When the school bell rings to signal the end of the day, students going out from Thomas More School are greeted by uniformed volunteers. The latter walk the students to the bus stop and ride with them to Croydon. These they all do to make sure that kids are safe.

They are what you call School Pastors.

Other than making sure that students have reached their homes safe and sound, School Pastors also provide mentoring support to individual students.

“I am really excited about the mentoring aspect of the scheme - it's great to have the opportunity to work with a specific group of kids, week in, week out,” says Carolan Casey, a School Pastor.

“Three of us are inside mentoring children for an hour while the rest of us are out on patrol. The kids have been identified by the school - we believe they have chosen children they think might be slipping through the cracks of their own pastoral care system. The kids seem to be more than happy to stick around after school for an hour which I found surprising - I don't think I'd have been up for it when I was at school!” she wrote in Facebook.

School Pastors also patrol the streets and shops. They clear the pavements, talk with people, and help them if they need one. Their presence aims to make everybody feel safe and is not threatened which makes it pretty the same with the project Street Pastors.

The brainchild behind this initiative is Rev Les Isaacs, director of the Ascension Trust. He is the same man behind Street Pastors. The latter is composed of Christian volunteers who help maintain peace and order and care for people in practical ways.

Vital to the operation of School Pastors is their link with local high schools, the police, and local churches.  In fact, in Croydon, the initiative is being supported by local police by providing funds.

Leading this initiative are teams from Purley who work on Mondays and has partnered with Thomas More School.

“We are currently patrolling on Mondays, from 3 - 5:30 pm. That's inclusive of briefing/debriefing time. In reality we patrol for 60 - 90 minutes, depending on when the kids have dispersed,” wrote Carolan Casey.

The School Pastors in Central Croydon, on the other hand, was launched in May 2010. It has partnered with St Andrews High School. Many of the new School Pastors in Central Croydon are from New Life including the members of their Jam Schools Team.

The goal for Croydon is to build a network across the Borough’s afterschool hotspots. So if anyone is interested in joining the team, one needs to be trained. The training is neither as expensive nor as exhaustive as for Street Pastors.

Other than the training, commitment and genuine love for young people are on the top of the list of qualifications. School Pastors work three hours once or twice a week. As to age, the youngest School Pastor at the moment has just graduated from university and the oldest receives pension.

School Pastors hopefuls need a reference from their church leaders and an enhanced CRB disclosure.

Other ways of helping this initiative is to be a School Pastor prayer partner.

For more information, contact Pam Bryan on 020 8668 0422 or email pam.bryan@purleybaptist.org

Sources:

http://www.streetpastors.co.uk

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=113255214808

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=5952895473&topic=11038

http://www.croydonchurch.org.uk/

http://dev.newlifecroydon.co.uk/

http://www.purleymail.com/

http://www.sttoms.co.uk/

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/

http://dev.newlifecroydon.co.uk/

Written by :

John David O Moncada