It is always a privilege to be involved in the life of a school - in the happy times and the sad times. Today was a happy day and a sad day at Woodside Primary, in Hamilton, as we said goodbye to the Primary 7s.We use many words when we mark rites of passage in our lives; "good luck", "all the best", "best wishes". For Christians and those of other faiths we pray for the person and their situation.
I recently wrote an essay on the place of prayer within Religious Observance in Scottish Schools. Can we pray? Should we pray? How do we pray?
The reality is that prayer is part of many peoples lives, however within RO it shouldn't be something we force onto people, rather we should provide opportunities for people to pray. Alongside those prayers will also be space for others to reflect, and express hopes and dreams, without praying.
At Woodside we attempted to create an opportunity for this to happen. The P5's each drew round their foot and cut it out. They were then given the choice of writing a prayer or a comment about their thoughts as they said goodbye to the p7s.
The photo here shows the result of their work. Each foot contains a prayer, a hope, or a wish for their fellow pupils at this time of transition. It was beautiful to hear some of them read out their prayers and comments. One pupil wished that the P7s would "keep up the laughter!" and another who prayed that they would all know that "God was always with them."
The photo here shows the result of their work. Each foot contains a prayer, a hope, or a wish for their fellow pupils at this time of transition. It was beautiful to hear some of them read out their prayers and comments. One pupil wished that the P7s would "keep up the laughter!" and another who prayed that they would all know that "God was always with them."
My prayer is, in the words of a Fischy music (http://www.fischy.com/) song, "May they walk with one another, may they help each other on the way".
Jen
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