I know that you appreciate the fine work being done with your children by our teachers & helpers on Sundays. This letter is to inform you of some changes we are proposing to improve that work, and to ask for your comments and for your support and help.

We believe as a Church that children are especially important to God, hence our special classes for them, and we want to enhance our provision.

April has been overseeing the administration of our programme, which I'm glad to say she is willing to continue. Dona will be assuming overall co-ordination of our work, and updating the curriculum, for which we are thankful.

Loreena is continuing to work with our 11+ group on two Sundays per month, but it would be good if there were some volunteers to help her by being a presence in the class, especially if there were some men willing to do so, since most of this age group are boys. She will probably be moving away in the summer, however, so we need to be praying now for the right person to take over from her. Will you please pray?

David, Montserrat & Dona continue to teach our 5s-11s, assisted by April, Julie, Stephanie & Hannah - we thank them all. There are however some weeks when we can have as many as 15 children in this group, so we really need to ask you parents to take a turn in sitting in on the class to help, so we have a proper adult/child ratio. With a number of the children in this group having limited English language skills we need one of those present to be able to translate, so the teacher can concentrate on giving the lesson in one language. Some of the above helpers can do this, but we sometimes need a French speaking parent to help with this. We need 3 adults each week in total for this age group. Please do volunteer your services to April (we'll provide you in advance with a lesson outline, so you can be prepared). You will benefit from being in the class too, not least in being better able to talk with your child about what they are learning there, so please do step up to the mark on this.

Caroline & Connie have offered to start in May doing some teaching of the 3s-5s, perhaps based in the crèche room, so we don't need to increase the number of helpers too much. However, again, we do need parents to help, particularly if your child's English is limited. The crèche can be a busy place, and it's not always easy for Marie to fill the rota of helpers there, so please will you support this by helping out?

If every parent volunteers to help no one will need to do so frequently, so please speak to April about your availability.

Please may I also entreat you to pray regularly for those who work with your children? It would be an encouragement to them if you ask them about what they are doing, and if you discuss with your children what they are learning, and feed back to them. Again some of our current helpers will be leaving in the summer, so let's pray for volunteers to replace them.

It is a privilege & responsibility to teach children, which we share with you, who as parents have the primary role. We want to support you as best we can, so do please talk to our teachers about what you desire for your children. May we together respond to Jesus' invitation that we should bring children to him.

Stephen.

P.S. Don't forget that the ICG also offers a Tuesday evening AWANA club for under 11s and a Friday evening group for over 11s - April can tell you more.