‘Nobody is worth less than anybody else,’ ‘more people should learn about this’ and ‘engaging, inspired, enjoyable’ are just some of the comments Kate, our schools worker, gets as she delivers lessons across Scotland. We caught up with her to hear more about what’s been happening.
What have you been up to in schools recently?
Excitingly, it’s been non-stop! As we tell schools across Scotland about The Message’s schools work and the lessons we offer, we’re finding that opportunities to go in are opening up more than ever before. We’ve taken our resilience and wellbeing tour to Stirling and Falkirk, a No More Knives tour to Glasgow, and have been in front of thousands of young people with our Personal and Social Education (PSE) lessons.
Why are these lessons so important?
Young people need to know how loved they are by Jesus and about their true value in him. Every day, they’re bombarded with messages about how they should act and behave, so it’s more important than ever that they hear the truth about who they are in Jesus and the hope and identity they can find in him.
I head into schools as part of their health and wellbeing curriculum for S1 to S6 (ages 11-17), and get to run lessons that talk from a Christian perspective about some of the most challenging topics young people may face. The aim of each lesson is that they leave not only with the skills and knowledge they need to make good decisions, but also wanting to know more about Jesus as a result of the what they’ve heard.
Church partnership is so important in everything both I and The Message do, as we want young people to get connected with local churches. So, someone from a local church comes into every school with me. Through this we’re seeing teenagers heading to youth groups as well as churches getting to work in schools for the long term too.
Back in 2023, I went into Denny High School first with a resilience and wellbeing tour, and then PSE lessons. Jonathan, the minister from Denny Baptist Church, came into every lesson with me, and as a result of the relationships he built with the school’s pastoral team, the church have been in the school every Thursday since, running sessions for pupils in their nurture unit.
Building relationships is key then?
Absolutely. Lots of the schools I work with ask me to come in and run their PSE lessons for the whole school over a few weeks, rather than doing whole year group sessions. And I love this. It means I’m getting to build long-lasting relationships with schools and students. I see pupils year after year, but also get to know staff and pastoral teams really well too. As we chat or eat lunch together, I get to have great conversations and even the chance to share my faith sometimes too.
What’s next?
More and more lessons, and I can’t wait. I’ve got new schools I’m starting to work with, as well as heading back into ones I’ve partnered with before. We’re also planning another No More Knives tour very soon.
Find out more about what’s happening in Scotland at message.org.uk/scotland
