Easter

Easter

Oh Easter! (Do I hear groans? )– only just over Christmas and the shops are thinking of Easter already!!

Sorry to disappoint but I am not talking about ‘the shops’.  I am talking about School assembly teams – more especially the Farnham Assembly and Schools Team (FAST) – never heard of them?  I bet that there is a good chance that your children have, if they are in a Farnham primary school – why not ask them.

For over 10 years FAST have been taking the Gospel, Bible stories and much more into Farnham Primary schools.  FAST is made up of volunteers from different churches, different backgrounds, different ages, different skills, different ………….  I could go on but I do want you to read on but not get bored – you see - FAST is not at all boring – not for the children we see in school or for the volunteers.

Last Christmas FAST saw over 1500 children by going into schools with a Christmas assembly and/or lessons.  We helped make Christmas angels, Christmas mobiles, Nativity scenes, the Christmas story in boxes…….. again the list is almost endless.

This Easter FAST is already booked to visit 7 Farnham primary schools taking the Easter story into school halls and classrooms.  In the office Easter mobiles, wreaths, colouring books – Easter preparation of resources has been in full swing since the last day of the Christmas term.

Interested in finding out more about FAST?  Please do contact us (details below).  We don’t ask for much, as the saying goes “Every little helps” and we do realise everyone lead such busy lives these days and that family comes first.  The children of Farnham are like a big family and we love to see them but – come on now you knew there was a but coming – but we do need volunteers in every capacity of our work and you don’t need to go into the classroom if you don’t wish to.

Thank you for reading this, I hope you found it interesting enough to want to find out more – there are a lot of stories to tell and to inspire, we would love to meet you for an informal chat.

Contact details – joanw@fcct.org.uk

                            01252 714414

                            FAST – 43A

Downing Street, FARNHAM, GU9 7PH

Christmas Visits

It's Advent again and we are going into many schools this term with our Advent assemblies and Christmas lessons. We are so grateful to our loyal volunteers without whom we would not be able to provide such thorough support to our local schools. Unfortunately, we have to rely on a small number of core people, as our numbers have dropped in recent months. It would be fantastic if more Chistian helpers came forward, because then we could offer more involved  and adventurous assemblies, especially at busy times of the year such as Christmas and Easter.
We have just taken a special Advent assembly into Rowledge School, who had requested a theme linking Isaiah to the Nativity story. It was a challenge to present this in a way that appealed to 5-11 year olds. I think it went well. We shall see if we are invited back to continue the theme at Easter.

St Andrew's

FAST went into St Andrew's School with an assembly and lessons on the theme of Harvest.  The pupils all made 'Harvest baskets' with cut out vegetables .  Thank you to the busy team of volunteers who had previously cut out vegetables for the children to use, the staff were really impressed and appreciative of everyone's efforts on behalf of their pupils.

The team members who went into the school were very impressed with the depth of knowledge and insight shown by the pupils on the Harvest topic.

Folly Hill assembly

We just had a lovely assembly with the pupils at Folly Hill School.  The theme was God can do big things with a small gift, this is based on the 'Feeding of the 5000'.  The children were very knowledgeable and understood what a miracle was.  They were as enthusiastic as always and joined in with the singing of 'This little light of mine' - which was enhanced by the disco ball.

The start of a new school year

The FAST Team are really excited about the start of the new school year. We already have a number of assemblies and lessons booked this term.

Welcome to FAST Farnham Blog

Who are we?

Established over 10 years ago, Farnham Assemblies and Schools Team (FAST) is a group of people from a range of local churches who aim to support local primary schools with Christian education.

Currently the team is made up of part time salaried employees who develop appropriate lessons and assemblies and liaise with the schools, supported by a group of about 20 volunteers who help to deliver the lessons and assemblies to the children. All staff and volunteers are CRB checked.

Initially the team was fully funded by the Farnham Christian Community Trust but now the Trust is looking to reduce its input to established projects so that it can concentrate on start

What do we do?

We work in primary, infant and junior schools (children aged 4-11) in the Farnham area. Currently 16 schools are visited by the team on a regular basis, some of these are church schools others are not.

Assemblies: Bible based or theme based with a Christian dimension. For example Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, friendship etc. Assemblies can take the form of drama, puppets or power point.

Lessons:  These adhere and reflect RE curriculum followed by the individual school and are age appropriate. The volunteers who deliver the lessons are fully briefed but are not necessarily qualified teachers themselves.

Church Trails: The team regularly supports schools by accompanying children on a church trail around the town visiting different places of worship to help them to compare and contrast the churches.

Prayer Weeks: Several local schools have held prayer weeks when all children have the opportunity to visit a dedicated prayer area and spend time considering what is meant by prayer. This activity is principally run by another local charity but FAST supports this by supplying lessons and craft activities to underpin the message of the week and people to be with the children in the prayer area.

Crafts: Many lessons include a craft element. This allows children to chat about the issues raised and take something home to reinforce the lesson and, hopefully, lead to further conversations. The team supply the crafts and help in the classroom to support the children as they work.