I am a governor at three primary schools. While it is rather an unseen role as governors’ meeting are often held when most staff and students have gone home,  school governors have an important role in shaping the future of education and influencing the lives of...

I’m Beth and this year I’m taking a GAP year before going to university in September. I knew I wanted and needed a Christian element to my year out. I decided to give up my Wednesdays and go and volunteer in the chaplaincy at Ripley secondary school alongside Michael...

Isaiah 45:3 I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name. NIV. I’ve been thinking about hidden treasure lately. I don’t mean pirate treasure (although that would...

My beloved spoke and said to me, ‘Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me. See! The winter is past; The rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; The season of singing has come, The cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig-tree forms its...

‘Wow…only a few weeks to Christmas’, or should that be ‘Oh no…only a few weeks to Christmas’? Whichever side of delight, stress or pain you fall in to over this period, one thing we can be sure of is that Christmas happened 2000 years ago, and Christmas will happen...

Today marks the end of half term for many of our schools in the area; a change of scene, a rest and break from normality or a chance to do something different. Talking of a change of scene, I took this half term to move house. Although I am the only one living in the...

This week is Children’s Mental Health Week and the need to respond has never felt more urgent. The new buzz word is “resilience” and the lack of it. No one is denying the epidemic of anxiety that has swept this generation, and this isn’t a suggestion to toughen up, it...

Hebrew 12:1-2 “Let us run the race with perseverance” The clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, another new year full of intentions.  Social media detox, DIY projects, entering a marathon … Talking of marathons, for Christians, life is described as a race.  I’ve...

Christmas, with all its indulgences, is over; January is here, resolutions are already binned; we’re back at work; freezing weather makes us feel like hibernating; and we’re left facing the financial backlash of Christmas spending. ‘Blue Monday’ marks the full impact...