Welcome to Christingle 4 Schools

A better childhood. For every child. www.christingle.org/schools

Christingle is a wonderful candlelit celebration which places children at its heart and helps to raise over £1million each year for The Children’s Society’s work with vulnerable children.

Join us and find out more inside…..

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Involve the whole school• Why not celebrate Christingle as part of an assem-bly with the whole school? Children can be involved at all stages of the preparations, from fun fundrais-ing activities, to Christingle making or preparing and presenting talks, music or drama sketches.

In the classroom• You could explore some of the themes behind Christingle with children as part of a lesson. Christingle is a visually engaging way to teach children using the powerful symbolism of the Christingle itself. Christingle adapts well within the PHSE curriculum and for Religious Education and is particularly appropriate for Key Stages 1 and 2.

Out in the community• Why not get in touch with your local church to see if they are already holding a celebration? You could work together and involve the children by making Christingles, preparing an activity to show during the service, or talking about the children helped by The Children’s Society. Visit www.christingle.org/schools to search for a registered Christingle celebration in your area.

Organise a special event• You could choose to organise a special celebration or event at school and invite friends and families to attend in exchange for a small donation. Why not combine it with a carol concert, nativity or other Christmas event and sell tickets to help fundraise?

However you celebrate we’re sure that everyone will have fun and feel rewarded and inspired.

Planning your Christingle celebrations

Celebrating Christingle in aid of The Children’s Society is a wonderful way to bring your whole school together at Christmas time and help vulnerable children at the same time.

Your celebration can be held anywhere and take whatever form you want it to, depending on what would suit your school. Some suggestions are as follows:

5 top tips for celebrating in your school, involving pupils at every stage

Decide • where, when and how you’d like to celebrate based on how your school and your pupils would like to get involved.

Decide how you want to • fundraise – see pages 4 and 5 for information and ideas on fundraising for the work of The Children’s Society.

Plan• and countdown to your celebration – think about who needs to be involved, who is doing what and what you need to it do.

Order• your FREE Christingle materials – see page 11 for details of The Children’s Society’s free resources to order or download.

Advertise• your event, either using our free posters around the school or by giving out invitations to parents and families.

Planning your celebration | www.christingle.org/schools | 3

See pages 8-9 for more information on the resources available to bring Christingle to your classroom.

Also visit www.christingle.org/schools for a wealth of other engaging activity ideas and downloadable resources.

Teaching the symbolism of the Christingle The Christingle itself is a great way to teach children about key messages of the Christian faith and also link into other religious celebrations such as Diwali and Hanukkah. The Christingle is made up of the following elements:

A lighted candle• - symbolising Jesus, the Light of the World

An orange• - representing the world in which we live

The red ribbon or tape• - indicating the love of God and blood of Christ

Four cocktail sticks bearing dried fruit or sweets• - symbols of God’s creation and the four seasons / fruits of the earth.

Christingle and the curriculum

The Children’s Society’s Christingle resources can support your learning objectives in the following areas… Learning about religion: helping children explore and communicate religious stories, symbolism, celebrations and worship. Learning from religion: helping children explore religious experiences and concepts, respond imaginatively, reflectanddiscussideas.

What I can do….‘I can recognise the symbols

represented by a Christingle.’

‘I can say what Christingle symbols stand for’

‘I can explain what a lit candle symbolises for Christians and

what it symbolises for me.’

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Exploring the work of The Children’s Society

By joining together, fundraising and sharing the work of The Children’s Society, we can make a realdifferencetochildren’slives.

We’ve got some great resources to help you explore some of the issues faced by the children we support with your pupils. These include:

Robbie’s case study - On the next page, you will findastoryboardcasestudyaboutRobbieand how The Children’s Society helped him. Why not print this out and discuss some of the issues raised within it?

Robbie’s DVD–Watchthefilmwithyourpupils and talk about how you can fundraise to help children such as Robbie.

My Life 4 Schools - My Life is The Children’s Society’s FREE Citizenship and PSHE teaching resource for teachers of children aged 7 to 11. Visit www.mylife4schools.org.uktofind the following resources to engage children and young people with the issues of running away:

Lesson plans and activity sheets for teachers •and children

Additional online storybooks and activity •sheets on other issues

Visit www.childrenssociety.org.uk tofinddetails of our network of projects and children’s centres around the country. Is there one near you? What do they do to help children and young people in your community? See pages 6 and 7 for fundraising ideas.

Christingle helps your children help other children By bringing The Children’s Society into your school and raising vital funds through Christingle, together we can makearealdifference.

£20 could provide a cold and hungry young runaway with a meal, a hot shower and a listening ear.

£95 could pay for four mediation sessions between a child and their parents to stop the arguments that are making life at home unbearable.

Each year Christingle celebrations around the country raise over £1million for The Children’s Society’s work with vulnerable children and young people. Through Christingle, we can help children like Robbie who was so unhappy at home, he ran away to a lonely and dangerous existence on the streets. Robbie was just 12 years old.

Covering the curriculumTalking about the work of The Children’s Society links to the following areas of the curriculum: Citizenship and PSHE teaching.

What I can do….‘I can help other children by

fundraising for The Children’s Society.’

‘I understand that all people have basic needs to live e.g. food & shelter.’

The Children’s Society | www.christingle.org/schools | 510 Christingle order line 0845 600 8585 The Children’s Society www.christingle.org 11

Sec

tio

n 2

– T

he

Ch

ildre

n’s

So

ciet

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2

Preventing bullying

and anti-social behaviour

In Rochdale our Working with

Families team provides services

to help prevent anti-social behaviour

– ranging from parenting courses to one-

to-one family support. Our Anti Bullying

Project team also trains adults to help

prevent bullying and encourages

children to

speak out.

Look how your money could help£10 could provide a homeless

child on the streets with basic

provisions including warm clothing,

toiletries and a blanket.

£20 could provide a cold and

hungry young runaway with a meal,

a hot shower and a listening ear.

£100 could pay for a year’s

travel costs so that a project worker

can visit and befriend a disabled child.

£125 could pay for a grant to

a destitute new mother – to provide

essential items for her baby.

Lighting up children’s lives all over the UK

Improving childhood

for disadvantaged children and young people

We’ve joined forces with the Diocese

of London – supporting children and

young people by involving them in the

planning of community projects. This

gives them a voice and allows them to

take positive roles in the church

and community.

Tackling destitution

in the West Midlands

This project is dedicated to helping

destitute children and families in the

most extreme circumstances. This means

providing them with access to legal advice,

crisis grants and essential supplies. What’s

more, we share our expertise in the

local area to advocate for these

children and ensure that

they are able to access

basics like food, warm

clothes and nappies

for babies.

Sectio

n 2 – Th

e Ch

ildren

’s So

ciety

2

Helping young runaways is just part of what The Children’s Society does.

Each little Christingle candle on this map represents one of our projects,

children’s centres or an area of work that we’re currently supporting.

The white candles also show places where we’re currently campaigning

– to bring about positive changes to children’s lives.

We’ve highlighted just three of our projects here, but each and

every one of them needs more funding.

I felt numb. Things got bad at school.

I didn’t care. It wasn’t a surprise when I was suspended.

Dad couldn’t cope.

He’d drink all the time and cry.

I was really happy until I was 12.

Then Mum died and things changed.

by Robbie, aged 12.

Mystory

My project worker talked to my school and my Dad. I think my Dad realises now that it wasn’t just him who missed Mum. I know I can never bring Mum back, but things are getting better now.

Social Services got in touch with The Children’s Society and slowly, really slowly, I started to talk about all the stuff inside me.

This story has been adapted from a real life case study.

Right now, The Children’s Society has 10 programmes across the country that help young runaways. One of our key aims is to improve how the police and local authorities respond to vulnerable children.

I started shoplifting. Social Services and my

Dad were called in.

It was hard seeing him again. I didn’t know how to talk to him.

Dad went mad.

He shouted a lot and threatened

to throw me out. So I ran

away.

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Therearemanydifferentwaysforyourchildrenandschool to fundraise for The Children’s Society through Christingle. Here are some fun and engaging suggestions for children, classes and schools.

Child ChampionsIdeas for fundraising by individual children:

Collection candles -• Hand out our fun collection candles to children in advance. How much can each child collect in their candle?

Christingle countdown -• Give each child a Christingle countdown (downloadable online at www.christingle.org/schools or as a tear out resource on page 24 of the Create-a-Christingle magazine). Start your fundraising in the 4 weeks leading up to your celebration.

Colour-a-Christingle - • Print or photocopy our Colour-a-Christingle sheet for each child to colour in as they reach their fundraising targets. Use the one on page 21 of the Create-a-Christingle magazine or download the generic version from the website and create your own one with lower targets.

If you feel it’s appropriate you could agree a small target for each child, or pair of children to raise between them.

£3 will buy a hot tasty meal for a young runaway. Ifacollectioncandleisfilledwith5ps,thenitwould contain £6 – enough to buy 2 meals!

Class Challenges Ideas for fundraising by classes together:

Sponsored Christingle making• - Why not spread the Christingle tingle and make Christingles for the class, school, local church or other community places such as old people’s homes. Sponsorship forms are available to order or download from The Children’s Society.

Bake some love• - The Children’s Society can provide you with recipes for heart shaped biscuits (to tie in with the theme of the red ribbon and the love of God) and also an orange syrup cake. The children could make their goodies and the class could sell them in school at a Christingle bake sale.

Possible Class Targets£15 could pay for essentials like food, soap, toothbrush and paste and shampoo to restore hope and dignity to young runaways who are living rough.

£25 could provide a young runaway with the support of a volunteer mentor for one month, providing fun activitiesandtimewithsomeonetheycanconfidein.

£95 could pay for four mediation sessions between a child and their parents to stop the arguments that are making life at home unbearable.

Fundraising for The Children’s Society

Fundraising ideas | www.christingle.org/schools | 7

Super Schools Ideas for fundraising for the whole school:

Collect coppers (inter-class competition) -• Ask every class to ‘collect coppers’ for 2 weeks. At the end of the time, each class places all their coppers onthefloorintheshapeofacircle,representingthe Christingle orange / the world. The winner is the class with the largest circle.

Christingle dress down or dress up -• Why not have a dress down day for Christingle and ask the children to bring in a donation so they don’t have to wear school uniform. Alternatively, why not have a Christingle themed fancy dress day i.e. around one of the Christingle themes (love, world, gifts, seasons, light).

Christingle celebration -• One of the best ways to raise money is to celebrate Christingle as a school and invite family and friends to come along to join you. You could charge them a small donation to attend or hand out collection envelopes at the event to encourage Gift aided donations.

Possible School Targets£125 could pay for one of The Children’s Society’s mentors to have a day out with their mentee where they can get to know each other and build trust.

£180 could pay for a trained worker to conduct our ‘Talk before you walk’ programme in two schools to prevent students from running away.

The Christingle TinglemeterWhy not create a large thermometer style gauge to hang up in the class room or school hall to show how your fundraising is going and create a sense of excitement. It could even be in the shape of a Christingle!

Visit www.christingle.org/schools or call 0845 600 8585tofindoutaboutorderingor downloading all of the resources mentioned.

Covering the curriculum

What I can do…

Fundraising for The Children’s Society links to the following areas of the curriculum: Maths, PSHE and citizenship teaching

‘I can add two-digit numbers, choosinganefficientmethod.’

‘I understand what each digit in a three digit number is worth and can

explain how I know.’

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The following teaching unit outline has kindly been shared with us by Cathy Davie, Primary RE Adviser for Southwark Diocesan Board of Education. It is an example of how Christingle can be adapted at Christmas time in the classroom for Key Stage 1 pupils. Use it as a stand alone resource or mix with some of the other activity resources available online at www.christingle.org/schools

IntroductionThe unit aims to teach about the symbolism of light in Christingle and Christmas celebrations. Pupils learn about the symbolism of lighting candles and what this means within a Christingle celebration.

Vocabulary taughtSymbols, sign, Christingle, celebration, Christ, calendar, charity, fundraising.

Pupils need some prior knowledge of the following concepts: Christmas, Christian, light.

AT1 Learning ObjectivesTo learn the symbolism of the Christingle and what Christingle means to Christians.

To learn that the candle in Christingle represents Jesus as the light of the world.

To know that light is a symbol of goodness.

To know that Christmas is a celebration of Jesus’ birth.

TorecalltheChristmasstoryandreflectonthe importance of light in it.

AT2 Learning ObjectivesToreflectonwhatthesymbolismoftheChristinglemeans to me and other people.

Toreflectonwhatlightsymbolisesforme.

ToreflectonhowTheChildren’sSociety shines a light for other children.

Toreflectontheimportanceoflightinthe Christingle story.

Toreflectontheimportanceofcandlesat Christmas time.

Forms of ExpressionLevel 1: I can recognise the symbols represented by a Christingle.

Level 2: I can say what Christingle symbols stand for.

Level 3: I can use religious words to describe the meaning of the symbols.

Meaning, Purpose and

Christingle in the classroom

Visit www.christingle.org/schools for six assembly plans focussing on Christingle and the theme of shining light into darkness. They include activities, song suggestions, talk ideas and much more.

Assembly Plans

Christingle in the classroom | www.christingle.org/schools | 9

Meaning, Purpose and Truth AT2 Values and CommitmentLevel 1:IcantalkaboutwhatIfindinteresting or puzzling about the Christingle.

Level 2: I can think of a question I or someone else might have about one of the symbols.

Level 3: I can explain what the Christingle symbols mean to me personally and compare my thoughts with other people’s.

AssessmentThe I Can statements above are based on the eight level scale of Non Statutory National Framework for Religious Education. They can be used by teachers to help make a summative assessment of the level pupils are working at.

Suggested Teaching and Learning Activities- Discuss what symbols are and where they can be found in everyday life.

- Distinguish between a sign in everyday life that directs us to something and a symbol that shows us something that can be hidden and personal.

- Talk about what it means to shine like a light.

- Recall / retell the Christmas story and thought shower ways in which light is part of it: the appearance of the angels, the star as the guiding light.

- Introduce the Christingle and teach its symbolism (see pages 2 & 3 and the Resources section on this page for further support).

- Talk about how, for Christians, Jesus Christ is the light of the world. Consider what this means to Christians. It symbolises his presence and helps people think about Jesus.

- Talk about what a charity is, what fundraising is and what The Children’s Society does (see the Resources section for further support). How does The Children’s Society ‘shine a light into darkness’?

ResourcesVisit www.christingle.org/schools for a wide range of resources for working with children and young people and exploring the themes of Christingle including:

- Information on the origins of Christingle

- OurshortonlinefilmonhowtomakeaChristingle and its symbolism

- Our DVD on the work of The Children’s Society and how the money raised through Christingle makes a differencetootherchildren’slives

- Arts & crafts, drama, music, games and a wealth of other activity ideas.

Evaluation & Cross-Curricular LinksScience: Light and dark PSHE: Road safety and the use of signs Maths: Advent, calendar

Widening the ScopeYou could introduce a stronger Christmas angle by introducing concepts connected with Advent:- Introduce a class Advent calendar

- And explain how the opening of the windows (letting light in) symbolises Christians preparing to celebrate Jesus’ birthday

- Make an Advent ring with the class with a circle of red candles and the white one in the centre symbolising Jesus the Light of the World

- Explainthesymbolismandreflect on what lighting candles means to pupils personally and whether they associate candles with Christmas.

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All designs should be A4 in size•

We would ask that a blank space of about •3-4 inches deep is left at the bottom of the poster to allow for those printing it to write their own Christingle message

Designs should take into account that the poster •will be available to download / print from the website only

All entries should be scanned and emailed to •christingle@childrenssociety.org.uk

Please keep original artwork safe. We will need •this for the winning poster design

The deadline for entries is 10th February•

When submitting entries, please provide the •following details:

- Name and age - School name and address - Contact teacher name, email address and telephone number

Selected entries will be published on the Christingle website: www.christingle.org/schools and entrants willbenotifiedoftheresultinFebruaryoncetheChristingle season has ended.

Good luck!

Create-a-Christingle Poster Competition

Please read the following terms and conditions before submitting your entry.

Terms and Conditions1. Children entering must not be over the age of 12 years old. 2. All entries must be an original design drawn by a child. 3. The competition will bejudgedbyarepresentativeofTheChildren’sSocietyaschosenbyTheChildren’sSocietyandtheirdecisionisfinal.4.Uponsubmittinganentry, it is done so on the understanding that The Children’s Society will be able to use the design as part of their Christingle resources and materials, whether online or printed and will have control over the design. 5. Entries must be submitted by 10th February.

This year we are running a poster competition for schools to engage their pupils with Christingle. The winning poster will be displayed on our website and worked up in to a poster which will then become part of our practical downloadable resources for next year’s appeal.

We do hope your pupils will get creative and send us their designs. Here are the guidelines for the posters:

Everyone’s welcome to celebrate Christingle with us!Help raise vital funds for The Children’s Society.For further information, please call: 0845 300 1128Charity Registration No. 221124 | Christingle originated in the Moravian Church in 1747 Photograph © Anthony Wallace | 7644 | X1610

A better childhood. For every child.www.christingle.org

FREE resources for your Christingle celebration

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Below is an outline of some of the FREE materials you can order or download to support your celebration

Supporter number Title

Forename Surname

School name

School address

Postcode

Daytime telephone number (in case of queries) [T]

It really helps The Children’s Society if we can keep you informed about our exciting campaigns, activities and fundraising. Please tick if you would prefer us not to

contact you by post [SW] or phone [ST].

Please provide your email address if you are happy for The Children’s Society to keep you informed by email about our exciting campaigns, activities and fundraising.

Email [E]

Credit/Debit card payments

Please debit my card with £ Card type: Visa MasterCard Maestro CAF

Name on card

Card no.

Start date / Expiry date / Issue no (debit cards only)

Signature

Paying in your donations for ChristinglePlease complete the correct section of the form below in block capitals and send it to:Christingle Appeal, The Children’s Society, Edward Rudolf House, Margery Street, London WC1X 0JL

XTC

Cheque paymentsI enclose a cheque/PO/CAF made payable to The Children’s Society for £

[EN]

Create-a-Christingle magazine -• contains a range of tear out activity sheets and useful resourcesRed tape and wax candles -• for ChristinglesPosters -• to advertise your ChristingleSponsor forms and stickers -• to help engage children with fundraising activitiesCollectioncandleswithflamelids-• popular containers which are fun for children to use to collectDVD and scripts -• Ashortfilmtohelpengage children with the work of The Children’s Society, plus 2 short scripts to read out about our workChristingle song CD -• ‘Hope of Heaven’ plus two other festive songs by Out of the Ark Music

Visit www.christingle.org/schools or call 0845 600 8585 to order or download.You’llalsofindawealth of additional downloadable activity ideas online including drama, music and curriculum linked activities.

Looking for alternatives to wax candles and oranges?Visit www.christingle.org/schoolstofind out more about glow candles and our colourful Christingle drip shields.

The Children’s Society wants to create a society where children can be children, childhood is respected and children are valued for who they are. We are resolute in our commitment to the most disadvantaged and those at risk. We challenge negative public attitudes towards children and are positive about what young people can achieve. Our approach is driven by our Christian values and by the voices of children and young people, who are at the heart of all we do.

visit www.christingle.org/schoolscall 0845 600 8585email christingle@childrenssociety.org.uk

The Children’s Society Edward Rudolf House Margery Street London WC1X 0JL

Charity Registration No. 221124 | Christingle originated in the Moravian Church in 1747 Photographs posed by models © Laurence Dutton | © Anthony Wallace | © Jeremy Enness

Thank youfor celebrating Christingle with The Children’s Society. Together we can shine a light into the darkness for thousands of children up and down the country who really need our help.

A better childhood. For every child. www.christingle.org/schools