16 November 2015
Supa Student Enthusiasm for Chappy
Posted in Chaplaincy
It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. For Chappy Carly, this was certainly the case.
Invited by her school principal to run a SUPA Club (Scripture Union Primary Age) when she accepted her chaplaincy role at Mt Samson State School, Carly was short of volunteers to help run the program.
SUPA clubs provide an opportunity for children to explore the Bible in a fun, interactive and age appropriate way outside of regular class time, provided each child has parental consent.
Desperate for answers, Carly had an epiphany. The young people, who were to benefit from SUPA Club, could be the ones to help her run the program.
“With SUPA Club, you need to have volunteers to run the program effectively.
“For me, being a new chaplain at the school and not having an established network of volunteers around me, I just prayed about how I can get this program running with the limited resources that I have.
“Call it inspired or whatever you want, I just felt the Lord gave me an opportunity to mentor the year 6 leaders because they were really keen to have SUPA Club running. I had the opportunity to mentor them in some leadership roles and to, in a very practical way, alleviate my problem of running a program without a lot of hands-on support.”
Carly’s vision to get her students to help her run the SUPA Club could have faced difficulty, if it wasn’t for the enthusiasm of her Grade 6 leaders.
“The Grade 6 leaders have ownership over the program. They think it’s a lot of fun. It’s a great way for kids to spend their playtime. Numbers have certainly gone up on previous year’s numbers.
“We began with a rather large group of year 6’s and we’ve since whittled that down to a core group of about 8 consistent, week-in-week-out leaders who do a number of jobs each week.”
The student’s involvement in running the SUPA Club has been a tremendous success with both the teachers and students loving the new format.
“There’s been some terrific feedback from teachers.
“The connections that I have with the girls in particular are incredible. They give up their break every Thursday to plan SUPA Club with me, and that is gold to me.”
Carly’s long term goal for the SUPA Club, her Grade 6 leaders, and the school as a whole is to establish a fresh culture grounded in care for others.
“I really want to establish a culture of generosity and gratitude in our school with the kids. Our school has a really good ethos of character which underpins and underlies everything that we do. So I see SUPA club as eventually being actively involved in serving the school community in a number of ways, including outward acts of service, and not just limited to a Friday lunch time activity.”
SU QLD is committed to providing Bible Engagement programs. For more information, visit suqld.org.au/resources.
