and Yvette
It has been another busy week in the schools work. We already have lessons booked next half-term for years 7 & 8 at the forest school.
The restart of coffees and cakes in school has gone down a storm. This act of service is never taken for granted by staff and is often commented on as to how it brightens their day. We are still short of volunteers to support this work so if you think it is something you could give your time to please contact one of us.
The Warehouse Event was a huge success. We had 113 enjoying all the various zones. The GSUSLive Zone went with the theme ‘What’s on your mind?’ The young people had a variety of hats to choose from to wear with their thoughts written out on a large thought bubble. They then had a photo taken which was printed out for them to take away. There was also a graffiti wall for them to express their views.
The Warehouse sign-in sheet had an extra column for the young people to write down the school they attend and the year group they are in. Not all of them filled this in but from those that did it has shown that the majority of young people who attended were from the Holt school with 28 followed by forest with 16, Emmbrook and Ranelagh both with 14, St.Crispin’s with 13 and Edgbarrow 6. There was also a further 10 young people from across 5 other schools.
The lunchtime clubs and Christian Unions have all started up again. The Emmbrook school has asked us to take on the KS4/5 Christian Union that had been run by a teacher. This will be run by Laura and Jonny each friday lunchtime and a Christian Union for the younger pupils will be advertised and started during first break on a Friday.
Please do pray for our regular weekly activities:
Monday
• St.Crispin’s coffee and cakes
• Forest school prayer meeting.
Wednesday
• Emmbook school coffee and cake
• St.Crispin’s school Christian Union
• Holt school Christian Union
Thursday
• Holt school coffee and cake
• Edgbarrow school Y7 lunchtime club
Friday
• Forest school coffee and cake
• Emmbrook school Y7/8 C.U.
• Emmbrook school Y11/12 C.U.
• Forest school C.U.
As always thank you for all your prayers and support.
Yvette & Laura
The new academic year has started with our usual Y7 Welcome Week clubs. This year we have been running a club in St.Crispin’s, The Holt and Edgebarrow schools. It is an opportunity for Y7s to come along each lunchtime, for their first week of school, to join with other Y7s for some fun and games.
There has been a good uptake for the clubs with an average of 20 or more. These have been run by Laura and I being supported by Jonny Joy from Kings Church, Debbie Harris from St.Sebastians church and Clare Hooper from Wokingham Baptist Church.
It is always encouraging to be supported in the schools work by the linked Churches. Gsuslive showed how there can be a real unity across the churches when it comes to serving the schools by being a Christian presence and where appropriate sharing the Christian faith.
As a Trust we long to see more of this unified working in the schools. There are plenty of areas that people can link into. We will be holding a volunteer recruitment evening in the near future so please be considering how you might be able to support us in the work going on within the schools.
Many thanks.
Yvette and Laura
GSUSlive had its final week at Emmbrook last week. Whilst there were some behavioural issues, on the whole the pupils really enjoyed their experience. Staff that came onto the unit were very impressed and the Head of Cultural Studies told us they would like to have the unit again in the future. As all of the schools had requested the return of GSUSLive I contacted the ‘Counties’ Coordinator and put in a request for September 2013. He had a bit of a laugh at that and told me that the first free gap is in 2015!
During the GSUSLive Event we gave every KS3 pupil a flyer inviting them to the Youth Warehouse Event on the 9th July. As it got closer to the time, we were becoming a little nervous about how many would turn up as we had given out nearly 3000 flyers and decided we only had the capacity for 180. As always God had that sorted and we had 177 young people turn up for the event.
The evening was a huge success with each of the Zones in constant use. WASCWT ran a GSUSLive zone which gave the young people the opportunity to express something of their experience of the event. We had a very large drawing of the gsuslive bus laid out on the floor for people to graffiti and this was filled with an explosion of positive comments and diagrams. We also took a picture of each person as they held up a piece of cardboard, which they had written a comment on about fear, forgiveness or rejection. Each young person was then given the picture to take home with them.
We also set up a place where the young people could write something they would like prayer for, on leaf shaped piece of paper, and then hang it on the artificial tree. Some chose to write prayers themselves and other wrote a request. Please pray for some of the things that were written:
• A few were concerned for the world and asked for prayer that we would not take for granted what we have when so many in the world have so little.
• A few were concerned for the bad things that happen in the world and asked us to pray for an end to wars and fighting and hurting each other.
• One person asked us to pray for a friend who was having a difficult time getting on with her stepdad which was also causing problems with her relationship with her mum. The person also asked that we pray that her friend would, “come to accept God in her heart”
• Another person asked us to pray that they would be able to conquer their fear and for God to guide them.
• Another person asked us to pray for her sister as she starts secondary school that she wouldn’t “lose her confidence or be bullied because she is dyslexic.”
• One person asked us to pray for those who have cancer and for people whose lives have been affected by it.
• Another person asked us to, “pray for my mum and dad as they are going through a very stressful time at the moment.”
• One girl didn’t like her name and asked us to pray for anyone else in that position.
• And one very simple yet profound request was that we should “pray for everything to go well.” Amen to that!
Following the five week event of GSUSLive we ended yesterday with a volunteer appreciation buffet for all of our regular volunteer and for those who took part in the event. It was lovely to see a mix of both. We said a big thank you to Gill Harris who took on the responsibility or organising our cake maker and coffee makers rota 6 years ago. As this ministry has grown over the years Gill has been just brilliant at organising about 30 or more volunteers.
We are really grateful to Frances Jeffrey for stepping up to take on the responsibility of organising our cake and coffee making volunteer rota. Please be praying for her and give thanks to God for all of our volunteers. Also be praying that many of the volunteers who helped with the GSUSLive Event will want to continue working with us over the next academic year.
After the volunteer appreciation buffet we had a service of celebration at Woosehill Community Church. Many people from across the churches came together to worship and praise God for all that he has done. We heard from pupils, staff and volunteers throughout the evening. The worship was wonderful and the talk encouraging. We ended as we began; united in a common desire to give all the glory to God.
GSUS live update 05/07/11
“Last but not least”
There are lots of things to give thanks for this week. Forest went really well. Behaviour was mostly good in lessons and year 10 came on the bus at lunchtimes. The school liked the project and are keen to have us back. There was no rain of Friday for the moving of the bus, and even though they were two hours late in arriving to move the bus God provision was evident. Refreshments were provided for the take down crew and the Gates, which would normally be shut at 6pm at Emmbrook were left open due to a school trip. The set up went well and the Bus was fine over the weekend.
The lines of communication have been a little less clear at Emmbrook so far, so need to pray that timetabling all goes to plan especially with the new slots that have thankfully been filled. There has already been some challenging behaviour and we would pray for discernment for how to deal with this, and also about the purposeful damage done to two sets of headphones. Please pray for protection of the bus and the team this week. Also that the team, especially Yvette, Anna and Laura will have renewed energy and be able to keep going and be able to find time and energy to plan the Final events.
Please also pray for the events coming up this week and the continued impact of GSUS live on the schools and the Young people.
• The Warehouse on Saturday 9th JULY… That we will have enough volunteers and that the young people from the schools will attend and enjoy the activities. Also that they will register on the facebook group and be able to be invited to future events. That we will be able to arrange a follow up event and signpost young people to other activities happening in the churches throughout the summer.
• The celebration service on Sunday 10th July… That the Head teachers and Heads of RE will attend. That young people from the schools will come along and that the churches in the area will support it.
And for our final events :
Our week at Luckley was very successful – Bearwood College, The Whitehouse and Holme Grange visited the bus too, with great responses from all. Luckley have asked WASCWT to start a Six Form CU from next term, which is exciting. And they would love GSUS Live back – but preferably in the autumn term, so there is more time for follow up work.
Our wonderful set up team need another massive thank you for doing yet another successful set down and up on Friday at Forest school. Again they got very wet, but I understand kept very jolly and positive through it all! Thank you! The Forest sight is quite vulnerable to unwanted visitors, particularly at the weekend and we prayed the bus would be protected – it was and Monday was a very hot start. Luckily the air-conditioning was working and the bus was a welcome relief from the heat for the boys at Forest. Please continue to pray that the bus is looked after this week, and set up and set down goes smoothly for our final week.
The boys initially have been quite loud and excited when visiting the bus, but have generally been really engaged with the interactive program they do on their own or in twos. The bus is very visible to the boys as they walk from lessons and at break times and so the buzz about GSUS Live has been traveling fast around the school. Comments and opinions about what the GSUS bus is have been flying about and whether positive or not let’s pray that the boys engage with the message of the bus in their own ways.
Our volunteer presenters continue to be brilliant and their enthusiasm and dedication is a real encouragement to us all. Be praying for them – for energy, confidence and enjoyment.
The Wokingham Times have come and taken some photos of the boys on the bus, so it will be good to see where and how they use them in the paper in the following days or weeks. Let’s pray that the article will capture the excitement and buzz that the bus has created in all the schools so far.
This week our prayers are coming specifically from Arborfield church, led by Alison Cauldwell and myself and Laura at the Baptist church. We’re trying to do something every day that might appeal to different ages – please join us for anything that you think sounds appealing to you! This is what’s coming up for the rest of the week:
Wednesday 29th June: 4pm prayer walk after school, meet at the church at 4pm – a short walk to Cantley Park, ending with some prayer and refreshments
Thursday 30th June: 12.30pm, church lunch at Wokingham Baptist church promoting and praying for GSUS Live
Friday 31st June: 7.45am all invited to pray for GSUS Live followed by breakfast
Please continue to remember GSUS Live in your prayers – prayer is what is making this all work!
Below are more general prayer requests that we can pray throughout GSUS live:
Please pray for the pupils
That they will take their lesson seriously
That they will leave the trailer with a sense of Jesus as a reality
That they will consider learning about Jesus to be relevant to their situation
That they will be excited about GSUS live and talk about it to family, friends and peers
Please pray for the staff, and relationships with schools
That overall, the school will view GSUS live as a positive experience
That GSUS live will make our mission statement a reality
“To connect the heart of the church with the school community through the development of mutual trust and respect.”
That staff that are present during the lessons will see how much the young people engage with GSUS live, and that they listen and want to explore more about Jesus.
For them to see unity through churches working together in Wokingham
Please pray for the “Technical Stuff!”
That the alarm on the trailer works properly!
That the bus doesn’t get vandalised
For the generator to work
That the team can work the technology on the trailer
Please pray for the volunteers and set up crew
That people will be safe from injury
That Stobarts hauliers, who transport the trailer, will not get stuck in traffic and can get in and out of schools easily
That presenters will be confident and enthusiastic in their presenting
For the presenters to be able to relate to the young people effectively
Please pray for the future of GSUS live
That GSUS live can continue to be a theme in regular Christian Union meetings, with a hunger and enthusiasm for its teaching
That RE teachers will want to do follow-up lessons after GSUS live
For the Warehouse event on 9th July where we are having two GSUS live zones. Every young person doing GSUS live will be invited. Please pray they may want to come to future Warehouse events
For the youth workers in the churches who reach many of the young people that will be doing GSUS live
That volunteers will want to carry on helping with schools work in some capacity
Firstly we want to thank our setting up and down team for their great efforts in the rain on Friday evening. I think everyone got very wet! The good news is the leak that was plaguing us last week has been sorted by someone draining the water off the roof – so, thankfully we came in on Monday to a completely dry ceiling on the bus, which was fantastic after such a wet weekend!
As Richard said, the Holt have asked for GSUS Live again and the response from the girls was really positive – many of them talking to us afterwards about the experience. We had some Year 10’s doing it during lunchtime too, so it was great to be using the bus to its full potential.
Yvette would particularly like to thank Kings for the prayer breakfasts that happened all of last week – she said it carried her through! One lady wanted to share this picture she had as she was driving past the Holt after the 7.30 prayer breakfast on Friday:
“It was coming on to rain, and as I looked at the clouds I imagined lots of presents raining down, and they appeared to be wrapped up with ribbons. I took it to mean that many blessings were being showered on to the school, and that they would need to be unwrapped in due course”
So, we have had a great welcome at Luckley, where they are really looking after us and even providing us with a school dinner! Bearwood College students were in the bus on Monday and we had our first Year 6’s engaging with the experience, which they thoroughly enjoyed. Later on in the week Whitehouse and Holme Grange are bringing in some students from their schools too – so please be praying for them and making good links with those schools.
We want to thank our cake makers for making more cakes this week because we are providing cakes for the Luckley staffroom – these have gone down very well indeed!
While technically things have mainly gone well, we have a few computers that play up from time to time – this can affect the experience of the young people doing it – so please pray these technical blips clear up completely.
The volunteer presenters continue to be fantastic and enthusiastic for the project and it’s brilliant for the young people to get a variety of Christians interacting with them.
We would really appreciate your prayers in being able to have a little more office time – Yvette, Laura and myself still have masses to sort out in terms of the celebration service, 10th July, 6.30 Woosehill Community Church and the GSUS Live zone at the Warehouse, 9th July 7.30-9.30. We want both these post GSUS Live events to be excellent and so we need the time to make that happen!
St Sebastian’s, Arbofield and Barkham churches and Crowthorne Baptist Church (CBC) are praying for us this week – so thank you! Ali Ceaser from CBC wanted to share these things from a prayer meeting they had on Friday evening:
• Fear not for I am with you
• Do whatever God has told you to do
• Pray, Pray, Pray Without Ceasing!
Below are more general prayer requests that we can pray throughout GSUS live:
Please pray for the pupils
That they will take their lesson seriously
That they will leave the trailer with a sense of Jesus as a reality
That they will consider learning about Jesus to be relevant to their situation
That they will be excited about GSUS live and talk about it to family, friends and peers
Please pray for the staff, and relationships with schools
That overall, the school will view GSUS live as a positive experience
That GSUS live will make our mission statement a reality
“To connect the heart of the church with the school community through the development of mutual trust and respect.”
That staff that are present during the lessons will see how much the young people engage with GSUS live, and that they listen and want to explore more about Jesus.
For them to see unity through churches working together in Wokingham
Please pray for the “Technical Stuff!”
That the alarm on the trailer works properly!
That the bus doesn’t get vandalised
For the generator to work
That the team can work the technology on the trailer
Please pray for the volunteers and set up crew
That people will be safe from injury
That Stobarts hauliers, who transport the trailer, will not get stuck in traffic and can get in and out of schools easily
That presenters will be confident and enthusiastic in their presenting
For the presenters to be able to relate to the young people effectively
Please pray for the future of GSUS live
That GSUS live can continue to be a theme in regular Christian Union meetings, with a hunger and enthusiasm for its teaching
That RE teachers will want to do follow-up lessons after GSUS live
For the Warehouse event on 9th July where we are having two GSUS live zones. Every young person doing GSUS live will be invited. Please pray they may want to come to future Warehouse events
For the youth workers in the churches who reach many of the young people that will be doing GSUS live
That volunteers will want to carry on helping with schools work in some capacity
See the Wokingham Times June 15th Page 13 for an article all about GSUS Live in our schools. Give thanks it has come across so clearly in the paper… now read on for more good news…
Our marvellous week at The Holt School is nearly over, but as at St Crispin’s School, we have been asked by the Holt teaching staff if GSUS Live can visit again. Let’s start praying and planning for 2013-2014!
There’s been great feedback from the students, particularly liking the Christian music used in the presentations and wanting to take it home with them. The head teacher and others welcomed the realistic scenarios used in the material, following the stories of 3 teenagers and the relevance of Jesus’ teachings today. Yvette has already been booked by The Holt for a follow-up session, to ‘Grill a Christian’. Please pray for all the follow up with young people in the remaining school term, Warehouse events and back in school in the next academic year.
We have been able to film some of the activities, looking to produce a DVD for the schools and churches to follow on from the GSUS Live weeks. Pray for the editor Mike Goldberg that the chosen content will be just right for the intended wide audience.
Yvette and helpers value so much the prayer support underpinning these weeks, with a prayer breakfast held every day this week. One answer to prayer: 3 problematic PCs became 2 working PCs just in time, and enough for the class size. The leaky roof is a concern though, so please remember this over the next few rainy days, and as the trailer is moved to a new location. Having all the delicate technology working is essential, so please pray for success and safety though the moves and weather!
And Friday is on us, with the trailer moving to Luckley-Oakfield school for next week where the local students and visitors from Bearwood College and elsewhere will enjoy GSUS Live. Please remember the helpers relocating the trailer, and that the drivers will be here safely on time in the middle of rush hour.
But most of all let’s remember and pray for the hundreds of our young people who will participate in GSUS Live next week. Please pray they will be engaged and enthusiastic, and that they will enjoy and really benefit from what they hear, see and do.
St Crispin’s was a fantastic week, one of the highlights being the general buzz around school about it and the fact the head of RE has asked to have GSUS Live back as soon as possible!
Apparently the packing down of the bus went pretty smoothly. Stobarts arrived on time and manovered the bus into its space at The Holt with precision. It was quite tricky setting up again because the bus is on a slight slop, but the team worked like troupers and were finished by around 6pm. Thank you to all those doing that tough job!
So far this week the lessons have been going really well, the girls are engaged and responsive to the experience. The presenters continue to be great and it is just fantastic to have a range of volunteers from so many of the churches in Wokingham. We continue to have good conversations with the teachers when they come on the bus with the girls; this really helps in developing positive and real relationships with the school.
Please pray for a little leak in the roof that we are having to deal with on an hourly basis at the moment, that it will stop leaking and certainly not get any worse if we have rain later on in the weeks to come. From a technical point of view all seems to be going quite smoothly, with just a few monitors playing up now and again – but please continue to pray for the technology! It would be critical if anything did go wrong.
We are doing some filming on Wednesday, interviewing some of the girls before and after the experience – please pray that they will contribute well and be responsive to the questions asked. And please pray for the impact of GSUS Live on the rest of the school that the buzz of it will spread!
This week Kings Church is praying for GSUS Live and have started the day off with a prayer breakfast at 7.30am! It has been fantastic to go into the day empowered by prayer – on Monday the prayers prayed about three of the monitors that were down, when we arrived only one wasn’t working – which made the day go a lot more smoothly! You’re welcome to join Kings Church for the prayer breakfast from 7.30am at Kings House until Friday 19th June.
We’d like to share with you a word someone was given at the prayer and praise evening last weekend; they felt God was giving His promise ‘that no word from Him will return to Him void’ and that we should hold on to this throughout the event and beyond.
