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Sunday School and Crèche

Church of Scotland (CofS) Geneva offers Sunday School classes every Sunday during sermons held from 11am to 12am. The Sunday School programme follows the same calendar as the Swiss (Geneva) public school calendar. In terms of content, it follows the circle of the Church Year.

Following the creche age group and preceding the youth group, children from age five to twelve attend Sunday School. The approach followed by the Geneva congregation for Sunday School is the Montessori method. This involves Godly Play sessions during which children are told stories from the Bible with the use of natural materials and art works.

Sunday School in Church of Scotland in Geneva

Used worldwide, the Godly Play approach helps children to explore their faith through story, to gain religious language and to enhance their spiritual experience though wonder and play. Each Godly Play session held in a dedicated area of the Church building (sacred space) is followed by creative playtime and the children sharing bio-certified snacks and water to drink.

Godly Play helps children learn how to listen well, to hear what God is saying to them and then to make an authentic and creative response. The approach is based on Montessori principles – we respond to the child’s request to ‘help me do it by myself.’ This puts the storyteller in the role of a spiritual supporter or guide who fully accepts that each child has his or her own relationship with God already. The teaching takes place in different ways at the same time: it is multi-modal and multi-sensory.

The Godly Play sessions are presented by members of our Sunday School team, storytellers accompanied by doorkeepers. Many of these are parents themselves, accompanying their children and those of others in getting to know the Bible and faith in an imaginative and creative way.

The sessions are small in size, normally attended by five to ten children. Storytellers adapt their presentation based on the dominant age group of the children present. Newcomer children of parents visiting from elsewhere are welcome to attend.

For CofS Geneva, the Sunday School Coordinator is Cornis van der Lugt      cofsgsundayschool@gmail.com

Crèche

Our Crèche is staffed by caring and competent people throughout the Sunday Service.  Parents are encouraged to take their children, aged 3 years and under, to the Salle Théodore de Bèze before the Service begins at 11h00.

They are also kindly asked to leave the church during the last hymn to collect their children before the rush of folk going upstairs for a moment of fellowship over refreshments. It would be appreciated if parents would give details about their children to the carers and inform them of any allergies, for example, that children may have.

Youth

The youth group, for young people aged 11 to 14, meets every Sunday except during the school holidays and on the first Sunday of the month, when they remain in the church and participate in the communion service.  Newcomers are most welcome to join the group.

 

Safeguarding

Freda Craeye is the Safeguarding Coordinator.