Jacquie Elsdon August 2013

Working with children and families in Uffculme and Willand

Hi! My name is Jacquie Elsdon and for the past year I have been working 3 days a week with Uffculme St. Mary’s and Willand St. Mary’s as their children’s worker (alongside a job in Exeter as a primary school’s co-coordinator for a Christian schools-work charity called ICE)! I have spent much of my time in both Uffculme and Willand primary schools; running weekly story clubs, taking assemblies, lessons, extracurricular groups and organising church visits! I’ve also enjoyed being part of Sunday morning services; with Sunday school and children friendly talks! Before this role, I worked for 4 years as a secondary schools RE teacher...but have been working with children for over 15 years now!! My passion is to help children learn and understand more about the all the characters in the Bible through a wide variety of storytelling activities, games and quizzes...helping them to see how real, relevant and exciting these stories can be! My job will change slightly in September as I start working in Uffculme and Willand full-time. We will continue to run a jam-packed timetable of activities! We will also begin to explore new ways to serve children and young people in Uffculme! There will be a youth group for 11-14 year olds on Sunday nights in Square Corner as we begin to think about the relevance of the 10 commandments in today’s society (all questions/comments welcome) as well as playing lots of fun games with doughnuts, alphabeti spaghetti, pegs and much more, lol!! Pupils in Year 6 are now welcome to join this group.

There’s also an exciting opportunity for 5-11yrs and their families to enjoy crafts, games, stories and a free cafe on Sunday afternoons in Square Corner (staring in October). I will also continue to help run messy church in Willand on the third Friday of the month after school and everyone from Uffculme and Willand are welcome to come to this.