School Pastors Programme
We are very excited to be the pilot school in Sheffield for the School Pastors programme. We are currently working with eleven school pastors who are all volunteers from the local community connected to our local churches.
They come into school two afternoons a week to support our students during social time and provide mentoring for those who need someone to talk to. Alongside the mentors, we are also continuing with our well established Sixth Form peer mentor programme which gives our students in years 7-13 someone to talk to. We hosted an official launch for the programme on Thursday 24th October, with Tony Downing, Lord Mayor of Sheffield, as our Guest of Honour. There was a presentation delivered by two of our pastors explaining their roles and background to the concept of School Pastors. Mrs Grewal-Joy spoke of the very positive impact the programme had at her previous school and how delighted she is to be able to bring this to Meadowhead. Y11 student Abi, who has been supported by them since September, confirmed that they are ‘normal people’ of all ages who are “really good listeners”. Abi gave this advice to other students who might be sceptical – “give it a try, it’s amazing”.
You can hear an interview with Mrs Grewal-Joy, Abi and Nick, one of our pastors, on BBC Radio Sheffield’s New Year’s Eve Breakfast show (clip is 2:10:20) available until 29th January: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07xg416
The official launch of our School Pastor scheme in October 2019
Mrs Grewal-Joy, Abi, BBC reporter Jenny Eells and Pastor Nick Seaman