The Benefice warmly welcomes and supports children coming to church and caters for them in a variety of ways
Children’s Choir
This choir meets after school on a Wednesday afternoon. For members who are pupils at Backwell Junior School it acts as an after school club and the children are collected from the school, then escourted to Church House by DBS checked volunteers. Children from other schools are also very welcome to attend. They sing a mixture of Christian and secular songs and take part in services 3-4 times a year.
Little Lambs
This is a free (voluntary donation) messy play that runs every second Sunday with quality activities and refreshments for parents and children that also includes story time, singing and dancing. The themes are always drawn from scripture, but are made fun and accessible to non-church families. Church volunteers are present as helpers.
Begin Well
In 2022 we became a Begin Well Facilitator church and trained 8 volunteers to run these courses, which are led by Timi. During 2022-23 we ran 5 Begin Well Courses attended by 35 mums-to-be and their partners. We are now working in collaboration with Nailsea and Backwell Methodist to host alternately between our churches. We are the only free antenatal course provider in our area.
School Links
Backwell’s schools serve the whole benefice and many pupils commute daily to Backwell School from other villages. This and the C of E Junior School (BJS), situated opposite the Rectory and close to St Andrew’s Church, are both high achieving and deservedly very popular. BJS is federated with West Leigh Infant School. The Rector is expected to be an ex officio Governor of the school and there are two Foundation Governors selected by St Andrew's PCC.
Each child entering the school receives a gift such as a copy of Luke’s Gospel or a graphic bible. Nick Webster, the headteacher, has spoken passionately of the important connection between St Andrew’s and the Junior School and has been very supportive of our link.
There are many events and opportunities to connect throughout the year.
Collective worship - Our children’s worker attends BJS every other Wednesday during term time for collective worship, where they explore Bible stories and Christian values. The children sing hymns and Year 6 lead the school in prayer. Question time assembly sessions are also held where topics such as prayer, the Trinity, the cross etc are explored..
Church Days - Every year, each year group from BJS visits St Andrew’s for a day of seasonal or themed activities. Dozens of church volunteers lead activities throughout the day for 60+ students. Students and staff both look forward to these events!
Church Services - We host all students from BJS for six services a year. In the last two years we have done: Ash Wednesday, Easter, End of School Year, Pupil chaplains Commissioning Service, Harvest, Christmas Carol Service, Pentecost Service, Pet Service, Thanksgiving service.
Christmas and Easter in a Box - Year 3 students (60+) have Christmas in a Box during a half day RE session, while Year 6 students have Easter in a Box. These are led by Timi and volunteers from church. The children love being able to explore these well-known stories creatively.
Pupil Chaplains - We started the Pupil Chaplaincy program in 2022 with 10 chaplains. We are now on our fouth team. The children meet weekly for lunchtime Bible study with Timi and are regularly involved in leading school services, writing and prayers or acting out Bible scenes.
Each team has also volunteered at The Meeting Point where they served lunch. We participate in a yearly diocesan pupil chaplain day, last year in Tauton Minster. The pupil chaplaincy program has been selected as a Learning Hub by the Growing Faith foundation, so our work will intensify next year as we plan to write a handbook curriculum based on our work to provide an easy resource for other parishes wanting to start their own chaplaincy programs.