Do children have worries too?

In 2014 Wellspring Family Church (WFC) in Dereham, participated in Who Cares? as part of the Norfolk wide mission programme.

WFC decided to extend the reach and appeal by taking a version of the Who Cares concept into primary school. 1 town and 3 village schools were selected. Jon Beardon explained:

“So many children are experiencing all sorts of hurts that they don’t know how to express. A tailored version of Who Cares? gave the children a ‘language’ to discuss their emotions and feelings”

Working closely with the staff from each school, and after first undertaking the survey with staff, a special assembly was held introducing all the children to the concept. They then completed the survey. Results were quickly analysed and categorised and about 7-10 days later, the team returned to give the children feedback. However this was delivered using various educational tools, for example, the children created graphs of the findings, represented findings through drama sessions.

The parable of the Good Samaritan was used to demonstrate issues such as caring, and history lessons looked at how Christians of the past have responded to various hurts e.g anti slavery, Banardos etc. Creation of a blob tree - a visual representation of emotions. The day was summarised and concluded with and assembly which included songs and a bible story, prayer and blessing.