Hand to Mouth
Hand to Mouth in Primary Schoools
Hand to Mouth work in schools predominantly in West Yorkshire and Lancashire.
Much of our work is part of an HTM RE day, where collective worship may begin the day, with our popular puppet tales. Our puppets have been telling Bible stories now for over 20 years! We then go on to lead lessons and Godly Play, allowing the children the opportunity to think about world issues and the life they lead.
An Amazing Journey is almost always included, and this is where our volunteers play a huge part!
Volunteers are recruited from the locality of the schools, usually on recommendation of local churches, or by word of mouth.
All are DBS checked either by their church or by ourselves, and they need to take photo ID as well as their DBS certificate, into the school with them.
They get a friendly call or email a week or two before we are working in school, asking if they are available to help on this occasion, and of course they may be pre booked, but are happy to help another time.
Once in school, volunteers take 2 children around the journey, reading instructions for them, or generally helping with the simple tasks.
Volunteers not only help the children understand the focus, but also benefit from volunteering themselves, as they engage in great conversations with children, often from backgrounds different to their own.
One child after saying he thought there would be a cross and lights and a bible and Jesus in the journey, said ‘there wasn’t a cross, or a bible or lights, but Jesus walked all the way round with me!’
Another boy said ‘I’m a Muslim, but I like Jesus because I think he was a prophet and a good man. You believe he was God.’ One volunteer stresses how helping us has helped her own mental health after struggling with changes in her life.
Young children who struggle with writing, discover prayers on jenga blocks.
Anyone wanting to volunteer should contact our office on office@handtomouth.org.uk
