Thursday (31st January) will see the last prayer meeting of the month, with the whole church encouraged to pray and fast on this day to conclude the first month of prayer and fasting of 2013.
Prayer is not a New Year’s resolution which lasts for only one month, however. Prayer is ongoing in our life with God. We will continue to pray for what Mark jokingly calls the ‘Ten Commandments’ (the list of things we have been focussing our prayers on during January), but we will also focus on other aspects throughout each month of the year.
In February, we will be praying particularly for the local schools in our area, praying that:
• God will bless and encourage Christian teachers
• Through these teachers, the school will have some Christian input
• Christian organisations and churches will be allowed to work in schools
• That children and teachers will come under the influence of the Holy Spirit
• That seeds will be planted in children’s and young people’s lives that will
result in them coming to know Jesus as their Saviour.
• That God will bless and protect the children.
There are 4 main schools in the area:
* Goldthorpe Primary School
* Sacred Heart Roman Catholic School
* Highgate Primary School
* Dearne ALC (Advanced Learning Centre)
Some further information about Dearne ALC from their website is given below:
The Dearne ALC opened its doors to 1100 students in January 2011, replacing the Dearne High as part of the Building Schools for the Future programme. The new secondary school is part of the regeneration project in the village that we have been praying for.
The school motto ‘Aspiration, Ambition and Achievement’ embodies everything the school stands for as a learning community. “Our aim is to continually develop new ways of learning and teaching that respond to the varying needs of our students.”
The school is situated on the fringe of Goldthorpe. The number of students eligible for free school meals is well above average as are the number of students with a statement of special educational needs. The building has been designed to meet the full needs of our community. Service provision for students and their families and additional learning support is located onsite alongside a broad range of community and extracurricular resources. Adult learning and high quality community use facilities are a key element of the school and the community we serve is positively engaged to make use of these every day.
The school achieved the National Challenge floor target of 30% 5+ A*-C including English and maths for the first time in 2009, an increase of 8% on the previous year. Results in 5+ A*-C English and maths have increased by 2.4% from 2009 to 2011. In 2011, 32% of students achieved 5+ A*-C including English and maths.