Explorers is a jointly run afterschool club here at SUN school with friends from our Church, St Marys Sulhamstead and from school. 

It was started about 25 years ago by a teacher at the school and a couple of parents from the church. The aim was to explore the Christian faith in a fun and exciting way and to foster links between the school and the church. And it is still running with those aims today. The club is open to all children from SUN school from Year 1 to Year 6. It has been encouraging to see many of our old pupils going along to the Christian Union at The Willink, our main feeder secondary school. Here the Christian faith is explored and discussed along side eating cake! All children from Explorers and the school along with their families are always very welcome at the services at St Marys. Explorers are invited to take part in special services from time to time at church. 

A typical session starts with a drink and a snack and a chance to relax after a busy day at school. We then play some games outside with Hide and Seek being all the time favourite. We explore a story from the bible and there is usually a craft or activity linked to this. We end our time together with a short reflection that includes a song and a prayer. 

In recent times we have made prayer boxes for each classes worship area. The boxes contain crosses, candles, and different coloured drapes to reflect the colours of the church year. As well we made scrap books of the bible stories that accompany the School Values. We appreciated the help with the coloured cloth from friends at the church. 

We spent a year doing a Bible overview from cover to cover using The Block Buster Bible. This book takes a look behind the scenes of the bible and uses the theme of films. Each week the children acted out the story using the clapper board and shouting Lights, Camera Action! We were thrilled to have the author Andrew Pritchard come and talk to us! 

This school year we are exploring the Christian values of the school. We have just finishing considering how to be thankful and have been out and about in the school grounds. 

Friends at St Marys Church were very pleased to see some of our SUN children join them at the recent Harvest Festival. Thank you to those families who went and took part. 

We have enjoyed learning some new outdoor games at the start of our sessions and Elephant football is a favourite. 

The children have made a rota for the different jobs that need doing at Explorers such as serving the drinks and biscuits and then washing up as well. It is so good to see the team work amongst the children. 

To help us remember how to be a peace maker we drew around our hands on card and then decorated them. We then put the 5 A’s on each finger.

1.Admit wrong: 

2.Apologize 

3.Accept the consequences: 

4.Ask for forgiveness: 

5.Alter your future choices: 

This last week we learnt about another meal Jesus was having when a lady gate crashed the party. This lady was so grateful she had been forgiven she showed her love for Jesus by washing his feet and pouring perfume on them. Two brave volunteers acted out the washing of feet while the rest of us took the Smell test to identify a range of different household smells. We even had a go at making our own perfumes.We don't recommend you wear these fragrances! 

We reflected on the fact that Jesus was concerned for those on the edge and how he showed love and compassion to them. We thought about how we could do the same in our classes and clubs we go to , making sure everyone feels valued and accepted.