Returning Well to SRE

How did you feel when you heard the news that SRE is resuming?

After missing a term and a half I was excited for a moment and then quickly my mind turned to ‘What do I do?’ and ‘How do I make the most of my time with my class?’

Some of us will be able to get back to SRE this year, however not everyone will. For those who do go back there are still significant restrictions in place. Below are some things to help you if you are going back into the classroom this term, and some ideas for those who aren’t.

Classes resuming in term 4

Those who are able to get back to SRE this term are likely to only get one or two lessons with their classes. Don’t be disappointed, this is a great answer to prayer! Here’s three things to help you to return well for you and your students.

1. Choosing your lesson

Let’s assume that you only get one or two lessons, what will you teach? It will be easier for you and your students to treat these as standalone lessons, rather than trying to revise and build on lessons from 5 months ago. Focus on a Christmas lesson or two. Connect B2 includes a Christmas lesson that can be taught in one lesson or stretched over two lessons if needed.

Schools do have the option of allowing SRE assemblies, provided that they are outdoors and that each cohort group is seated separately. If this is the option you will be taking, the Connect curriculum includes a Christmas assembly that you can use.

As well as providing an opportunity to share the story of Christmas with your students, these last lessons are a chance to farewell your class as you normally would at the end of the year. If you teach year 6 students you might like to pray for them, with your class, as they prepare to move to high school.

2. Be prepared

It’s important as you plan to go back that you know everything you need to know about the COVID restrictions in your school. Your coordinator can contact the school and ask them what you need to do in the classroom to maintain the school’s COVID practices. Ask questions like ‘Can I hand things out?’, ‘Can students move around the room?’ (i.e. from sitting on the floor to sitting at desks). Knowing this before you arrive at school will help you plan your lesson well, and not be taken by surprise in the classroom.

Unfortunately singing is not allowed in the classroom, but if you plan to have students working individually on worksheets, craft etc., you may like to play a Christmas song as background music.

3. Get reacquainted

It’s been a long time since you’ve seen your class and they’ve seen you. Much longer than any other holiday break. Going back into the classroom will feel similar to going back at the start of a new year. Just like you would do in the first lesson of the year, take some time to reintroduce yourself to your class. Some students will have forgotten your name. Some, especially those in Kindy, will take a few minutes to remember what you’re doing there. Keep in mind you’ll be wearing a mask so they won’t be able to see all of your face. Perhaps you could bring a picture of what you look like without a mask.

You also want to give your students some time to talk to you. Ask them some questions and prepare for enough time for lots of them to share. This will be an important time for everyone to relax and settle back into SRE.

One way to do this is to pray together. You might like to give each student an opportunity to share something they would like to pray for or would like to thank God for. Remember that it’s important to always give students an opportunity to pass on this. Some students will share freely, and others won’t. This is fine. I also give my students the option of praying themselves, or having me pray for them.

You could also prepare some questions that help students share how they are feeling since they are back at school. My favourite way to do this, particularly with Kindy and stage 1 students, is to ask them to show me how they feel with their face. Alternatively, you could bring some pictures of facial expressions or emojis and ask them to choose which one describes how they feel about being back at school. For an older class you might ask them to rank how they are feeling from 1-5 and hold up their fingers.

What if I can’t go back this term?

Not everyone will have the chance to return this term. If this is the case for your school, you might like to talk to the school and arrange to drop something off for your students instead. Why not put together some Christmas packs and ask the school to hand them out to your SRE students? You could include:

-        a Christmas craft or colouring page

-        a little gift (pencils or stickers or other small, safe items)

-        an invite to a Christmas event at church

If you’re doing this, make it as easy as possible for the school to hand out, for example, put everything into an envelope or a ziplock bag with one bag for each class so they only have to hand one thing to each student. Ask them if it’s better for each pack to be labelled with a name or not. If they want them labelled you could also include a personalised Christmas card. Talk to your SRE coordinator about arranging this with the school.

If you are delivering packs to the school, why not also take the opportunity to deliver thank you cards and/or gifts for the school staff. This is a small but meaningful way to acknowledge their hard work over the past six months, and to make sure they know they are appreciated.

Would you join us this week in thanking God for the return of SRE, and pray for a safe return for every school this term or in term 1 next year?