Mr Norcross, Mrs Williams and the Archbishop
Children need time and space to grow up, the Archbishop of Wales said yesterday.
Dr Barry Morgan said childhood today had lost much of its innocence and children were encouraged to grow up fast. He urged teachers to remember that bringing up children needed more time and space than almost anything else.
The Archbishop was speaking at a conference in Bridgend for teachers from Church in Wales primary schools across South Wales.
Education, he said, was about helping children reach their full potential while teaching was both a privilege and a responsibility.
Dr Morgan said:
“In an uncertain world, in a society where childhood has lost so much of its innocence and children encouraged to grown up fast, perhaps we need to consider again that there is a ‘time to sow’ and grow…. ‘a time to reap’, ‘a time to realise that there is a season and time for every matter under heaven’. This ancient universal wisdom speaks powerfully to us today. Despite the pressures placed upon you, the expectations of governments and your own profession, of parents, of children, of colleagues, we are invited today to remember that the human enterprise is more subtle and dependent upon time, space and context than almost anything else. The growing season for human beings is not quite what we might imagine it to be. To acknowledge that is wisdom.”
He added:
“Education is not just about giving children facts or information – it is about imparting something deeper that helps set them on the road to self discovery and to a realisation of their full human potential. Education, is about nurturing the whole person. It is about consideration, kindness, honesty, integrity, truth and love.
“We all have a thirst for meaning and purpose to our lives. Yours is to enable children to develop and learn, help them develop responsibility and care for others, form them as people who are at ease with themselves and others, and help them accept failure and love. All these things are an enormous privilege and a profound responsibility.”
About 60 headteachers, class teachers and teaching assistants attended the conference, which is an annual event organised by the Diocese of Llandaff, at Bridgend. Presentations were made by Dilys Williams, a diocesan Section 50 inspector of schools, and Neville Norcross, schools development officer for the Diocese of Blackburn and Liverpool.
Mr Norcross challenged delegates to find the Wow factor of their school – to have a clear vision and to implement it right across school life.
He said, “We need to be able to articulate that Wow factor of church schools. It is very important that we are clear about our values, the things we stand for. Children do not live in a value free society. Many of the values in it have a negative impact on them. We have a responsibility to show them an alternative world view where the emphasis is not on how we perform but on who we are.
“Have a dream – not a five-point action plan.”
Mrs Williams focussed on the difference between “good” and “excellent” church schools in inspection reports. She urged delegates to look at what religious education gives in addition to values.
The Archbishop, Mr Norcross and Mrs Williams took part in a panel discussion before the Archbishop led the conference in an act of worship.
