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Nicky Paxton, from Foleshill CE Primary School, Coventry, was asked to present Godly Play to a larger audience, at a celebration service held in Coventry Cathedral.
In July, Coventry Cathedral was to host a 'celebration of the arts' festival, in coordination with Coventry LEA. Over three days, various aspects of the arts would be celebrated: dance, drama, music, visual arts. The art coordinator at our school wondered if it would be possible to incorporate Godly Play into this festival. Immediately I thought of the amazing opportunity to share our enthusiasm for Godly Play with other schools and visitors to the festival.
Once I had committed myself to this event I began to think in more detail of what might be the implications of doing Godly Play in such a large venue. My main concern was how to transfer the Godly Play script from the intimate small-scale setting of a classroom, using small figures to tell a story, to the large scale setting of a cathedral with an audience of hundreds. I wanted to try to see if even on a large scale the spiritual essence of Godly Play could be created.
I decided to perform the script of the Great Pearl using children as the figures. Three children narrated the story using the original script, while the other children mimed. In order to prepare to act out the story we had many discussions during rehearsals wondering about what the characters would be thinking and feeling at different points and what it was that Jesus was trying to teach. Through these discussions and wonderings the children were able to bring their understanding of the story to life as they acted it out. The children made many suggestions as to how their character might move, or what facial expression they might show as a result of their understanding, thereby demonstrating what Jerome Berryman feels is important, that we encourage children to enter religious language for themselves rather than merely repeating it or talking about it. They made the story their own by 'being' the story.
When the children acted out the story at the cathedral the audience seemed still and focused on what was taking place, a feeling of quiet reflection, similar to what happens when we do a Godly Play session in the classroom. Unlike in the classroom though, I could not judge or reflect upon the impact the story had had on the audience's spiritual development. Despite this I do feel that it was a good opportunity to show a large audience the possible impact of Godly Play. I feel, however, that the main learning experience for both me and the children happened during the rehearsals at school. To witness the children becoming so involved in a religious story and finding meaning in the story was for me, as their teacher, a real joy.
Teacher: Nicky Paxton
Learning Support Assistant: Pauline Bates
Foleshill VC Primary School
Old Church Road
Coventry
CV6 7ED
Tel: 02476 689 074
Foleshill Church of England Primary School in situated in the north of Coventry. It is in an area designated by the government as an Education Action Zone. The school currently has 301 children on roll from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. Class sizes range from 27 in Key Stage 1 to 35 in Key Stage 2.
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