“In, out, up” was just one of the simple yet inspiring ways that keynote speaker Paul Rusby a member of the SIAMS QA team, encouraged everyone attending the School Leaders and Parish Partners Conference 2024, ‘Spiritual Leadership’ to think about spirituality.
Held on two days, the conference welcomed nearly two hundred school leaders and parish partners. Ed Gregory, Director of Education for Bath and Wells, speaking after the conference said, “Rooted in Christian theology and experience, reflecting our Anglican and Methodist traditions, the days have been inspiring and deeply thought provoking. Conference participants felt enriched as adults and equipped to unpack or share the theme of spirituality with our children and young people, our colleagues, communities and families.”
Commenting on the conference, Paul Rusby, keynote speaker, said, “I think the atmosphere has been superb. There has been a genuine interest and brilliant conversations. You could feel a sense of engagement with the topic. Spirituality is maybe not an everyday language, but the breadth and depth of the conversations have been a joy to listen to.”
Dr Margaret James, National Director for Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools, also joined the conference where she talked about the rationale behind our new inspection framework, describing a collaborative process undertaken in a Christian manner.
Revd David MacGeoch from Glastonbury, said of the day, “It’s given an overview of how you can embrace spirituality, with the very young as well as with older children.”
His comments were echoed by Kerry Devane, Headteacher of St John’s Infant School in Glastonbury, who said, “The most important thing that I will take away is that I will tell my children to look up, I think that’s very accessible. Spirituality is difficult to teach to the very young, but I think I can help them find their spirituality within.”
Talking about the things he hoped people would take away from the day, Paul Rusby said, “What I really loved is that there was a sense that people will go away thinking about how they can enable a language, for the children, for the adults, and in our school communities, to be able to share the impact of the curriculum of worship and the culture of spiritual flourishing.”
Ruth Young, Local Authority Analysis & Engagement Team, said that is just what she planned to do, she said, “I wanted to thank you all for the wonderful experience of the conference. It was one of the most inspiring, embracing, empowering, warming of the soul conferences I've been to in years. I came away thinking... I want to do this… I want to do… that.”
