One of the fascinating jobs I have after running a prayer space is reading and writing up the young people’s responses to the prayer spaces they have experienced. As a session draws to a close with a group of young people I invite them to answer  one or more of the following questions on post it notes, ‘What did you like about the space and why?’, ‘How would you improve the space?’ or ‘How did your time in the space make you feel?’ Here are a selection of the heart felt responses. For younger children (normally 4 – 7 year olds) I ask the same questions but run the feedback as a circle time where children are invited to answer orally.

Primary Prayer Space Comments

• The space made me feel loved by God. (Yr 1)
• It made me feel like I was with God and away from everything else (Yr 4)
• I like the way I now feel I can pray freely to God and I feel like I'm emptied of my sin (Yr4)
• I think it was a great experience and I am so glad we had the opportunity to come. I loved it. (Year 6 girl)
• Please keep this instead of the library.
• I loved this place, it was so relaxed. It gave me a chance to say how I really felt as I don't really talk with my family. (Year 6)
• I liked the prayer space because if you don’t know God it can help you get closer to God and it can help you to concentrate on praying.
• I am a Christian, but now I feel more comfortable about telling people that I believe in him. (Yr5)
• I like it because it is quiet and nobody tells you what you’re doing is wrong.
• The atmosphere of the prayer space suddenly made you think so much more about God. It is a beautiful and perfect place to be and pray.
• I felt really special like I was communicating with God and telling him everything. I had a lot of realisations. (yr6)
• I really liked the prayer space because it had a really nice atmosphere. I also thought that the different  activities were set out really well so you could reflect properly. (yr6)

Secondary School Comments

• Brilliant, peaceful, calm, lovely, welcoming, warm.
• I liked this because of the range of activities and it shows that prayers aren’t boring as everybody thinks or says they are.
• It made me feel calm instead of stressed! I think it is a good idea! I love it!
• I like this because it helped me relax and not to worry about stuff. It’s really relaxing.
• I like it because it is calm and it is like me time it makes me feel something like words can’t describe.
• I did enjoy this because it gave me a chance to speak to God freely
• I think that the prayer room is very interesting and has helped me tell God how I feel and how he could help me become a better person.
• It was really good a great way to connect with God. It really made me think about myself and others. Very relaxing, I think it should be here every week.
• I liked that I could be honest and think more about God (YR 7)
• This has been a good experience as an agnostic person, it was nice to see Christian views . Moving.
• It made me feel really emotional but it was very good. All the ideas were original and quirky. I’m meant to be catholic but I seemed to have gone agnostic but this was very good and maybe helped me a little bit more to find my faith again.  I had a really good time and I thought about other people and not just myself.
• Thank you. I am beautiful now.

Posted by Catherine

Catherine Clayton lives and works in Oxford. She has spent six years working as a primary school teacher. During this time she was the RE Coordinator and the curriculum leader for the school. She enjoys skiing and playing tennis. Since September 2010 Catherine has been developing prayer spaces in primary and secondary schools around Oxfordshire