Golden Time Clubs

Golden Time is run by many schools as a special time at the end of the week for pupils to engage in a different learning activity. It is often a reward for good behaviour, and can be limited if behaviour has been poor.  Schools like to provide a range of options, and what you might offer is only limited by your skills and imagination. Examples include: knitting, sketching, dance, Bible story-telling club, model making, athletics, baking, sign-language, growing vegetables, film making, chess, face-painting.

Schools may ask a volunteer to agree to lead an activity over a 4 or 5-week period, whereby you might typically have around 20 children, (often, but not exclusively from the younger primary years) for perhaps 30-45 minutes each Friday afternoon.  The activity should be engaging and in some way help children develop their personal skills in one of the 4 capacities (successful learner, a confident individual, a responsible citizen and an effective contributor).  Golden Time should aim to create:

• self esteem in all pupils

• respect between pupils and their peers and pupils and staff

• motivation and enthusiasm for learning

• a sense of mental and emotional wellbeing

• a determination to reach high standards of achievement

• a happy environment for learning and teaching

How can you do this yourself?

• Find out if your local school has ‘golden time’ activities

• Find out the different gifts & talents your fellow church-members have, and recruit a pair of people willing to be involved

• Ask the school if they would be interested in church volunteers providing a golden time club or activity

• Outline clearly what you would hope to do each week, and what the children would get out of it (outcomes)

• Talk to people who run similar groups and get some tips from them