News-cast for March and April 2008

By Mischa Constant

 

Faccts has now been serving in the local Fleet and Crookham community for over 5 years now. Since it’s humble beginnings in a lounge over a cuppa Faccts has been going from strength to strength. In the world of ‘schools workers’ in 2008 there are many opportunities for this part of the UK Christian Church to be serving effectively and creatively in our local Education Authorities.

Here is a brief overview of what the Faccts team has been up to in the last 2 months:

The last 2 months has seen a small part of the Faccts team doing a tour of the local churches in our area. The reason: To inform these, our faithful partners where their prayers and pounds have been going over the last 5 years. It has been encouraging to meet the many more faces that are involved in supporting the Faccts initiative. We as the Faccts team have been greatly inspired as to the way that the continuous flow of prayer, finance, relationship and growth of Faccts continues. We are dreaming BIG for the next 5 years and are certain that we will seize the opportunities in our schools with both hands as we seek to serve our local schools staff and students.

Junior schools:
Our dedicated and passionate team of Junior schools volunteers have continued to serve their respective schools with creative and exciting lunch time clubs. Each club is regularly attended by a cross-section of Junior school students at all the schools we are involved in. It is a real privilege to impart encouragement and life into these young people on a regular basis and all our clubs are continually well received by students and staff alike. With parents and teachers permission we may have a video diary of these clubs in the coming months available on our website.

On behalf of the Faccts Directors and partners we would like to thank the Faccts teams that serve in these schools weekly – you are doing a fantastic job and we look forward to many more great years together.

It is also the eve of the Junior school course ‘It’s Your Move’ (IYM). A course by Scripture Union UK that is a one hour presentation to every Year 6 class per Junior school. Well over 400 students. The aim: What a Year 6 leaver can expect when they begin Secondary school. IYM is always eagerly anticipated by the Junior schools and we look forward to running it again this year.

Please see the Faccts at school section of our website to see the schools we are involved in.

 

Secondary schools:
An aspect of our work in secondary schools that is worth mentioning, although part of our last period, January 2008, is the residential trip that we assisted with at Calthorpe Park Secondary (CPS). We joined about 60 year 10 students at Calshot (www.calshot.com) for a week of action and adventure. We were very impressed with the way the entire trip was run by Tommy Taylor and Sam Plunkett, (CPS PE staff members) and Calshot staff. Not to mention the absolute pleasure that is was to serve the students who attended and who all worked fantastically well as a team! They were all a positive testament to contrast the negative press that is often portrayed by the media about the UK youth.

Although there was a 2 week holiday in April we have achieved much in March/April.

In March 2008 I attended the Scripture Union training week up in Derbyshire. Quality training combined with relevant up to date information on youth work and more specifically schools work UK. Time well spent and valuable training that I will pass onto the wider Faccts team. The after school club 180 has also been going well at CPS over the last few months. We had to put it on hold for a term at Court Moor Secondary (CMS) as we were short staffed but it has now recently started up again.

With the football season coming to an end we concluded our last few training sessions and matches at CPS and CM. We look forward to the next season of coaching which will be specifically athletics and softball. Sport is an international language and a great way to build lasting respect and relationship between Faccts and the many students that we work with. Not to mention the fact that working with both PE teams at CPS and CM is a real pleasure!

We also ran a few assemblies at CMS over the last 2 months which are always well received and a real privilege to run from our point of view. These assemblies are great opportunities to encourage students about life, faith and general issues that young people face today.

Recently I returned from another CPS residential trip to the Isle of Wight – this time with just under 100 Year 7’s. Again a well co-ordinated and well run trip by Pauline McGovern (CPS staff member) and a real pleasure to spend some valuable time with staff and students. Simply put: These trips are useful ways to develop student / staff relationships as well as peer friendships and it is helpful from a Faccts point of view in assisting us to serve our schools better.

Our weekly staff coffee mornings have continued to be a great source of sustenance for staff at CPS and CMS. It has even been said that we have boosted staff morale at CMS through these mornings! We have no hidden agenda with these mornings. Teaching, as many of you will know is challenging to say the least, and we at Faccts continue to THANK our local teachers weekly for all the hard work and dedication that they put into the lives of our young people in our community.

These are some of the highlights of what we’ve been up to in the last few months.
Coming up in May/June 2008:
• 2 Residential trips with CMS.
• Training weekend through CMS: Outdoor mountain bike qualification.
• Various assemblies.
• IYM.
• New additions to our website!
• Various sports coaching.
• Various after school and during school clubs.
• Christian Resource Exhibition Day.
• Year 11 pre-exam breakfasts at CPS.

Thank you for partnering with us.

Mischa and the Faccts team.

 

 

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