Children Changing Places Project Board Meeting

BID FOR STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT FUNDING

ADDENDUM A: CHILDREN CHANGING PLACES

CONTENTS

1. Summary 4

2. Project plan changes 5

3. Issues in the letter inviting us forward 5

4. Progress or change to strategy which are relevant 7

5. Changes in cost and any change in grant requested 7

6. Description and Project plan 9

7. Discipleship Pathway 11

8. Milestone Plan – the first 100 days 12

9. Early Years and Fresh Expressions 16

10. Primary Years 18

11. Secondary Years 22

12. Stakeholder engagement - from plan to implementation 25

13. The Risk Register 27

14. Financial information 28

15. Sustainability 30

16. Evaluation – measures 31

APPENDICES

Appendix 1 - Draft Job Descriptions 33

Appendix 2 - Maps of Toddler Groups and Messy Church in three deaneries 37

Appendix 3 – Toddler Group and Fresh Expressions Exemplars 41

Appendix 4 – Allocation of DCFW/CE Primary Schools with numbers on roll 44

Appendix 5 – CE Primary School Exemplar 51

Appendix 6 – Year 6 to Year 7 Transition Map 53

Appendix 7 – Discipleship Pathway Development 54

Appendix 8 – Years 7 to 11 – How this might look 57

Appendix 9 – Secondary Exemplars 60

Appendix 10 – Connecting Churches 61

Appendix 11 – Domestic Isonen On The Road 62

Appendix 12 – Stakeholder Engagement Feedback – from Bid to Plan 64

Appendix 13 – Schools’ Context 68

Appendix 14 – Evidence Base 69

Appendix 15 – Comparator Bid to Plan cost differentials 71

1. Summary

Our over-arching aim is to create a discipleship pathway for children and young people in three Deaneries in the Bolton Archdeaconry covering the entire geography of Bolton Council (population 284,000),

We plan to:

 create new (and change existing) church-based Toddler groups that are distinctively Christian and intentionally missional in their activity and relationship with the parish;

 simultaneously, create new expressions of church for Early Years and primary school age children and their families through the fresh expression of Messy Church, Messy Tots, Diddy Disciples, Diary of a Disciple and similar, linked to parishes and schools;

 as children transition from Early Years provision into CE primary schools, provide a pathway from pre-school to primary school for rising 5s; we would then create opportunities for them to develop their discipleship in our 30 CE schools1 and 22 parishes in Bolton, preparing them for the crucial transition to CE high school (over and above existing educational and worship opportunities);

 straddle the Year 6/Year 7 pathway of transition to high school with the authentic and consistent support of the same familiar adults;

 provide a ‘safe-landing’ into CE high school (the three schools in the Bishop Fraser multi academy trust) for those pupils from a wide variety and large number (30) of CE primary schools, in order that these young people will be encouraged and enabled to continue their pathway of discipleship in a secure and receptive environment – that safe-landing would also be promoted for pupils arriving from other primary schools;

 deliver distinctively Christian activities and opportunities in the schools in the Bishop Fraser Trust and related parishes that will enable the development, and measurement, of their Christian discipleship for a minimum of 12 engagements (over and above the norm) in each year;

 Chaplaincy Assistants and Deanery Children and Family Workers (DCFW) will link with, and be rooted-in, churches where there is existing missional strength and energy in children and youth work supported by the clergy;

 lead these young people towards a more mature understanding of their discipleship pathway as they confirm their own faith and desire to express their own leadership potential.

 Following consultation feedback, this now includes our only school in the Blackburn with Darwen local authority although sited in the Walmsley Deanery.

1 We have now included Turton and Edgeworth CE/Methodist Primary School which is in Blackburn with Darwen local authority, but in Walmsley Deanery 4

2. Project plan changes

Chaplaincy Assistants – Bishop Fraser Trust

The most significant change to the original plan is the additional proposal to appoint Chaplaincy Assistants to be attached to, and support, our existing school chaplains in the Bishop Fraser Trust of three secondary academies. Their specific role is ‘providing safe-landing’ and developing further discipleship pathways for young people, linked to our parishes and churches. Chaplaincy Assistants could be young adults who, by the nature of their age, will have much in common with the pupils in the school creating a familiar but appropriate relationship and the opportunity to be an effective Christian role model.

Chaplaincy Assistants would be rooted in a local church which already has missional strength in youth work. This would also be an investment in their own vocational Christian pathway.

Additional resources

We have also added a modest amount of funding for recruitment costs and resource funding for Deanery Children and Family workers.

The Diocese plans to provide bespoke administrative support of 0.5 of a post and has trimmed DCFW costs by making contracts term time only.

3. Issues in the letter inviting us forward

The issues in the letter inviting us forward (italicised), and our responses, are set out below:

The Board stressed that the proposition to engage with children and families at points of transition is key for the wider church and must be held on to as the project is developed. The ‘transition points’ are key to our theme of ‘Children Changing Places’ and the weight of our efforts and investment of staff time (hence resources) will be focussed on the Toddler Group to Reception Class transition, and from Year 6 in CE primary school to Year 7 in the Bishop Fraser Trust tri-academies, hence the enhancement of our ‘offer’ at this point with the Chaplaincy Assistants. It asked that the project plan clarify how the later stages of Children Changing Places will link to local church life, and in this context whether there is scope for investing (for example) in churches in schools where this would be beneficial. Although the focus of the work of the secondary school Chaplaincy Assistants is within the school, the involvement in the work of their link parish is equally important. Such parishes, identified in this Plan (Appendix 10), already have missional strength with young people. We will connect each Chaplaincy Assistant with their ‘home church’ that becomes not only a spiritual home for them during this two-year Chaplaincy Assistantship, but also strengthens the existing relationship between that particular parish and the school. Through regular involvement and leadership in the parish’s youth provision the opportunity arises to develop relationships further with young people who are pupils in their link school. The joint-role nature of the post-holder enhances and strengthens the relationship between the school and the church, whilst providing 5 additional leadership for the parish based youth work.

‘Church in school’ is more common in Bolton than in any other local authority in our Diocese. In three of our CE primary schools: St George’s, the Hoskers, Westhoughton; St Thomas’, Chequerbent; and St Simon and St Jude’s, Farnworth; the church and the school are the same place – two of them specifically designed and purpose-built in this way. The Church Commissioners funded a three-year research project into this development.

Over time, and as more church buildings become unfit for purpose, we anticipate that church in school will become increasingly popular and synergised in local communities. This can apply to both primary and secondary school phases or to specialist, age- appropriate, worship taking place in school environments. Such worshipping communities may reflect Sunday worship as currently practised in individual churches but will also apply to Fresh Expressions gatherings which may meet at times and days other than Sunday mornings. Please refer to Appendix 2 (midweek evening service at St Catherine’s) and Appendix 9 (Café 10:10) for an example of this. Whether the ethos groups were intentionally evangelistic.

Ethos/worship groups and similar groups within primary schools are not all intentionally evangelistic but most are missional as they provide children with the opportunity to explore and develop their own faith. This is achieved as they consider Christian values, look at the Bible, through prayer, and as they encourage other pupils to engage in worship. All CE schools are evangelistic in that they model the Christian faith through Christian values and collective worship, but it is not the role of the school to evangelise (‘seek to convert’) or proselytize, particularly in a town like Bolton where CE schools serve multi- faith, multi-ethnic communities. It is their role to open up discipleship pathways for pupils that wish to follow them and intentionally create the space for that development to occur. The role of CE schools is to nurture those of faith, honour those of other faiths and challenge those of no faith.

This approach has been endorsed in the Archbishop’s recent publication, Re-Imagining Britain: Foundations for Hope: “In many Church of England schools in areas of high immigration, although in some almost all the children belong to a non-Christian faith community, the ethos of the school has remained Christian while respecting religious diversity. In the vast majority of cases, the incidental outcomes have included very good education and a growing capacity to relate to difference, while building genuine community.

All education must be seen as a principal place confidently to develop values that are widely held. We must not be fearful of developing the narrative of who we are and why it matters.” “A primary school ethos group builds, drives and models core Christian values, impacting significantly on educational standards, school attendance, personal development and spirituality.” – Jill Pilling, Headteacher, Bishop Bridgeman CE Primary School

The Board asked that the project plan includes proposals for involving the diocese’s digital and education teams.

The Diocese has appointed a Digital Officer, who commences in their post in May 2018. The post holder will actively work with parishes and deaneries on developing their websites and social media presence. The intention is for priority to be given to parishes in the geographical area of this project. A formal liaison mechanism between the project and the officer will be identified and agreed when the Digital Officer is in post. 6

4. Progress or changes to strategy which are relevant

Apart from the changes outlined in the previous section, this Plan is enhanced by strategic developments in the Church of England as a whole. A discussion paper: Education and Mission: Schools, Churches and Families, was published by the Church of England Education Office in February 2018. It has been circulated by the Archbishops to all Bishops, will be discussed in full at the House of Bishops in spring, and at General Synod in summer. It echoes many of the principles and proposals in this plan. It calls for a transformation in church culture; it reinforces research that finds that 56% of adults who consider themselves as Christian disciples began that discipleship journey before the age of 11 ie secondary school age [and the one-third ‘drop-off’ at secondary school age]; it illustrates the importance of the ‘three-legged stool’ of school, church and families whilst emphasising the need to bring these component parts of a child’s life into a seamless continuum. This project aims to work coherently across schools, churches and families, focussing on points of transition through a child/young person’s lens, to create secure Christian discipleship pathways, for that child/young person.

5. Changes in costs and any change in grant requested

A comparator ‘Bid to Plan’ table is included at Appendix 15

Original grant requested

£881,802

New grant requested

£1,051,890

Chaplaincy Assistant posts

The total cost from Bid to Plan has increased from £863,386 to £1,051,890. The main reason is the added capacity of Chaplaincy Assistants to support our three secondary academy chaplains in the Bishop Fraser Trust.

Chaplaincy Assistants

Each Chaplaincy Assistant would receive a living wage salary of £13,169 per annum x 3 = £49,383 in a full year, increased by 2% pa in subsequent years.

Chaplaincy Assistant costs

The cost of resources for the Chaplaincy Assistant programme to run each year would be £4,000 to develop resources, activities and gatherings across the Bishop Fraser Trust and for their own personal development and training. Costs of the bid for the Deanery Children and Family Workers have been trimmed by making their employment ‘term-time only’.

Recruitment costs (£5,000) have been added. 7

Resource costs (£4,000 pa) for DCFWs, with similar use to above, have been added.

The Diocese has added 0.5 administrative resource to the project.

Exactly how much grant is being requested £1,051,890

The total cost of the implementation of the Plan is £1,244,177

The Diocese is contributing governance and management (8.5% of DDE) and advisory (25% of Youth Officer and Children’s Officer salaries) costs and a new 0.5 administrator role/cost at a total project cost of £192,288 over five years.

6. Description and project plan

Overview

A clear rationale for the activity

Our plan is to tackle one of the main challenges the church faces in creating, nurturing and growing disciples in the younger age ranges, specifically at two points of transition: in the early years of a child’s life at transition from pre-school to primary school, then from CE primary school to CE secondary academy.

What the activity or project aims to achieve, and what the specific outputs and outcomes will be

The project aims to create a ‘Christian discipleship pathway’ for children in the town of Bolton. This pathway will be constructed through existing Church of England strengths – parish churches, Toddler Groups, CE primary schools and a CE secondary multi academy trust – with children and young people and their families. The Church of England Education Office’s recent paper, ‘Education and Mission: Schools, Churches & Families’, emphasises the need for connection between these communities and the importance of the ‘three legged stool’ model.

The pathway will stretch from pre-school to the end of school, from 4 – 19, and special focus will be given to points of transition.

The summary of specific outcomes will be:

Now 5 years’ %age time change Toddler groups Number of wholly/partly distinctively Christian 4 24 550% Intentionally missional Toddler Groups Numbers of children attending wholly/partly 78 378 480% distinctively Christian Intentionally missional Toddler Groups Fresh expressions of church Numbers of fresh expressions of church aimed at 7 14 100% Pre-school/primary aged children and families Numbers of people attending fresh expressions of 200 480 140% church aimed at Pre-school/primary aged children and families Primary schools Numbers of pupils on primary schools discipleship 33 100 300% pathway in the Y6 cohort Secondary schools Numbers of students on secondary academy 45 135 300% discipleship pathway

We intend to create a transformational shift in mission strength and culture as opposed to incremental change; there is intentional mission leading to a significant increase in the number of Christian disciples.

Part of this shift in culture will include ensuring that there are on-going opportunities to follow discipleship pathways as children and adults grow in their faith. In the medium and long term, this may include establishing further Fresh Expression communities as existing, age-specific expressions serve the discipleship needs of future generations.

The project will impact on different players in different ways, but one of the key objectives of the project is to make that impact more coherent and joined-up between parishes, schools and families.

7. Discipleship Pathway

8. Milestone plan – the first 100 days

Month Comms and Research and Governance Recruitment engagement analysis and selection

September 2018 Bishop’s CE primary Programme Project Manager Council 26 09 school visits x 5 Board and Project Board Advert 10 09 Internal team [9 will have create their Closing date 28 x 2 been rhythm of co- 09 completed] ordinated, bi- Deanery monthly, Synods x 3 Shortlisting wb alternating 01 10 meetings. Selection wb 08 October 2018 Diocesan CE primary Programme 10 Synod 06 10 school visits x 5 Board Early Years Programme Worker and Board DCFWs (FfMSG) Advert 24 09 Project Board Closing date 12 Secondary 10 heads and chairs 05 10 Shortlisting wb 15 10 Internal team x 2 Selection wb 22 10 National Society Council 15/16 10

November 2018 Bishop’s CE primary Project Board Team set-up Council school visits x 5 Matching to Primary parish bases. Heads and chairs Employment and equipment Internal team set-up. x 2 Induction December 2018 Bishop’s CE primary Programme programme Senior Staff school visits x 5 Board planning residential 04/05 12 Contingency re non- Internal team appointment

Implementation stage

The task of the existing planning team during the period from mid-June to the beginning of September is to keep the project ‘warm’ with the key stakeholders identified in the ‘Consult and carry’ section of the chart on page 23. Our lengthy experience of recruitment patterns in this region, and for posts of this nature, is that the summer months would be the weakest periods for recruitment and selection of the Project Team.; we would prefer to ‘do this well, not just do it quickly’. The detailed and dated timing of the recruitment and selection programme, therefore, begins 1 September 2018 and is set out in our 100 day implementation plan.

The summer period would thus provide an opportunity for scheduling the meetings of the Project Board; we are experienced at scheduling meetings up to three years in advance. The meeting schedule would then be correlated with the provisional membership of the Project Board which will be chaired by a suffragen Bishop and include: the Programme Manager; an Area Dean in Bolton; a senior member of the parish clergy in Bolton; a primary Headteacher; and a secondary Headteacher. The Project Manager would report to this Project Board. The terms of reference have already been established, and it will have met for the first time before the summer holiday period.

The existing internal team would continue to meet fortnightly in the remainder of June/July/August. It would keep other stakeholders informed of the success/failure of the Plan and future timetables of activity.

Our research and analysis visits to Toddler Groups, CE primary schools and parishes would continue throughout this period with all Toddler Group visits completed by the end of July; CE primary school visits and Sunday worship engagement would continue into the autumn.

How will we do this?

Notes to 100-day milestone plan

Our project is founded on a Project Team that only exists if the Plan is approved. At this point, the priority becomes the all-important recruitment and selection strategy of the Team members. This has been staggered, in schedule, in order that the Project Manager may have an input into the selection of the Early Years Worker and the three Deanery Children and Family Workers. We expect all to be appointed by the end of the calendar year with a view to taking up post and beginning their work in January 2019. Below are the details of our aspirations for the recruitment and selection of our Project Team. However, we will ‘give notice’ to all potential recruitment fields of our comprehensive recruitment plan, the team that we wish to appoint, and the schedule for appointments (see Page 14)

During this first 100 days, we will continue with our planned Communications and Engagement strategy with our churches, in their broadest context, and our schools.

We will also continue with our analysis visits to schools and churches to develop our longer-term five year plans and the most appropriate bases for our team; our visits to existing Toddler Groups will have been completed by summer.

Recruitment and Selection typology, strategy and schedule

First draft job descriptions and schedule in Appendix 1

We will recruit a specialist project team which would be responsible for achieving our quantitative and qualitative objectives and accountable to the Project and Programme Boards for doing so. The team will be based in the three deaneries in Bolton, rooted in their churches and assigned to schools.

Project Manager (1)

The Project Manager will lead the team and be the accountable officer for the achievement of the project’s objectives. S/he will be recruited first, in the September – October window for a January 2019 start.

Early Years Worker (1)

The Early Years Worker will be responsible for: creating new, distinctively Christian Toddler Groups in churches that do not have one (two per year); for renewing the Christian distinctiveness of existing church-based Toddler groups (two per year); encouraging Christian parents in the passing-on of faith at home; and, for enabling the creation of fresh expressions of church for the Toddler and primary school aged children and families (up to two per year). S/he will be recruited in the October window for a January 2019 start.

Deanery Children and Family Workers (DCFWs) (3)

The DCFWs would promote discipleship pathway opportunities in schools and their related churches through voluntary groups relating to ethos, worship and opportunities for discipleship. Almost all of the 30 CE primary schools in Bolton have very positive relationships with their local church (evidence base: see Appendix 14) where the vicar is an ex officio governor. Each DCFW would have 10 schools and churches in which to provide such encouragement and pathways, building on the effective partnership developed by the EYW and parishes. By Year 6 they will have identified individual children who will be transferring to academies in the Bishop Fraser Trust and create relationships with the Chaplaincy Assistants that will provide continuity of discipleship opportunities. They will be recruited in the October window for a January 2019 start.

Chaplaincy Assistants (3)

The Chaplaincy Assistants would promote and provide discipleship pathways and opportunities in the three academies in the Bishop Fraser Trust, each of which already has chaplaincy strength. This would include specific voluntary activities in lunch-times and after school according to context, with an expectation of a discipleship commitment x 12. The Chaplaincy Assistants would be rooted in a church in Bolton with existing missional strength/potential in youth work (Appendix 10). Chaplaincy Assistants would provide a bridge between discipleship commitments in school with parallel commitments in the local church community. They will be recruited in the January/February 2019 window with a view to a September 2019 start.

It is anticipated that all three fieldwork roles will have a continuum of focus with the families of the children and young people.

9. Early years and Fresh Expressions

Our over-arching Discipleship Pathway objectives for Toddler Groups and fresh expressions of Church

Toddler Groups (average attendance Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Total 15) 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Transformation of existing Toddler 2 2 2 2 2 10 groups to Intentionally and distinctively Christian Toddler Groups

Numbers of toddlers with families 30 30 30 30 30 150

Formation of new intentionally and 2 2 2 2 2 10 distinctively Christian Toddler Groups

Numbers of Toddlers with families 30 30 30 30 30 150

Formation of new Fresh expression of 1 2 2 1 1 7 church aimed at Pre-school/primary aged children and families

Numbers of new people attending fresh 40 80 80 40 40 280 expressions of church aimed at Pre- school/primary aged children and families

The why

We intend to invest in creating discipleship pathways at the youngest (chronologically-aged) opportunity in order to influence adult behaviour in the long-term.

We intend to model, introduce and influence young families to develop their faith and link to church in the largely untapped environment of pre-school playgroups, generically termed ‘Toddler Groups’, that meet in our church halls and churches week-in, week-out.

Approach/model – the what

(the where – see rationale for first churches/schools engaged and Toddler Group maps - Appendix 2)

This early years’ intervention is not doing ‘more of the same stuff’. It is doing more of similar ‘stuff’, differently. The key differences are twofold:

1. Creating the intentional faith of church based Toddler groups; and,

2. Linking them into our church schools and their expertise, often now offered to children as young as two years.

This church-school link, including linking school staff and church communities, is a thread throughout our modelling.

Toddler groups based in churches are reasonably common; those that are distinctively Christian and intentionally missional are not. We intend to change this by advising parishes and toddler groups and influencing leaders as to how this distinctively Christian approach can be achieved, whilst continuing to serve the common good. We intend to influence existing, non-intentionally missional Toddler groups to become more so (two per year over five years); we intend to start new, intentionally evangelistic toddler groups in churches (two per year over five years).

We will initiate and support new Messy Church/Messy Tots/Fresh Expression style congregations within church/school settings and support parishes in encouraging church attendance from young families. Messy Church is prevalent and popular in our diocese and its spin-offs, like Messy Tots, Messy Eucharist and Messy Cathedral, are being experimented with. It has captured the imagination of churches and built new, and intentionally missional, links with our church schools.

Evidence

Research conducted for the Church of England (9 Dot Research) by Benita Hewitt suggests this is a rich and expectant harvest field. Young children are always accompanied by the parents and grandparents and members of the community such as childminders, often returners to church and faith, and we have a number of exciting exemplars of this provision on which to build our models (see Appendix 3).

Specific schools and parishes involved/interventions planned

Our existing Children’s Officer and Assistant are in the middle of a programme of visiting every existing Toddler Group and CE primary school in the three Bolton Deaneries. The Diocesan Director of Education, who is a regular visitor to all CE schools in Bolton and bi- annually meets with headteachers and chairs of governors, is currently visiting each church in Bolton for Sunday worship.

Early analysis has identified Toddler Groups and churches for the interventions described (see below) in Project Year 1 (2019). Once the visiting analysis programme is complete, a full programme of intervention over the five-year period will be prescribed. Our map of existing Toddler Groups and our Year 1 identified parishes/schools for intervention are mapped in Appendix 2.

Exemplars of intervention are set out in Appendix 3

The who

We will employ a specialist, Early Years Worker for this element of the project.

The overall activity, especially in the field of Early Years development, would attract lay leadership into leading re-intentionalised and new Toddler Groups and Messy Church in parishes.

The outcome

Specifically, the Early Years worker will, over a five-year period:

 initiate the establishment of 10 new distinctively Christian toddler groups in parishes; two per year over five years;  influence and persuade existing Toddler Groups (13) to become more distinctively Christian and more missional: two per year over five years;  create links with the families and into the homes of parents and grandparents to support discipleship using specialist resources – both tried and tested and new (eg Heartsmart for families; Faith at Home; the Kitchen Table project);  make links with schools’ Early Years specialists and seek their input where appropriate;  engage with individual families and children, and Deanery Children and Families workers, through transition into primary school;  deliver sessions/assemblies in Toddler Groups/nursery about transition to Reception class

In Project Year 1

We will initiate the development of two new Toddler groups at St Paul’s, Astley Bridge and one of the Seven Saints churches with grants of £2,000 each.

We will persuade two existing Toddler Groups to become more intentionally and distinctively Christian at St John’s Wingates and Christ’s Church, Harwood parishes.

We will establish one new regular fresh expression of church at St Andrew’s, Over Hulton parish.

10. Primary Years

Our over-arching Discipleship Pathway objectives for Primary Years

Now 5 years’ %age time change Primary schools Numbers of pupils on primary schools discipleship 33 100 300% pathway in the Year 6 cohort transferring to academies in the Bishop Fraser Trust

The why

A key strength of our Diocese is our CE primary school portfolio. We have 180 CE primary schools, and more in Bolton (29 plus one in Blackburn with Darwen) than in any other of the 12 local authorities where we provide schools. Our CE primary schools are atypical from other dioceses; most are large and voluntary aided, none are rural, village, voluntary controlled schools. So we have influence – and access. There are more than

50% of children from minority ethnic (and usually other faith) backgrounds in 12 of our 30 Church of England primary schools in Bolton.

CE primary schools are ideally placed to provide children with the opportunity, both in school and in linking to the parish, to explore their Christian faith and develop a discipleship pathway; they also provide an ideal space in which to develop fresh expression communities.

Approach/model – the what

Many children in Manchester Diocese CE schools are used to engaging in worship within their CE school, be it during collective worship or through initiatives such as prayer spaces – but there are large gaps; smaller numbers are involved in worship, ethos or similar groups in a school setting. We have analysed this by survey. Alongside this, we are fortunate to have many families with pre and primary school age children attending weekly worship in our parishes with a view to gaining admission to a CE primary or high school. However, in terms of creating longer-term discipleship pathways, many of our churches find it challenging to engage with these families in a meaningful way.

Within school, we will seek to encourage, support and develop the good work already being carried out which allows children to explore faith and a discipleship pathway for themselves. At the same time, we will seek to encourage parishes, through ordained and lay leadership, to develop existing or create new missional and worship opportunities for children and their families which better serve their needs in terms of, for example, approach, content, time and location. We will encourage the school building to be used for some of these activities where possible and have a number of exemplars of ‘church in school’ in Bolton (https://www.manchester.anglican.org/documents/church-school- research-report/)

The establishment of ‘ethos groups’ in our primary schools, modelled on the Bishop Bridgeman example, is in its development infancy (Appendix 5). What ‘great would look like’ would be to develop an ‘ethos group’, or other, contextually appropriate, voluntary group in each of the 30 CE schools in this cohort to nurture the faith of our pupils and, for those of the Christian faith, to prepare them for their key transition to CE high school. Our DCFWs will encourage, model and build on the links between churches and schools, usually strong, but occasionally not so. The DCFW will be a resource that is not swallowed into the mainstream of schools’ day-to-day business but provides a personalised approach so that children who are moving-on from Year 6 into one of our three CE academies that make-up the Bishop Fraser Trust, sometimes in different directions and in very small numbers (see map in Appendix 6), can have safe-landing in those secondary academies and not immediately succumb to the potential peer group pressure which may lead them to abandon their discipleship.

Evidence

A Diocesan paper presented to the Board of Education Schools Committee in February 2018 concerning SIAMS inspections highlighted the lack of pupil engagement in collective worship and the need for a higher percentage of pupil engagement in planning and delivering collective worship.

SIAMS evidence of our CE primary schools in Bolton suggests a very high level of Christian distinctiveness and strong relationships between church and school.

Specific schools and parishes involved

The schools and parishes are mapped at Appendix 4

Although some of the proposed activities (below) exist in pockets, in individual parishes and schools, there is no existing strategic approach to intentionally strengthen mission or increase the number of disciples in this cohort of children and young people. This diocesan-led, parish/CE school founded programme aims to change that in a vigorous and transformational manner, building on existing strengths to significantly increase discipleship in young people.

We would anticipate that each of the three DCFWs would work across a portfolio of ten CE primary schools and their related parishes. They would provide a specific personalised approach for those children transitioning to CE academies in the Bishop Fraser Trust, beginning with the Year 6 transition children in summer 2019.

Interventions planned – the what

The Deanery Children and Family Workers will

 work alongside school staff and parish staff/lay leaders to initiate and establish opportunities for pupils, throughout their primary school experience, to participate and develop leadership in, for example, groups exploring the Christian faith; ethos groups; worship groups; fresh expressions communities;  work alongside parish teams in leading worship for those families with school age children and supporting clergy in designing and scheduling worship that is suited to the needs of young children and families;  identify Year 6 pupils who are transferring to academies in the Bishop Fraser Trust and create bespoke packages of transition for them leading to safe-landing of their discipleship pathway in the academy;  deliver assemblies, lessons and activities in school relating to transition and continuing faith pathways such as Admission to Communion before Confirmation;  work alongside the secondary school chaplains and Chaplaincy Assistants; work alongside clergy teams in developing a cohesive framework for on-going outreach to families; ‘Follow’ those identified children in Year 6, to secure safe-landing into Year 7 with the secondary school chaplaincy assistants.

The who

The Deanery Children and Families Workers (DCFWs)

We would hope to recruit locally and from the pews of the parishes where a wealth of lay leadership experience in the area of fresh expressions for example Messy Church may be untapped, or from the schools in which they may already serve.

This has the potential to strengthen the church/school link whilst acknowledging that for some young people, their ‘church’ may be their ‘school’, and their discipleship pathway may be ‘where they are’. (The Diocese has a previous track record of establishing ‘church in school’, especially in Bolton [three examples] grant-funded by the Commissioners)

The outcome

Our objective, over the five year period, is that each of the 30 schools would develop a worship/ethos/faith group. The current engagement of pupils in such groups in Year 6, who transfer to our CE academies, is estimated to be 33; our objective is to grow that number to 100 over the five year period of the project. Those children in Year 6 who have applied for, and accepted, a place at one of our CE academies will be specifically identified to translate their discipleship pathway into their chosen academy.

In parishes we expect the impact to be numerical growth in the number of those following a discipleship pathway and a shift in culture as detailed. This would include a shift in attitude to children and their families and the church buildings becoming places of welcome and hospitality where the gospel is shared with love and compassion (1 Peter 3 15-16). We also expect to see growing relationships between community, church and school and a more defined sense of missional strategy. This will fit with Diocesan strategy of mission and deanery action planning.

In families we expect the impact to be a growth in confidence to be able to speak about and share faith within the family unit and with others. This will lead to a growth in personal faith and a deepening of the discipleship journey of each member of the family.

In Project Year 1

We expect each Deanery Children and Family Workers to:

 form relationships with a specific cohort of ten CE primary schools (identified in Appendix 4);

 identify those specific relationships between the schools, parishes, local clergy, parish-based Toddler Groups, receiving secondary academies etc

 based on the audit of existing of ethos/worship/discipleship groups in those schools, begin the process of enhancing, nurturing and developing existing groups while forming new groups in schools where they don’t exist, beginning in St Andrew’s, Over Hulton;

 identify the 2019 Year 6 school leavers destined for the academies in the Bishop Fraser Trust and liaise with the receiving academy to plan a bespoke, ‘safe-landing’ of each child’s discipleship pathway;

 establish relationship with relevant school chaplains and, wef 01 09 19, Chaplaincy Assistants, to ensure ‘safe-landing’ the discipleship pathways of transitioning pupils.

11. Secondary Years

Our overarching Discipleship Pathway objective for young people

Now 5 years’ %age time change Numbers of Y7 students on secondary academy 45 135 300% discipleship pathway

Detailed year-on-year quantitative objectives across each of the secondary academy year groups are presented in Appendix 7

The why - Safe-landing in the Bishop Fraser Trust

The objective, over a longitudinal period, is that we will enable many more young people to choose a pathway of Christian discipleship, and continue along it.

It is our hypothesis that investment in early years will bear discipleship fruit in years to come.

We know that the drop-off in faith engagement is most prevalent at this age of transfer to high school. Research indicates that young people around the transitional age of 10- 11 will shift in their faith perspective, and find strength in both growing in faith in groups and exploring the big questions of life within those groups.

Approach/model (see Appendix 8) and see Admissions map Appendix 6

‘Safe-landing’ in the Bishop Fraser Trust in Year 7 and beyond

To meet the objective of ‘safe-landing’ in Year 7, we will provide a unique (and un- tested) consistency of human resource (the Deanery Children and Families Workers) who have identified and worked with these children in primary schools linked to the Chaplaincy Assistants in the three academies in the Bishop Fraser Trust. They will manage the hand-over of primary discipleship cohorts to the safe and consistent hands of the high school chaplain and Chaplaincy Assistant. Our academy Chaplaincy Assistants, who have already become familiar with these children and their DCFW, will create an in-built discipleship programme (see Appendices 8 and 9) available in the academies that not only links with existing parish activity, but enhances it and grows it to become a clear and protected pathway for the many, not the few.

As well as working in the three academies, Chaplaincy Assistants would be rooted in churches where there is already a flourishing youth work provision. These churches would provide a key ‘spiritual home’ where the Chaplaincy Assistant can engage with parish based youth work provision and where support and encouragement could be offered. We have identified two key churches to work alongside two of the schools within the Bishop Fraser Trust; we are currently exploring two options as a link church for St James’ Farnworth which we anticipate will be in Deane Deanery.(see Appendix 10)

Evidence

At this stage, data and evidence is thinner, but we do have exemplars of good practice to build-on and a small, but exciting, young persons’ leadership programme (See Appendix 11).

In the long-term, the Project will tie-in to the Archbishop of York’s Youth Trust programme (promoted at the annual meeting of secondary heads and chairs 06 10 17) and ultimately tie-in to our Diocesan Isonen on the Road (IOTR) young leaders programme founded jointly with our link Diocese of Tampere in Finland, and planned to be extended locally (Appendix 11). It may also coalesce with parishes that seek to develop Youth Church under their own initiative, for example, in Seven Saints Parish.

The who

The most significant change to the original plan is the strengthening of our offer in the Bishop Fraser Trust tri-academies. The diocese has a strong and diverse chaplaincy provision in most of its CE high schools and academies, and the work of these chaplains is critical to the spiritual development of both pupils and staff in these schools. Their professionalism, ministry and creativity is high valued, as is their key engagement with local churches and leaders (See Appendix 9) The additional proposal is to appoint three Chaplaincy Assistants to be attached to, and supporting, our existing chaplains in this specific role of ‘providing safe-landing’ and developing further discipleship pathways, linked to our parishes and churches.

Placing a Chaplaincy Assistant into the Christian space that is one of the three Church of England academies, a place where young people are present for five days of each week, seems the most sensible and natural opportunity. To have another Christian person in their regular midst, alongside their existing chaplain, provides a greater opportunity to process, explore, question and experience more of the Christian faith, leading to a deeper understanding of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

We would also base the Chaplaincy Assistant in a local church which would become their ‘spiritual home’.

The outcome

In 2017 and 2018, we estimate that one out of six pupils transferring to one of the three CE academies in Bolton engages in Christian discipleship in secondary school. By 2023, at the end of this five-year initiative, we expect to see this figure to increase to one out of two (100) across each Year group; a threefold multiplier.

During their time in secondary academy, we estimate that there are currently 45 students in Year 7 who are engaged in a discipleship commitment in their academies; our objective is to multiply this by threefold or more after five years’ impact of the project. These numbers would feed-through the year groups in each academy as projected, year by year, over the five-year period, in Appendix 7.

In the church community, there would be a selection of bespoke gatherings both around and across each deanery for Year 6 and Year 7 year groups, working alongside parish and project based youth leaders and youth workers based in the deanery. These would be monthly thereby creating opportunities for young people to meet up, explore their

23 journeys, build relationships, share stories and have fun. They would be unashamedly and distinctively Christian in approach and content.

In Project Year 1

We expect to appoint our Chaplaincy Assistants in early 2019, with a specific responsibility for ‘safe-landing’ and creating discipleship pathways for pupils wef 01 September 2019.

We expect that Chaplaincy Assistants will:

 liaise with CE primary school based Deanery Children and Family Workers to identify those identified Year 6/7 transferees who are prepared for ‘safe-landing’ and a continuing discipleship pathway;

 identify other pupils from other primary schools who may be encouraged to engage in activities and gatherings that have a Christian distinctiveness;

 create activities, with local churches and other Chaplaincy Assistants in addition to existing weekly activities, at least twice half-termly, that will enable continuance along the discipleship pathway;

 connect and work with local parishes and deaneries to create co-activity with the local church community, specifically linked to parish youth work provision.

12. Stakeholder Engagement

From plan to implementation

We created our Stakeholder communication and engagement strategy in summer 2017. Throughout the bid and planning process we have conducted a thorough and timed process with all stakeholders, always on ‘their turf’. The description and outcome of this is evidenced in Appendix 12

Our forward-look strategy is outlined below.

Engagement Strategy wef June 2018

Project Manager (PM) Appointment wef 01 01 19. Line managed by DDE. Accountable to Project Board, reporting bi-monthly. EY/DCF Workers Appointment wef 01 01 19. Line managed by PM. Regular 1:1s with PM. Chaplaincy Discipleship As- Appointment wef 01 09 19. sistants Above three postholders will receive advice from Diocesan Youth and Children’s Officers Primary and secondary Day-to-day contact with above Chaplains postholders Parish Clergy Weekly contact with Project Team Area Deans Regular briefings from PM; some Chaplaincy Assistants will be based in 2/3 Area Deans’ parishes Children and families Daily School heads and chairs Academies, daily; Primaries, Weekly Senior Staff in Education DDE line management of PM; Department YO and CO advise PM and teams regularly Education Admin staff Limited according to need. Existing leaders of Toddler KiT except for those 4/5 where Groups direct engagement occurs during that year. Existing leaders of school Weekly with DCFWs ethos groups and similar Existing youth leaders Weekly with Chaplaincy Assis- tants Bishops Council Bi-monthly presentations Bolton Archdeacon Pre-Bishop’s Council briefings ie bi-monthly Deanery Synod Tri-annually Project Board Bi-monthly Board of Education Tri-annually Teachers with immediate Secondary, daily; Primary, engagement both Primary weekly and Secondary Congregation By Newsletter – tri-annually Teaching staff at schools di- Secondary, daily; Primary, rectly involved weekly HR/Comms/Finance By PM as required Church House staff/Other By PM as required Glossary wef – with effect from

DDE – Diocesan Director of Education

YO – Diocesan Youth Officer

CO – Diocesan Children’s Officer

13. The Risk Register

“A risk register has been developed for the purposes of this project and is set out below. All risks are given a risk score, which is reached by scoring the probability and impact of each risk. Each risk is allocated to a risk owner.

The risk register will be maintained and managed by the project manager and formally reviewed at each meeting of the Children Changing Places Project Board meeting. Any risks that cannot be resolved within the project will be escalated for intervention by the Fit for Mission Strategic Programme Board.”

14. Financial Information

[The following table is in Word; an Excel version is available]

The programme would begin in academic year 2018/19. Following confirmation of successful bid and funding envelope, the Project Manager, DCFWs and the Early Years Worker would be recruited to begin their work on 01 January 2019.

The secondary academy Chaplaincy Assistants would be recruited in early 2019 to start at the beginning of the academic year in September 2019. The trajectory of costs has been adjusted accordingly to assure accuracy of forecasting.

Five-year programme costs (assuming 2% inflation)

Job title Numbers Spot On Total pa 2020 2021 2022 2023 costs 2018- Salary 2019

Recruitment costs 5000

Programme manager 1 38043 9511 47554 48505 49475 50464 51473

Early years worker 1 26416 6604 33020 33680 34354 35041 35742

Toddler Group start- 4000 4080 4162 4245 4330 up costs (2 per annum)

Deanery Children 3 17613 4403 66050 67371 68719 70093 71495 and Family workers

TTO

DCFW resource costs 4000 4080 4162 4245 4330

Chaplaincy 3 13169 3292 16461 50370 51378 52405 53454 Assistants TTO

Chaplaincy Assistant 4000 1333 4080 4162 4245 4330 costs

Management costs @ 5000 5100 5202 5306 5412 DDE @ 8.5%

Youth Officer 8253 2063 10316 10522 10733 10948 11167 advisory costs @ 25%

Children’s Officer 8011 2003 10013 10214 10418 10626 10839 advisory costs @25%

Part-time 8737 2184 14558 11140 11362 11590 11822 administrator’s costs

Annual Plan costs 177419 212167 216411 220739 225154

Total 5 year 5 1051890 programme costs

Annual Diocesan 39888 36976 37715 38470 39239 contribution

Total 5 year 192288 Diocesan contribution

Total project costs 1244177

15. Sustainability

Context – a note on schools’ context in Bolton is included at Appendix 13

Future financial sustainability

Sustainability is key to the longevity of these initiatives. To this end, we will work with those churches who ‘catch the vision’ of serving their particular community in new and creative ways. These churches will be able to build and grow from positions of strength in existing work or their ability to respond to the outlined framework.

In line with this ambition, there are three additional funding possibilities to create a sustainable programme(s) from this SDF plan.

1. It is anticipated that the number of stipendiary clergy in the Diocese will diminish over the next five years and some of that funding may be available for spending on lay leadership. In pilot deaneries, most parishes have identified spending on children/youth provision as their main priority. Lessons could be learned, and this Children Changing Places programme in Bolton could attract such resource to continue, or be replicated in other deaneries – and dioceses – with sufficient lay leadership.

2. As CE schools develop into multi-academy trusts, the Diocese could exert its governance majority influence in those trusts to invest in the value of a project like this, or similar, according to context. This strategy could be complementary to (1) above.

3. It is anticipated that unrestricted reserves in the DBE will continue to grow – and be spent. If this were to be the case, the DBE can commit these funds to a continuation of this project or, if this project were to become self-sustaining through either of the options 1 and 2 above, a project similar to this in different geographic contexts. The DBE recently released £200,000 for spending on specifically identified projects and it is anticipated that more funding from reserves will be available in future.

Shared learning

We have learned from evidence – local, national and international – in planning this project. Our source material is set out in Appendix 15.

A network of DCFWs and Chaplaincy Assistants will be built which will enable the sharing of best and good practice, learning from one another as they initiate activities in their individual parish/school context, linked into a governance structure that will support, challenge and scrutinise the programme. We will look to examples of good practice already established within Manchester Diocese to see how similar initiatives might be established in Bolton. Already published research (for example The Day of Small Things, The Toddler Project Report, Rooted in the Church) will serve as reference points along with any published in the future. We will monitor outcomes as we progress.

This will provide the foundation for a replicable or reproductive model that might form the basis of future SDF applications in other parts of the Diocese and the wider CE family.

16. Evaluation Measures

We have created a set of quantitative measures that will demonstrate whether we are meeting our objectives. There is an over-arching set of quantitative measures (below) which are broken down, year-by-year, in Appendices relevant to each previous section – Early Years; Primary Years; and Secondary Years. This will enable annual measurement to assure us that we are ‘on track’. The measures stretch over the five year timespan of the programme.

We have set up a number of lead measures which are set out as an example in Appendix 3.

Number of children and young people on a Christian discipleship pathway

Now 5 years’ %age time change Toddler groups Number of distinctively Christian 4 24 550% Intentionally missional Toddler Groups Numbers of children attending distinctively 78 378 480% Christian Intentionally missional Toddler Groups Fresh expressions of church Numbers of fresh expressions of church aimed at 7 14 100% Pre-school/primary aged children Numbers of people attending fresh expressions of 210 490 133% church aimed at Pre-school/primary aged children Primary schools Numbers of pupils on primary schools discipleship 33 100 300% pathway Secondary schools Numbers of students on secondary academy 45 135 300% discipleship pathway

Outputs and outcomes

We are advised by the Bishop of Manchester that less than six voluntary commitments per year on behalf of a child or young person could be defined as a ‘set of events’; in excess of this leads to discipleship. We have doubled that expectation in defining a Christian discipleship pathway as a voluntary commitment to 12 distinctively Christian engagements per year – or twice per half-term in school language. Those that do participate in a Christian discipleship pathway in school tend to do so on a weekly basis.

But attendance/engagement figures only tell half the story. What is the ‘meaning’ of such attendances and how do they relate to ‘discipleship’ and Christian faith. This will require more qualitative data gained from: narratives of personal experiences; engagement with the church community; and development into Christian leadership roles. We have an increasing catalogue of such evidence from existing activity such as our Isonen on the Road Programme and the residential meeting of three years of alumni that recently took place.

For this project we will garner this evidence from our existing project team and, over time, invite external evaluation from respected sources and a mid-project review at the end of Year 3.

APPENDIX 1 – Draft Job descriptions

Children Changing Places – Project Manager - Draft Job description

Accountability

The Project Manager will report to and be line-managed by, the Diocesan Director of Education.

The Project Manager will report to the Fit for Mission Programme Board and the Children Changing Places Project Board.

The Project Manager will receive professional advice from the Diocesan Children’s Officer and Youth Officer.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

 To have overall responsibility and accountability for meeting the quantitative and qualitative objectives set out in the Project Plan.

 To line-manage the Project Team of the Early Years Worker; three Deanery Children and Family Workers; and three Chaplaincy Assistants.

 To create coherent, working team arrangements across the demography of churches, CE schools and families in Bolton.

 To report be accountable to the line manager and report to the Programme Board.

APPENDIX 1 – Job Descriptions (first drafts)

Early Years Worker (EYW) - Draft Job description

Our vision is to initiate the establishment of 10 new intentionally Christian Toddler Groups and 7 Fresh Expressions of church, and to also influence 10 existing Toddler Groups to become more distinctively Christian across three deaneries in the next 5 years.

Accountability

The EYW will report to the Project Manager.

The EYW will receive professional advice from the Diocesan Children’s Officer.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

The EYW will advise and support parish teams as they seek to establish new distinctively and intentionally Christian toddler groups, at a rate of two new groups per annum.

The EYW will help existing Toddler Groups located in churches to become more distinctively and intentionally Christian. They will work closely with the Deanery Children and Family workers as new opportunities for worship are developed. It is envisaged that over a five-year period, they will;

 Encourage existing Toddler Groups to become more intentionally and distinctively Christian and more missional, at a rate of two per year  Provide training for group leaders if required  Encourage the creation of links between church groups/activities and faith in the home through existing and new resources  Make links with schools’ Early Years specialists and seek their input  Encourage engagement with individual families and children during transition into primary school  Deliver sessions in Toddler Groups/nursery about transition to Reception class  Distribute and monitor the spending of start-up grants

APPENDIX 1 – Job Descriptions (first drafts)

Deanery Children and Family Worker (DCFW) - Draft Job description

Our vision is to establish across three deaneries an ethos group in each CE primary school, engaging with 100 children on a discipleship pathway as they enter the Bishop Fraser Trust

Accountability

The DCFW will report to the Project Manager.

The DCFW will receive professional advice from the Diocesan Children’s Officer.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

The DCFW will work alongside parish teams and schools in an identified deanery/10 schools, in the development of discipleship pathways for primary school age children and their families.

The DCFW will promote, and assist in establishing ethos/worship groups in each of the 10 schools.

S/he will work closely with the Early Years Worker. It is envisaged that over a five-year period, they will;

 Alongside parish teams, explore new ways of offering worship opportunities for primary school age children and their families.  Alongside parish teams develop, lead and schedule worship that is suited to the needs of young children and families.  Work alongside clergy teams in developing a cohesive framework for on-going outreach to families.  Encourage ‘faith in the home’ activities through existing and new resources, such as identified on p18 bullet 3  Working alongside school and parish teams, explore with families and children issues around transition to primary school by hosting distinctively Christian events  Work alongside school and parish teams to initiate and establish opportunities for pupils throughout their primary school experience to participate and develop leadership in groups exploring the Christian faith.  In identified primary schools, deliver assemblies, lessons and activities in school relating to transition and continuing faith pathways such as Admission to Communion Before Confirmation  Work with identified Year 6 pupils (who are transferring to academies in the Bishop Fraser Trust) from the beginning of that year alongside and in collaboration with clergy teams, school chaplains, school staff etc  Working alongside the secondary school chaplains and Chaplaincy Assistants, host taster days and other related Year 6 activities  ‘Follow’ those identified children in Year 6, to secure safe-landing into Year 7 with the secondary school chaplains

APPENDIX 1 – Job Descriptions (first drafts)

Bishop Fraser Trust: Chaplaincy Assistant - Draft Job description

Our vision is to appoint three Chaplaincy Assistants across the Bishop Fraser Trust which will enable us to engage with more than 130 pupils in each year group on their discipleship pathway

Accountability

The Chaplaincy Assistant will report to the Project Manager.

The Chaplaincy Assistant will receive professional advice from the Diocesan Youth Officer.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

These posts have been specifically created to support young people of high school age in following a Christian discipleship pathway. We want to challenge the ‘status quo’ whereby many young people abandon church and, in some cases, their faith, at the point of starting high school. As a result, we want to resource the work already going on in these schools through school chaplains, local youth leaders and local clergy, by providing a Chaplaincy Assistant who can act as a support, role model, signpost and facilitator to the many young people in our three Bishop Fraser MAT academies.

 To work alongside the School Chaplain/Christian Based Youth Worker in leading and supporting regular weekly groups at school that enable young people to explore their faith  To regularly and thoroughly prepare sessions that you will lead in these aforementioned groups, under the supervision of the School Chaplain/Christian Based Youth Worker  To create new ways of exploring faith which enable young people to grow as disciples in cooperation with the School Chaplain/Christian Based Youth Worker, and other local youth leaders and clergy  To support and lead regular collective worship for both tutorial groups and year groups  To explore and create ways in which young people can express their faith through, for example, leading worship, social action and leadership within the school  To be an appropriate role model, encourager and parish resource  Work alongside the other two Assistants from the Bishop Fraser MAT in sharing resources and good practice, as well as creating cross-deanery events for young people on a regular basis

APPENDIX 2 – Identified parishes and maps of Toddler Groups and Messy Church in three deaneries

Christ’s Church, Harwood

APPENDIX 3 - Toddler Groups and Fresh Expressions exemplars

We can help existing groups become more distinctively Christian in their nature and we can develop new opportunities for worship gatherings for toddlers and their adult carers. For example, a Thursday morning worship gathering could be held in school or a weekly communion service. These can be linked into existing and developing missional opportunities in our parishes. ‘Diddy Disciples’ a new worship and storytelling resource for babies and young children is being considered by some groups within the diocese and ‘Jesus Shaped People’ is a growing initiative which is inclusive of the whole church.

In Toddler Groups we expect the impact to be numerical growth and a deeper level of discipleship for those attending, both children and adults. We expect that there will be a growth in attendance at existing congregations and that new ones will be established as a result of growth. We aim to bring children and their parents and carers in touch with the Christian faith, and into church at a young age.

At St John’s Wingate we have an example of a group which meets weekly in a space attached to the main worship area. The group is run by a Christian from a local Methodist church assisted by members of St John’s, including a Reader. There is currently no team vicar but occasionally a clergy person from one of the other team churches drops in. It is well attended with a waiting list. Initially it was established as a distinctively Christian group but over time has morphed into a time of free play, with the occasional faith-based craft particularly at times of Christian festival. In the past, the children have sometimes come to church at Christmas to sing a carol. Many of the children transition to local CE primary schools. There is a sense of a warm welcome at the group with good relationships being formed – sometimes the adults attending will ask for prayer – but the leaders are keen to consider ways of helping the group become more intentionally Christian.

What great would look like for this group might include a weekly faith based theme running through the group. The time of free play is obviously valued along with time spent building relationships over tea and toast but a worship time could be added in the middle of the session in the church itself. There could be special celebrations at times of festival with invitations to attend other church activities extended to the families. The church as a whole should consider how this group fits into their overall strategy of outreach in the community and how they can better support this ministry, providing additional worship opportunities for the families attending and making closer links with early years practitioners in the CE schools the children will eventually attend. This latter might also include worship gatherings in the school with some of the leaders from the Toddler Group involved in order to maintain the relationship which has already been developed. This type of model arrangement could be applied to newly established groups such as that identified at St Paul’s Astley Bridge.

Exemplar - Pre-school praise, St Mary’s Prestwich (in the Diocese, but not in Bolton)

After much prayer, this regular mid-week service was established to serve the needs of the local community. As the church bells ring, toddlers, babies, parents and carers gather to worship together and enjoy ‘the most fantastic cake in Prestwich!’

People leave with invitations to other church activities and a Bible text to help continue the development of faith in the home.

The service grew quickly with around 70-80 in attendance each week. Being rooted in prayer, a warm welcome and wonderful hospitality have been key to enabling people to embark on and develop their own journeys of faith.

The Rector says “We’ve tried to meet people where they’re at and meet their spiritual needs and social needs. Our experience has been that when you pray about what’s the right thing to do, God will deeply and richly bless what you do.”

Toddler Groups and Fresh expression of church - Lead and Lag Measures

For each individual initiative, we will identify specific lead and lag measures. Exemplars are given below.

Church The Group Lag Measure Lead Measure

St John’s, Jan – Mar 2018, By Sep-Dec 2019,  EYW visit 3-6 times to plan, Wingates confirm existing 30 attendees Jan – Mar 2019 Toddler Group for exploring  leaders trained resources sought transformation to Christian  group re-established Distinctively discipleship  baptismal families invited Christian group pathway  link to fresh expression/worship activities  link made with school and DCFW  EYW to visit established group on 6 weekly basis for first year then as and when support required St Paul’s Astley Jan – Mar 2018, By Sep-Dec 2019,  EYW visit 3-6 times to plan, Bridge confirm new 30 attendees Jan – Mar 2019 Toddler Group to exploring  leaders trained  resources sought be established Christian  group established discipleship  baptismal families invited pathway  link to fresh expression/worship activities  link made with school and DCFW  EYW to visit established group on 6 weekly basis for first year then as when support required

St Andrew’s Over Jan – Mar 2018, By Sep-Dec 2019,  DCFW to visit 3-6 times to Hulton confirm Fresh 40 attendees encourage and facilitate, Jan Expression to be exploring – Mar 2019  leaders trained established Christian  resources sought discipleship  Fresh Expression established pathway  baptismal families invited  Toddler Group families invited  school families invited  DCFW to visit initial gathering and offer advice and support as required

APPENDIX 4 - Allocation of DCFWs to groups of 10 schools and maps of CE PRIMARY SCHOOLS with numbers on roll

Each of the 30 primary schools will develop an ethos/worship group during the course of the project. As an exemplar, the first of these will be in St Andrew’s CE Primary School Over Hulton which, as detailed above, enjoys positive links with the church. In July 2016, the school received an outstanding SIAMS inspection and, led by the headteacher, is keen to do more to develop opportunities for worship and discipleship and is already making plans to develop prayer spaces.

We would anticipate that each of the three DCFWs would work across a portfolio of ten CE primary schools and their related parishes. As some of these parishes work within teams, or are united benefices, there is existing or potential for, joined up activity. Each DCFW will be working across a wider spectrum of churches and therefore will not be placed within a specific church. They would provide a specific personalised approach for those children transitioning to CE academies in the Bishop Fraser Trust, beginning with the Year 6 transition children in summer 2019.

DCFW - Area 1

Bolton Deanery Schools Bolton Deanery Churches

St Peter’s Smithills Dean St Peter’s Halliwell St Andrew’s St Matthew’s, Bolton St Mathew with St Barnabas

St Thomas, Halliwell St Thomas Halliwell (West Bolton Team)

St John’s, Kearsley St John the Evangelist (Farnworth, Kearsley & Stoneclough Team) St Peter’s, Farnworth St John the Evangelist (Farnworth, Kearsley & Stoneclough Team) All Saints, Farnworth St John’s the Evangelist (Farnworth, Kearsley & Stoneclough Team) St Stephen’s, Kearsley St Stephen Kearsley Moor (Farnworth, Kearsley & Stoneclough Team) St Saviour, Ringley St Saviour Ringley (Farnworth, Kearsley & Stoneclough Team) Bishop Bridgeman St Philip Bolton le Moor

Bolton Parish Bolton Parish St Peter Bolton Le Moor (Bolton Parish Church) DCFW - Area 2

Deane Deanery Schools Deane Deanery churches

Horwich Parish Holy Trinity, Horwich (Horwich & Rivington Team)

St Catherine’s, Horwich St Catherine’s, Horwich (Horwich & Rivington Team) Blackrod Anglican/Methodist St Katherine’s Blackrod (Westhoughton Team) St Bartholomew’s, Westhoughton St Bartholomew’s (Westhoughton Team) St Thomas, Chequerbent St Thomas, Chequerbent (Westhoughton Team) St George’s, Westhoughton St George, Westhoughton (Westhoughton Team) St James, Daisy Hill St James, Daisy Hill (Westhoughton Team) St Bede’s Academy St Bede Bolton Le Moors

St Mary’s, Deane St Mary’s, Deane (Deane Team)

St Andrew’s, Over Hulton St Andrew’s, Over Hulton (Deane Team) DCFW - Area 3

Bolton Deanery Schools Bolton Deanery Churches

SS Simon and St Jude Seven Saints

St James, Farnworth Seven Saints

St Michael’s Great Lever Seven Saints

St Matthew’s, Little Lever St Matthew Little Lever

Walmsley Deanery Schools

Bolton St Catherine’s Christ’s Church Harwood

St Paul’s Astley Bridge St Paul’s Astley Bridge

St Maxentius St Maxentius (Turton Moorland Ministry) Turton and Edgworth CE/Methodist St Anne, Turton Moorland (Turton Moorland Ministry) Walmsley Primary Christ Church Walmsley (Turton Moorland Ministry) St Stephen and All Martyrs St Stephen and All Martyrs, Lever Bridge (Leverhulme Team)

St Bartholomew’s, Westhoughton 210 WESTHOUGHTON TEAM EXEMPLAR Deane Westhoughton, St Bartholomew’s INFORMATION EXTRACTED FROM SIAMS REPORTS 2016-2016 Distinctiveness and Effectiveness CONNECTIONS BETWEEN CHURCH AND The school is a beacon of Christian love, care and SCHOOL compassion as the hub of the local community.

The strong partnership with the church and with families brings school, parish and home together in harmony. St George’s, Westhoughton 290 Leadership and Management Deane The Hoskers, St George The school and parish enjoy a close working relationship. This strengthens the spiritual and Distinctiveness and Effectiveness pastoral connection between the school, its families and the church. Strong links between school, home and the local

churches, underpinned by gospel values, provide a positive Christian witness in the wider

St James, Daisy Hill 370 community. Deane

Daisy Hill, St James Collective Worship

Distinctiveness and Effectiveness The clergy play an important part in the life of the school. The canon and church team are well

The highly effective working relationship of school liked by the pupils who greatly value their and church, that makes possible collective worship involvement and support. About the canon, a Y6

of the highest Christian calibre, has a significant pupil commented, ‘He spends time talking to us influence on children’s wellbeing and development and he gives us more detail about Jesus and why as citizens. it is important we know that Jesus gave his life for us.’ The church meets regularly in the school Collective Worship hall, which helps to further cement the great relationship between church and school. St In church and in the classroom, the vicar provides Bartholomew’s church, a distance from the opportunities for the children to experience and school, is also used for worship and lessons. reflect upon a range of Anglican practices. Leadership and Management

St Thomas, Chequerbent 240 There are very strong links with both the parish Deane church and the local community. This includes Chequerbent, St Thomas the church fairs and services, both within the Collective Worship church and school. The canon supports the school pastorally and has a regular and St Thomas’ the church within the school building of important input into the work of the school. One the same name, is part of a larger team ministry. Y4 pupil commented, ‘he helps us to be a The main church is St Bart’s. The school attends Christian school.’ This enables pupils to worship at St Bart’s for key Christian festivals and understand the involvement of the church in the has links with the Diocese including attending the local and wider community facilitates a positive Y6 leaver’s services at the cathedral. Pupils speak contribution from the church to the life of the enthusiastically about their visits to St Bart’s, as do school. the parents who attend with their children. It demonstrates that they are part of a much bigger

Christian family.

APPENDIX 5 - CE primary school exemplars

How it would work

Westhoughton team exemplar

Westhoughton, in the Deane Deanery, is separate township in Bolton local authority, divided from the remainder of Bolton by the M61 motorway; it has its own township traditions, including a mayor and Town Hall, and one community high school where most pupils transfer from their local primary schools, including CE primary schools, although there is’ traffic’ to Canon Slade and St James’ (see map in Appendix 6).

This is an area of existing strength of relationship between the four schools and the churches in the united benefice of Blackrod, Daisy Hill, Westhoughton and Wingates.

The Project has already identified St John’s Wingates as an area for Toddler Group activity in Year 1. DCFW for Area 2 would work in all four schools and churches, two of which are ‘churches in schools’ ie church and school are purpose built as one and the same place. The relationship with the clergy team is excellent and a new team rector is about to be appointed.

The DCFW would build on existing strengths, ie shared school support for Admission to Communion Before Confirmation, the fortnightly after school Café Church at St George’s Church and seek to establish new voluntary groups (exemplar below), or support existing ones, for children who wish to explore their personal faith in more depth, especially in Years 5 and 6. The children would also participate in the design and delivery of collective worship. Over time, the DCFW would become aware of those pupils who were seeking a place at an academy in the Bishop Fraser Trust and begin to create a pathway for those children in preparation for their Year 6/Year 7 transfer. Liaison would be necessary with the two relevant Chaplaincy Assistants, whilst also being mindful of the pathway into school at Reception, and liaising with the Early Years Worker in this project and local, church-based Toddler Groups.

Looking at the Deane Deanery map, the same DCFW could build on the same model in the townships of Horwich and Blackrod (three CE primary schools), which are similarly separated, in part, from the main areas of Bolton by the M61 corridor, have a similar local high school that most pupils attend, but have some traffic to all three academies in the Bishop Fraser Trust.

Exemplar ethos group - Bishop Bridgeman Ethos Group

At Bishop Bridgeman CE primary school we have one stunning exemplar of how a CE primary school, in a missional manner, can develop the discipleship pathway of its pupils, even if that discipleship pathway includes children of other faiths. It is missional, not evangelical. The Ethos leaders (pupils) of Bishop Bridgeman School help embed Christian values into everyday school life. Each half-term they meet to plan and deliver whole school worship based on one of the values. The group have written and published two books of prayer and reflection ideas, host and lead an annual conference for staff and pupils from other schools to share their ideas and encourage the development of other ethos groups and, on a monthly basis, they plan and deliver a pop up prayer space which begins in church and then moves into school. Members of the group say the

51 impact in school includes helping people of other faiths become friends and that ‘faith is the glue that sticks us together’.

Primary School Worship/Ethos Groups - Lead and Lag Measures

For each individual initiative, we will identify specific lead and lag measures. An exemplar is given below.

School The Group Lag Measure Lead Measure

St Andrew’s CE Jan – Mar 2018, By Sep 2019, 8  DCFW to visit weekly to en- Primary School, confirm pupils leaving on courage and facilitate, Jan – Mar 2019 Over Hulton Establishment of discipleship  pupils invited to join group worship group in journey ready for  pupils involved in planning school safe landing in and delivering collective high school worship  school builds connection to fresh expression in parish  pupils given opportunity to meet with others in transition to high school

APPENDIX 6 – Year 6-Year 7 Pupil transition map

Academy

VC (Voluntary controlled)

VA (Voluntary aided)

APPENDIX 7 - Discipleship Pathway Development for young people in their secondary years

Canon Slade Church of England Year Year Year Year Year Year Year High School 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Chaplain: Rev Tom Lilley Tuesday lunch time group 10 10  Led by Pais team from Bolton and Bury  Focussed on Key Stage 3  Approximately 20 pupils involved Wednesday lunch time group – FUEL 5 5 4 4 4 4 4  Led by youth workers from Kings Church, Bolton  Also opportunities for Year 12 and 13 students to lead elements  Focussed on all year groups with approximately 30 pupils involved Friday lunch time group 10 10 5  Let by youth worker from Bridge Church, Bolton  Focussed on younger pupils with approximately 20-30 pupils nvolved Total existing numbers 25 25 9 4 4 4 4 Projected: With 81 (/270) young 60 60 60 30 30 30 30 people coming from Bolton CE Primary schools to Canon Slade CE High School, we would project that given the current and anticipated work undertaken by the chaplains, assistant chaplains and local clergy/youth leaders we would see a 20-25% engagement of young people. With a drop-off at the end of Year 9, our objective would be around 60 across the first 3 years and 30 in the remaining four. This would be the key group that the Assistant Chaplains would seek to engage with alongside the school chaplain, local youth workers and youth leaders, and local clergy

St James Church of England Year Year Year Year Year Year Year High School 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Chaplain: Mr Andy Hunter  Regular group that meets 2 2 2 2 2 weekly in order to plan upcoming events throughout the year. Planned things such as cake sales, Easter baskets to say thank you to teachers etc. They also meet with two local primary schools once a term. MAD Group gets 10 members representing the different year groups  Weekly lunch time club held on 7 7 7 7 7 a Thursday with a local youth group. Drop in session mainly and concludes with a Biblical look at a particular theme eg loving others/light of the world etc. Lunch club usually attracts 35 young people on average. The Thursday drop in club can sometimes vary depending on the weather but other than that numbers are consistent and there doesn’t appear to be too much of a drop off. Year 8 into Year 9 is more evident. This group also attracts pupils of other faiths. Projected: With 103 young 50 50 50 30 30 people coming from Bolton CE Primary schools, we project that given the work undertaken by the chaplains, chaplaincy assistants, and local clergy/youth leaders we would see a 20-25% engagement of young people in the Year 7 cohort. With a drop-off at the end of Year 9, our objective would be around 50 across the first three years and 30 across the remaining two years. The Assistant Chaplain worker would seek to engage with this group alongside the school chaplain, local youth workers/leaders and explore the possibility of developing a discipleship focussed group from this larger, regular gathering.

Bolton St Catherine’s Academy Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Christian Based Youth Worker: 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Kristina Crossley  There are two lunch time clubs 10 9 4 1 1 for secondary students run by school chaplain and local church volunteers from youth projects and churches (Encounter from Kings Church and The Bridge) Approximately 25 young people attend each lunch time, mainly from years 7, 8 and 9. Projected: With 103 young people 25 25 25 15 15 coming from CE Primary schools, we project that given the work undertaken by the chaplains, chaplaincy assistants, and local clergy/youth leaders we would see a 20-25% engagement of young people. With a drop-off at the end of Year 9, our objective would be around 25 across the first three years and 15 across the remaining two years. The Assistant Chaplain worker would seek to engage with this group alongside the school chaplain, local youth workers/leaders and explore the possibility of developing a discipleship focussed group from this larger, regular gathering.

APPENDIX 8 – Years 7-11 – How this might look

The Chaplaincy Assistant’s work would be working alongside both the chaplains and Christian based youth worker in the three schools within the MAT, and local youth workers in clergy to engage young people on their faith/discipleship journey as they transition from Year 6 into Year 7 and beyond.

The engagement with the schools and churches will be influenced heavily by their context and their current engagement with this area of work, creating both a proactive and reactive approach to the work of the Chaplaincy Assistant alongside those already ‘on the ground’. Below are suggestions on how the work might look in relation to a Chap- laincy Assistants working alongside both churches with either or both an employed dedi- cated youth worker and a flourishing youth work provision

‘Rooted In The Church’ talks about the church ‘facilitating moments of connection’ which are rooted in relationship and based on gospel principles, ensuring that we are distinctively Christian. These roles would look to support the moments of connection that are already taking place and create new ones where they are not, both leading to young people securing their own faith, and living and responding to the impact of the Gospel on their lives.

Reactive – where there is already work going on, the Chaplaincy Assistant would connect up with this through involvement, building relationships and co-creating wider geographical gatherings for young people Proactive – where the work needs to be established, the Chaplaincy Assistant would enable connections between school and church to establish and develop, thereby creating the opportunities Year 7  Working with schools/youth workers/churches in supporting and developing spaces for exploring faith, encouraging worship and seeking ways to respond to their ‘owned’ faith.  Developing/establish peer relationships through a mentoring programme  Run a deanery/school wide residential weekend alongside chaplain/youth workers for this year group (this would happen throughout the school years) Year 8  Continuing to develop mentoring relationship between Year 8 students and new Year 7 students. Drawing on the few lines that we hear in the Year 6 services into something that creates a large gathering over the summer for Year 6 and Year 7 to share stories and experiences. This would involve church workers and clergy, and planned together.  Continue to run and be involved in distinctively Christian gatherings in both school and wider which enable young people to explore their faith and continue their discipleship pathway  Run a deanery/school wide residential weekend alongside chaplain/youth workers for this year group Year 9 This is a key area of drop off (Rooted in the Church) and indicated locally by St James High School in their voluntary Christian activities.  Develop the mentoring programme with a strong Christian service element. Create opportunities for young people to put their faith into action. This would have a strong link to the parish where this service might be undertaken alongside other church members of different generations. RITC – ‘empower the various generations to communicate in meaningful ways, interact on a regular basis, and serve together regularly’. In my own experience and backed up by faith development theory from Westerhoff, young people want to ‘do’ something with their faith and ‘be known’ by it.

 Continue to run and be involved in distinctively Christian gatherings in both school and wider which enable young people to explore their faith and continue their discipleship pathway  Run a deanery/school wide residential weekend alongside chaplain/youth workers for this year group Year 10  During the next 2 years we would anticipate growth in faith, being a bit further down the discipleship pathway and the flourishing of confidence in these young people. We would want to offer a ‘domestic’ version of IOTR to young people in either year 10 or 11 – see Isonen On The Road Programme  Run a deanery/school wide residential weekend alongside chaplain/youth workers for this year group – this would have a specific focus on the next 2 years of school, future and how our faith is intrinsic to this.  Continue to run and be involved in distinctively Christian gatherings in both school and wider which enable young people to explore their faith and continue their discipleship pathway Year 11  Continue to run and be involved in distinctively Christian gatherings in both school and wider which enable young people to explore their faith and continue their discipleship pathway  Run a deanery/school wide residential weekend alongside chaplain/youth workers for this year group – this would have a specific focus on transition from high school to work or further education, with a faith view on ‘what next?’

APPENDIX 9 – Secondary exemplars

Create Day at Moss Bank Park

An example of what this might look like would be a ‘create day’ on Moss Bank Park in the parish of St Peter’s Halliwell for Year 7s. Working alongside local youth workers such as Sarah Saxon (Youth Minister at St Peter’s Halliwell) Moira Frew and Esther Peggs (HAFWAY Youth Project on Halliwell Road), the chaplain at Canon Slade, possible local clergy and volunteer leaders from the youth groups that meet on Johnson Fold and at St Peter’s Halliwell, the day would be a creative arts day around change. The day would give the young people an opportunity to explore their journey of transitioning from Year 6 to Year 7 through a variety of creative workshops, have several speakers talking about how our walk with God helps us to navigate the changes and newness that we face in life (not just changing schools but other changes) and some fun – a chance to mix with other young people in the same place, experiencing the same changes and therefore lessening their sense of anxiety and loneliness at this point of significant change.

St James’ High

At St James’ CE High School a drop-in style group meets on a Thursday lunch time with is led by the school’s full time chaplain and a local youth worker from a local youth work project. This is a great example of school and local parish working together in providing a voluntary group for young people in the school which is distinctively Christian, provides a space to grow in their faith and continue their discipleship pathway. This group, which currently has an attendance of around 15 on a weekly basis, looks at familiar themes such as loving others and light of the world. Though the style of the group is drop in, there is always a focus on a bible story or theme which is discussed at the end, creating the opportunity to build relationships within an informal setting along with exploring their faith journey. Through the ministry of the chaplain and the local youth worker, this group provides consistent encouragement and teaching that increases young people’s interest and engagement in the Christian faith.

Fresh expressions exemplar

Cafe 10-10 - An expression of church for unchurched young people

Once a month we create a cafe style expression of church for our young people. We meet in a ‘church room’ and set out tables for the young people to sit in small groups as they arrive. We play games, both around the tables and as a whole group. We eat together, sing worship songs and listen to a short talk. We always make time for discussion groups for the young people to openly share and listen to each other’s thoughts, beliefs and opinions. Some young people identify as atheist, others as Christian, some as Muslim and some of them just don’t know what to believe. They are all welcome and all their views are respected and affirmed. For these young people, they simply love the opportunity to have a safe space to talk about God; to thrash out what it really means to be human, to consider the basis of their doubts, faith and beliefs and to unpack the fundamental questions of ‘who am I?’ and ‘why am I here?’. The majority of these young people have no contact with church. They do however engage with our project, HAFWAY, (well-established Christian youth work project based in a multi-cultural area of north Bolton) up to 5 times a week and therefore connect deeply with us as Christian Youth Workers.

APPENDIX 10– Connecting Churches

APPENDIX 11 – Domestic Isonen on the Road

Isonen on the Road programme

Discipleship has a lot to do with what we do with our faith and providing an opportunity for young people to authentically serve their churches and communities is a priority for both this project and our diocese. We have drawn on our Isonen on the Road programme which develops young people as leaders, working with our colleagues in our link diocese of Tampere in Finland. The year-long programme is distinctively Christian, giving young people the opportunity to explore their own Christian faith, hearing about how faith influences other people’s pathway to leadership, and having a variety of opportunities to lead worship, bible studies and services. Our hope would be that these young people would go forward to develop their gifting and skills in leadership and use them in their churches and communities. “Authentic Christian leadership for youth ministry is much more than teaching young people about pastoral skills, but requires a lifestyle that empowers adolescents to become responsible and genuine leaders in their schools, churches, neighbourhoods, and communities.” (Canales, Rooted in the Church, Pg 29)

We have run three cohorts of Isonen for 15 young people over the last three years. This has involved two residential weekends in each country which involve teaching and experience in leadership, team-building and opportunities to talk about their faith and share their own Christian journey so far. During the summer of each year both teams work as the Isonen team for the Finnish Confirmation camp hosted at Scargill House in North Yorkshire. This involves leading worship, games, bible study groups and organising the evening entertainment. Throughout the year the UK team meet with church leaders from across the diocese to learn from their leadership journey.

A domestic Isonen programme would include two residential weekends for the team where they would be involved in both engaging and leading activities, have input from a variety of practitioners on leadership, undertake tasks with their IOTR partner, and lead a short time of worship for their peers and leaders.

During the summer break we would give them opportunities to serve and lead on different camps. We would look to take a small team of leaders with us to the Tampere Youth Camp in Finland at the end of July to support the wider camp by working with the Finnish Isonen, but to also be involved in the specific leadership and teaching of the UK team. There would be key opportunities for them to talk about their faith with ‘campers’ and lead groups to encourage peer discussion around key themes of God, Jesus, church and prayer. They would have certain tasks to undertake over that week which would be evaluated and discussed on their return. We would encourage some of the team to get involved in the Middle Park Camp in Welshpool, where the leadership is much more about practical service such as cleaning, cooking and setting up games, getting a different experience of leadership but no less important. This is a Christian camp where young people meet in groups daily to explore themes or Bible passages, and our young people on IOTR would be encouraged to engage and lead these groups. There are more camps that they could be involved in but these are two examples.

Throughout the year the group would meet in the months where there is no residential or camp, in a similar way to the current IOTR, meeting different leaders with different stories, but creating a much more intentional learning opportunity from these meetings with clear guidance given to those leaders taking part on our expectations.

The year would end with a service of commissioning where the team would be invited to share their stories of the year in both spoken and written format. They would be commissioned and anointed with oil, and we would actively encourage their own clergy to be present and participate in that service.

APPENDIX 12 – Stakeholder Engagement Feedback – from Bid to Plan

Bid stage

This has been a bottom-up as well as a top-down process. At the bid stage, it was largely a process of engaging with the key governance stakeholders. Prior to the bid submission in October 2017 the bid preparation had a life-cycle of four months. During that period, the bid, and its content, was discussed with Diocesan Synod; Bishop’s Council (twice); Bishop’s Leadership Team; and the Fit for Mission Steering Group. Key individuals were actively engaged including both suffragen Bishops (one as Chair of the DBE and one as the overall bid author) and the Diocesan Secretary.

Planning stage

Since the bid moved to its planning stage in spring term 2018, an engagement and communications plan has been implemented and included:

 separate and individual discussions with all three Area Deans

 separate and collective discussion with the leadership and governance of the Bishop Fraser Trust

 separate briefings for Bishop Fraser Trust school chaplains

 three school-based briefings, by invitation, for the leadership teams (headteacher/chair of governors/parish priest and ex officio governor) of all 29 primary schools and Deanery lay chairs

Further briefings for Diocesan Synod; Bishop’s Council’; Bishop’s Leadership Team and the Fit for Mission Steering Group.

When With Who

12 February 2018 Rev’d Vinny Whitworth, Area Dean, Bolton KB, SM, MS, Deanery, St Peter’s Church centre

12 February Rev’d Terry Clark, Area Dean, Deane KB, SM, MS, Deanery, Deane vicarage

26 February Nick Mckee, Area Dean, Walmsley Deanery, KB, SM, MS, Church House

26 February Heads, Chairs and local clergy SM, MS, Bishop Fraser Trust 26 February Heads, Chairs and local clergy Bolton Deanery KB, MS, Bishop Bridgeman CE school 2 March Heads, Chairs and local clergy Deane Deanery KB, MS, St Andrew’s, Over Hulton 16 March Heads, Chairs and local clergy Walmsley KB, MS, Deanery, Bolton St Catherine’s Academy 16 March Andy Hunter, School Chaplain SM, MS

St James’ CE High School 22 March Tom Lilley, School Chaplain SM, MS Canon Slade School 19 April Tina Crossley, Christian Youth Worker, SM, MS Bolton St Catherine’s Academy

Meetings with Area Deans

Canon Maurice Smith, Karen Beal and Susie Mapledoram have met with all three Area Deans across the key area for the SDF bid; Rev Nick McKee (Area Dean for Walmsley), Rev Vinny Whitworth (Area Dean for Bolton) and Rev Terry Clark (Area Dean for Deane). The main objective for the meetings was to explain how the bid would impact and engage the churches specifically and to ensure that the Area Deans had the key information with which to inform deanery and chapter clergy, and other stakeholders. We also wished to identify an Area Dean who could take a place on the Project Board. All three meetings were positive, enabling both the information to be shared, but for also for questions to be asked. We were grateful for the contextual deanery insight that all three Area Deans were able to offer, including Mission and Deanery Action Plans, along with further clarity on the research information that we had collated around primary and secondary schools’ engagement. We value these continued collaborative working relationships and see these colleagues as key stakeholders in the working out of the bid. At their suggestion, Deanery Lay Chairs were invited to the school-based briefings and all attended.

Meeting with three headteachers and Chair designate of the Bishop Fraser Trust

Canon Maurice Smith and Susie Mapledoram met with the three head teachers of the Bishop Fraser Trust, along with the Bishop of Bolton and Rev Jan Ainsworth (Chair of the MAT Board of Trustees) near the end of February to talk through the bid and its potential implications for their schools individually and as a MAT. The meeting enabled us to share some of the history and development of the bid, along with the Chaplaincy Chaplaincy Assistantship Programme in some detail. We were encouraged by the positive response from all three heads, and noted their insights around the selection of the Chaplaincy Assistants for each school, adapting the role of the Chaplaincy Assistant where there is a part time chaplain and creating a thorough support network for the Chaplaincy Assistants.

Good news during this planning process is that Bolton St Catherine’s Academy has appointed a Christian Based Youth Worker.

Meetings with Primary heads, clergy and lay chairs

Two of the three planned meetings in Deaneries with clergy, headteachers and lay chairs have been held to date. The planned project has been well received, generally, although attendance at the meetings has been lower than might be expected (approx. 12-15). Recurring questions arising include the inclusion of community schools in the project and requests to clarify the link between school, church and community. These have been addressed during the meetings. The meetings have resulted in on-going conversations including the planning of visits to primary schools. A helpful steer towards a document considering working in a multi-faith context in CE schools was provided.

Meeting with secondary school chaplains

Canon Maurice Smith and Susie Mapledoram met separately with the School Chaplains from Canon Slade CE High School and St James’ CE High School (Bolton St Catherine’s Academy (newly appointed) is scheduled for 19 April 2018). They were able to explain details of existing provision and potential for new discipleship pathway developments.

Diocesan Synod, Bishop’s Council and Bishop’s Senior Staff team

The development of the Plan was discussed at: the Bishop’s Council on 12 February 2018, Bishop’s Senior Staff Team on 13 February 2018; Diocesan Synod on 17 March 2018; and Diocesan Board of Education on 20 March 2018. It continues to receive widespread support from all senior bodies of the Diocese.

Implementation stage – stakeholder engagement

Following acceptance of the Plan, stakeholder engagement and communications is planned in detail for the remainder of the calendar year, and in proposed form for the five-year lifespan of the project.

Progress would be reported annually, in autumn, to Diocesan Synod (as part of the statutory Annual Report of the Director of Education). It would be reported tri-annually (termly) to Bishop’s Council and bi-annually to the meeting of the wider Bishop’s Staff Senior Team.

Progress and performance achievement would be reported to, and scrutinised by, the Fit for Mission Programme Board on a termly basis and by the Project Board on half-termly basis.

Area Dean, academy principal and primary headteacher representation on the Project Board would enable feedback to other academy principals and CE primary headteachers within their networks and there are existing, formal, bi-annual opportunities for this process to be led by the Diocesan Director of Education.

Area Dean and parish clergy representation on the Project Board similarly enables networked feedback to Area Dean and clergy colleagues which can be added-to and formalised if necessary.

Engagement with the Strategic Investment Team of the Church Commissioners would be a priority and we would, naturally, seek to exceed the Gold Standard set by the Transforming Wigan programme in which we are also engaged.

Pre Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Accomplished 2018 2019 Planned Comms and engagement

Diocesan Synod 2 1 x3 Bishop’s Council 4 1 x3 Programme Board 1 1 x6 Project Board 1 1 1 1 1 x6 Internal team 10 3 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2/month

Area Deans 3 3 Represented Primary school 3 3 on the HTs; CoGs; LCs Project Parish clergy 3 3 Board BFT chaplains 3 3

SDF consultant 5 2

Research and analysis

Visit 30 x CE 1 2 Primary schools Visit 15 x Toddler 4 1 groups Analyse existing 3 chaplaincy offer in Bishop Fraser Trust

Governance Establish DBE short-life sub- committee Establish Project 1 1 1 And bi- Board monthly

Recruitment and selection

Project Manager Deanery Children and Family Workers Early Years worker Administrator Chaplaincy Assistants

APPENDIX 13 - Schools’ context

A word about geography: taking advice, we have created a model based on the CE primary and secondary schools in Bolton which feed our three, majority CE governed, high schools/academies. The proposed Bishop Fraser Trust in Bolton, which will be made-up of these three high schools (ie Canon Slade; St James and Bolton St Catherine’s) will be a majority CE governed multi-academy trust serving about 3,500 secondary aged students. Canon Slade and St James have formed the Trust and it is anticipated that Bolton St Catherine’s will do so wef 01 May 2018. All three heads of school are newly appointed. Canon Slade and St James’ each employ a full-time chaplain; Bolton St Catherine’s employs a part-time chaplain.

This model is based on 30 CE primary schools and academies in the three deaneries (Appendix 2) in which the academies are located, serving 8,317 pupils. They provide, annually, almost one third (207) of the Year 7 places (637) in the three CE academies (Canon Slade; St James, Farnworth; Bolton St Catherine’s) which will form one multi-academy trust (Bishop Fraser MAT). The Diocese of Manchester is unusual in having 12 CE secondary schools and this model could be replicated in our nine other CE high schools/academies and related CE primary schools in other parts of the Diocese.

(Context note: our Diocesan primary schools are atypical of other dioceses: all are at least ‘one –form entry and half are 1.5 form entry or more: 10 are more than two form entry)

CE high schools in the Diocese of Manchester form a good cross-section of the socio-economic make-up of the Diocese. In this instance of the three-academy Bishop Fraser Trust: Canon Slade serves a more affluent than average, high tariff faith-based admission, population; St James has an average socio-economic make-up with a more inclusive admissions policy, but situated in Farnworth, a significantly deprived location; Bolton St Catherine’s is a newly built academy which almost exclusively serves a large, public/social housing estate (Breightmet) with no faith-based admission criteria.

Canon Slade’s and St James’ pupils perform well above the national average; both schools are judged outstanding by Ofsted and SIAMS. Bolton St Catherine’s is judged as ‘requires improvement’ by both inspection regimes; its pupils perform significantly below the national average. Canon Slade has a VI form, St James’ does not, and Bolton St Catherine’s has a very small VI form. This model, we believe, could be replicated and reproduced in single CE academies and related CE primary schools, or where we have ‘clutches’ of CE secondary academies, and the model could be resourced to scale in a future pipeline of SDF bids, learning from our early experiences.

APPENDIX 14 – Evidence Base

Evidence base of existing strengths:

Early Years - Investment in early years groups leads to discipleship growth: There is (rare) evidence, in other geographic areas of the Diocese, of intentionally missional toddlers groups leading to Church and discipleship growth: eg Pre School Praise, St Mary’s Prestwich; See and Know, St Andrew’s Radcliffe.

Primary years - Discipleship pathway development in CE primary schools: There is evidence in one, stunning exemplar, in this geographic area, of development of primary school discipleship pathway development at Bishop Bridgeman CE Primary School, which has been cited in the House of Lords by Bishop Stephen and whose pupil-based ethos group fronted the Church of England’s national Character Conference, annually fronts our aspiring Headteacher Christian Leadership programme, and annually hosts an Ethos Conference for four pupils and accompanying staff from 50 other schools. Other existing strengths, such as ‘worship groups’ and ‘faith groups’ are patchy, but there is enthusiasm.

Secondary years - There is little or no evidence (to our knowledge) of ‘safe-landing’, Year 6/7 transition work leading to a pathway of teenage discipleship supported by teams of consistent adults across the primary/secondary phases of CE schooling.

There is little or no evidence (to our knowledge) of the on-going, distinctively Christian development of a pathway of discipleship en route to a programme of young, distinctively Christian, leadership development.

Transition – We have not seen any evidence of focus on transition. Innovative elements of this plan focus on points of transition in children’s lives:

 out intentionally and distinctively Christian Toddler Groups will form direct links with the Early Years specialist in the local CE primary school; she will visit the Toddler Group to engage with children and families who attend; she will advise volunteer leaders of Toddler Groups regarding good early years practise; she will become a familiar link for toddlers and their families as they begin their statutory school pathway with an understanding of the Christian context of their backgrounds;

 in Year 6, Deanery Children and Family Workers will link with academy Chaplaincy Assistants to create the discipleship pathway into a secondary educational context. From March (and before this in terms of preference) each year, children will be aware of their high school destination and their path can be prepared by the DCFW and Chaplaincy Assistant to create safe-landing and discipleship activities with like-minded others immediately on entry into secondary education. Familiar adults that work across phases will secure this transition.

All staff – three DCFWs, three Chaplaincy assistants and the Early Years Worker - will work as part of a co-ordinated team under the leadership of the Project Manager, sharing information and successful practice. They will all be rooted in the Deaneries and parishes, creating the direct links into Church life.

National and international evidence base

Early Years and Children

There is an ever growing research base that can be used to support the proposals contained in the project. The first stages of The Christening Project, 2016, detail the expectation of families coming to the church for infant and child baptism not least how importantly they see the role of faith in life. The Toddler Project, 2016 commissioned to consider the role of toddler groups within CE parishes stated a number findings including the expectation of parents/carers that a church based group be intentionally Christian in nature and the importance of welcome and hospitality. Rooted in the Church, 2016 is a report commissioned by the Church of England Education Office exploring what helps young people stay rooted in their faith and church lives, finds that early nurture is critical to this. For example, nearly 50% of respondents had been admitted to Communion before Confirmation and felt that had played a significant role in rooting and nurturing their faith. The ComRes Mapping Survey of 2017 found that 40% of respondents who say they came to faith before the age of 5 is around 40% and 16% between 5 & 10. Those identifying as ‘practising Christians’ (those who say they attend church on a monthly basis, pray and read/listen to the Bible weekly) are more likely to say that they became a Christian at a later age – an average of 12 years old compared to 5 years old.

Youth

In 2010 the Church of England produced the Going for Growth agenda, stating the importance and duty of the church to ensure that every child and young person has ‘a life enhancing encounter with the Christian faith and the person of Jesus Christ’, however subsequent reports and writings around the Church’s engagement with children and young people, such as From Anecdote to Evidence and Rooted In The Church indicate that we still have some way to go. Education and Mission: Schools, Churches and Families (Genders 2018) indicates this clearly and reinforces the key relationship between church, family and school. Church of England high schools and academies have and are appointing chaplains and youth workers with the purpose of creating opportunity for young people to continue to explore their Christian faith. Rooted In The Church calls this ‘facilitating moments of connection’ which are rooted in relationship and based on gospel principles. Both From Anecdote to Evidence and the subsequent report, From Evidence to Action, it’s clear that there is a positive association between the appointment of someone who to work with young people and spiritual growth.

APPENDIX 15 – Comparator Bid to Plan cost differentials

Expenditure Bid 27 10 Plan 04 05 Commentary 17 18

Recruitment costs 5000 Newly identified cost

Management costs 26020 Now provided by the Diocese

Primary Workers/ 415665 Reduction to 41 weeks from 52 weeks Deanery Children and 343729 Term time only designation Family Workers (DCFWs)

DCFW resources 0 20816 Newly identified cost

£4000pa +2% inflation

Chaplaincy Assistants 0 224068 Newly identified cost

Chaplaincy Assistantsre- 0 18149 Newly identified cost sources £4000pa +2% inflation

Roundings 9

Totals 441685 611772

Difference 170087 Net additional bid costs

Total bid 881802 Rounding error £1

Total Plan 1051890

Diocesan contributions 150000 192288 Increased, specifically an additional 0.5 administrative role (£60,471); absorbed senior management costs (DDE).previously identified as £5000 + 2%pa’; accurate analysis of Children and Youth Officer advisory contributions (£105,796)