children and young people | St Mary's Hfordbury

For our younger members

Children are never too young to come to church. You and your children are very welcome at St Mary’s. We believe that children are equal members of any church congregation. We value greatly their contribution to worship and believe we can learn much from their example.

All age services

These take place on the second Sunday of each month and are a more family friendly style of worship.

Where to sit in church:

Do sit anywhere you are comfortable. Toilets are located at the back of the church, through the door to the Brace Room. The Brace Room is also open during services.

There is a Children's Corner at the back which is equipped with toys, books, craft materials and a space to call their own. Here, even if they are occupied with PlayDoh or their favourite book, children absorb the atmosphere of worship.

St Andrew's youth groups

More information about:

TMM (for anyone in school years Y6-9) here

Shake after School club here

Schools

We have strong links with two local schools: St Joseph in the Park and Hertingfordbury Cowper. Both schools hold their Easter, Christmas, Harvest and end of year services at the church. Alan conducts assemblies twice a week at Hertingfordbury Cowper (a Church of England school).

For those parents who would value the Christian ethos of Hertingfordbury Cowper, church attendance is one of the admission criteria for the school (please see the school website for fuller details). While we appreciate that with busy lives it is not always possible to attend, we would encourage families to come as regularly as they can. It would also help the clergy if families wishing to apply for a place at the school keep their own register of church attendance and provide a letter outlining their reasons for wanting a faith-based school.

Worship with Young Children

We welcome family members of all ages to worship at St Mary's. The services which are best suited to younger children are Young Church (Sunday School) for 4- to 11-year-olds (1st Sunday of the month) and the shorter All-Age service (2nd Sunday of the month) in which children are encouraged to participate fully.

Messy Church (Craft, food, games, stories, fun) takes place monthly at St Andrew's School, Calton Avenue, 3-4.30 pm. Next sessions: 10 March, 31 March (Mothering Sunday), 21 April (Easter), 12 May, 9 June, 14 July, 11 August, 8 September, 13 October, 3 November, 8 December. Contact Tracy: standrewstracy@gmail.com

Young People

We encourage our young people to join in with youth groups at our sister church St Andrew’s in Hertford - they are great fun and offer a safe place to make new friends or meet up with old ones:-

TMM (Today Monday and More) - for young people in school years 6 upwards:

1st & 3rd Sunday - 6-7pm, Bible study group.
2nd & 4th Sunday - 6-7.30pm, theological/moral challenges involving games, crafts and discussion with hot chocolate and scrummy treats.
5th Sunday - social night, on or off-site.
(check TMM youth group Facebook page for changes)

Shake - a chance for young people of secondary school age to hang out with friends, chat, drink milkshake, have snacks and play games or table tennis/pool/table football:
Wednesdays during term time - 3.30-5.30pm (£1 per week)

Please see the St Andrew’s website for details, or contact Rachel Stewart - tel. 01992 582726