What happened when … I started teaching SRE (with a child in tow)

Do you have a story to share about ‘What happened when …’ your family tried something new or experienced God’s guidance, help or answered prayer? At Growing Faith we’d love to hear encouraging stories from ordinary Christian families. If you have a story to share, write to us here.

Last summer, an urgent call went out through my social media networks: our local primary school had seen an explosion in SRE (special religious education) enrolments and was in desperate need of more teachers.

The school in question is the primary school I drive past every day on my way to my own kids’ Christian school. For various reasons, we had chosen not to send our children to this school, but I started to wonder whether God was calling me to bless the school community in another way—as a volunteer SRE teacher.

There was only one problem: our youngest son is not yet at school and would be home with me on the day they needed a teacher. 

I spoke to a few people and decided to start the process of getting accredited anyway. I thought perhaps my husband would be able to work flexibly on that day. Since much of my ministry in recent years has been to people I can’t see ‘out there in internet land’ (through my writing and editing at Growing Faith), this was an opportunity I couldn’t refuse to talk about Jesus with the real people in my local community—the kids I bump into at the shops and playground.

In the end, my husband hasn’t been available most weeks. But I’ve still managed to teach a Year 1 class for the whole year. In fact, we had our final Christmas assembly just this week. So here’s what happened when I started teaching SRE (with a child in tow).

The accreditation process was long

Once I decided to go for it, there was a lot of paperwork to do, following the process of my ‘Authorised Provider’. I had to make sure that my Working With Children Check and Safe Ministry Training were up-to-date. I had to complete some specialised SRE training modules online and get an engagement form signed by my minister. I also had to complete a separate volunteer compliance process through the Diocese of my sending church. In the end, I missed the first week of SRE, because I was still waiting on my final authorisation.

As part of being authorised, I had to commit to ongoing training and development.

I was really nervous (at first)

Many new SRE teachers have a period of three to six moths where they can be a 'helper' to a more experienced teacher and gradually start teaching parts of the lesson themselves. I chose not to start in this more gradual way, since the need was urgent and I have done some teaching before.

So for me, to begin with, SRE teaching was quite nerve-wracking. I wasn’t familiar with the school environment with its specific processes and personalities. I wasn’t sure how to check in, what time the kids would arrive, or where I would be able to plug in my USB stick.

However, with each passing week, I got into swing of how things worked at this school. I started to relax once I knew what to expect.

Preparing the lesson got easier

I chose to use the same teaching curriculum as the other SRE teachers in my school so that we could compare notes and share resources. Even though all the content and suggested activities are laid out in the Teacher’s Manual, I still found lesson preparation a bit stressful to begin with. It took me a while to choose which activities and audiovisual aids would work best for my class. I felt that I had to create a ‘bells and whistles’ experience for my kids every week. I knew that some of the other teachers were doing boppy YouTube songs with cool dance moves and giving out snazzy prizes.

Everything changed when I realised that I had to find my own teaching style and resist comparing myself to other teachers. I am naturally a ‘low-tech’, keep-it-simple kind of person, so it was freeing to realise that I didn’t have to use a PowerPoint presentation every week. In fact, I have found that simply telling a Bible story with a few props or hand actions connects better with my class than talking through slides on a screen. When I told them the Easter story using a simple plastic egg for a 'tomb', an audible gasp went around the room when I opened it up and it was empty! And instead of dancing to ‘cool’ songs on YouTube, my class and I enjoy singing simple songs with our own voices and uncomplicated actions.

Although I was initially reluctant, I have even gained the confidence to use a puppet when there’s a script to follow in the Teacher’s Manual. It continues to surprise me how much the kids enjoy this, despite knowing full well it’s just me moving the mouth!

It took ages to learn the kids’ names … but I did!

For at least a term, I was sure I would never get the hang of the kids’ names. New kids seemed to appear every week, some of them looked quite alike and their names got me all confused: Aylah, Alina, Amaliah, Amara, Amaya … To begin with, I asked the children to remind me of their name every time they answered a question. But by the middle of the year, I could confidently call each child by their name. 

Not long after this, a few of the kids started coming up to say hello or goodbye and even going to give me a hug! It was a little awkward (as it’s best to avoid physical contact with students), but it was nice to know that they enjoyed seeing me at school. If I ever bumped into a student and their family out and about in the community, it was touching to receive an enthusiastic wave. 

I developed a friendly partnership with the class teacher

As time went on, it became clear that the classroom teacher was really supportive of SRE. She would join in the singing or make comments about how the lesson related to what they were learning in class. She set the bar high for the kids’ behaviour and made sure that they showed me respect. By the end of the year, we had bonded over our shared fondness for this precious group of quirky seven-year-olds.

Taking my son brought great joy to the class

Most weeks I had my four-year-old son with me. (If this is something you are considering, it would be wise to seek permission from the school first.) Our son was occasionally a distraction, but only because the kids really loved seeing him. They would compete to sit next to him or talk to him, which made him feel included and special. During the week, he would even talk about his SRE ‘friends’. In reality, my son just became another student in the class! We had the odd bad day, when he was not keen to go, but for the most part, our son looked forward to  ‘teaching the kids’, as I called it.

I tried to include our son in the preparations too, by asking him to help road-test the puppet drama or song actions, or get a prop ready for the class. And every week, he would get a lollipop afterwards as a ‘thank you’ for coming to help me. I tried to include our older sons too—one of them loved the weekly challenge of guessing which story we had looked at based on the props or pictures in my SRE basket.

Looking back on the year, I would say that I started teaching SRE out of a sense of duty—if I didn’t teach the class, who would? But in the end, it was something I did for the joy of it. It really is a privilege to go into my local primary school every week and teach them the good news of Jesus from the Bible with some kids who might not hear it anywhere else—even if I have my own child in tow!

Could you consider becoming an SRE teacher for next year? Contact your local church or SRE coordinator to find out more.

Do you have a story to share about ‘What happened when …’ your family tried something new or experienced God’s guidance, help or answered prayer? At Growing Faith we’d love to hear encouraging stories from ordinary Christian families. If you have a story to share, write to us here.

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Harriet Connor is the Content Editor for Growing Faith and the editor of Parenting in God's Family: Biblical Wisdom for Everyday Issues. She is the author of Families in God's Plan: 12 Foundational Bible Studies and Big Picture Parents: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Life (Wipf and Stock, 2017). She lives on the Central Coast of NSW with her husband and four sons.

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