Bible Brainiacs

Richard's Club is no more! But it's been rebranded as the Bible Brainiacs and is going from strength to stregnth. On monday we had a record number of 67 children in. I don't know why they come, but they do. On Friday we took 23 of them to Mussleburgh on a trip out to join up with all the other Scripture Union groups in East Lothian. Friday was also the Primary 4's (8-9 year olds) assembly. I have been working with 3 classes on the theme of friendship and playground games.

One did a clappy rhyme song that we made up. It took me a couple of weeks to realise that one of the lads was Polish and didn't speak English. never mind he enjoyed it anyway. The other did a piece of drama based on a skipping game. Remember I have not done drama with P4's and I quickly realised that they are hard work. To add to the pressure I am a youth worker who really is only interested in the process, not the product. Try telling that to a primary school teacher. As teachers go they are the most attentive to detail. Several have confessed to me that they are control freaks and actually malfunction like a robot if they don't have control. Everything has to be spot on and word perfect. What's more, the currency between themselves is 'who has the best control method' (the strap worked ok at my school but probably more for the gratification of the head). It's quite oppressive but well meaning. If you go into a primary school teachers house, everything has a label on it...there are rotas on the walls...charts where you get stars for eating your greens...and everything is boxed in a plastic storage box. It's a strange partnership and its tempting to wind them up....although they do that to themselves. It works well though because I don't really have any control over the little urchins whereas the teacher just needs to clap her hands and they stop what they are doing. There's only one male teacher in the school of 850 kids, so I don't know if this is a woman thing, but I suspect it is. By the end of it i think we all learnt to appreciate our strengths and compliment our practicce. On top of that they slipped in the fact that the children's parents were invited to see it. No pressure?

My get out of jail free card...should all my other stuff collapse, was a video about toilet tig. It's apopular game where you are tigged and can only be freed by being flushed by a pal. Toilet Tig Terror was about the school being infested by zombies going over board playing toilet tig and everyone...including the head, janitor, receptionists and dinner ladies got roped in. My mentor for videoing is DaveTew who always makes it fun and gets everyone he can involved. Look at his camp videos if you've not already. The video went really well and through it a I got speaking to several parents who asked more about what I do. Friday night I was in need of a drink...but I am on a course of antibiotics because i have got a smelly sore infected finger. That drink will have to wait. As for the finger...yellow puss has been oozing out of it for 3 weeks now, so I finally gave in and got some pills to sort it out.