Ness Everitt has recently been appointed as the new Chaplain at Dyson Perrins CE Secondary School in Malvern. Alongside this, the parish of Malvern Link with Cowleigh applied for a grant from the Healthier Churches Fund, giving Ness a few more hours and enabling her to also work with two local Primary Schools and help connect the parish and the schools.
Ness spends four hours each day at Dyson Perrins, providing pastoral support for the children and staff and ensuring the Christian ethos is part of the everyday language of the school with materials for tutor groups and accessible worship during the week. She also then spends time at Northleigh and St Matthias CE Primary Schools, helping to deliver assemblies and running an after-school club.
She said: “It is a huge age range to cover – often all in one day – but it’s really enjoyable! One of my key roles at Dyson Perrins has been relationship building and opening the chapel to provide a safe space for the students. They can come into the chapel at lunchtimes and just be themselves. We play Uno and Dobble, or sometimes just sit quietly. It gives me the chance build and establish relationships with the students, showing Christ in what I do and say, taking time to listen providing a safe, non-judgmental, inclusive space. We have also been exploring prayer through coloured ribbon or writing short prayers for our prayer tree. I’m delighted by how the young people have developed – they are now volunteering to get involved in the services in school.”
Ness also helps to connect the schools with the church and the wider community. She is overseeing the mentoring programme within the school and is looking for volunteers. After half term there will be morning prayer each Monday throughout Lent for all students, staff, parents and Governors, and after-school clubs will start, using 10:10 resources. A member of the local church community is making an altar frontal for the secondary school chapel and students in the sewing club within the school have made a banner for the chapel showing how the whole community is involved
“We also have a group of students from Dyson Perrins going to visit the Community Fridge in St Matthias Church following talks as part of the RE curriculum, so the links are happening both ways,” said Ness. “I hope that I can provide a bridge linking the church, schools and the wider community.”
Ness is herself a member of St Peter’s Church in the Malvern Link with Cowleigh parish. Her background is in running toddler groups and parenting classes as well as spending 15 years as a counsellor.
“It is amazing the doors that God opens! I stepped out of my comfort zone to apply for this role, but trusted God and felt that it was the right place for me to be. This is an amazing, diverse role. It gives me the chance to get to know students across three schools, to be with them, listen to them and talk with them about God. I’m thrilled to be able to be in a role that enables me to be real with my faith and I am excited to see how God will use me!”
Do pray for Ness as she supports the young people of Malvern.
