Chris Kidd

• 25 - The average number of pupils per teacher in primary education worldwide, 2005
• 45 - The average number of pupils per teacher in primary education in sub-Saharan Africa, 2005.
• 83 - The average number of pupils per teacher in primary education in Afghanistan, 2005.

If it were not for hope, the heart would break.

Research has shown that well designed programmes that promote social and emotional skills have shown to have a positive impact on pupil’s attitudes and behaviour (Weare and Gray, 2003; Zins et al., 2004) For example:

• Pupils have higher self esteem and confidence
• Pupils are happier and get on better with each other
• Pupils are more engaged in learning so fewer disengage with school
• Quieter pupils become more assertive and confident

• There is better behaviour in the classroom and improved attendance
• There is less bullying
• There are lower rates of truancy, offending and drug misuse

SEAL aims to develop five main areas; self-awareness; empathy; social skills;
motivation and managing feelings.

Children Matter have highlighted the 'My First Message' Bible by Eugene Peterson:

it's brilliant!

the pages pictures and graphics are lush, the text is easy to read with a flowing style (as you expect from the message). no only that but thought prompting questions are found though out as well as suggested prayers and activities to coincide with the events.

basicly i highly recomend it since it combines everything that children need and enjoy.

One of the biggest challenges to any ancient faith is to adapt to modern circumstances and then, as circumstances change, to adapt again. American religious institutions are, as a rule, doing a poor job of listening to and learning from this millennial generation.

Valentine sweethearts can tie the knot for free at a Chelmsford church. Romantic Rev Tim Ball, vicar of Holy Trinity Springfield, believes that marriage is best. So he’s waiving the cost of the service, the choir, the organist, the verger and the heating.
And the good news is that the offer will be available throughout the year.
“My church believes that marriage is best for couples, for children and for the community,” says big-hearted Tim.
“So we have put our money where our mouth is. We will pay all the costs of the service in the church. We are offering a free marriage service to parishioners because Holy Trinity is a good place to celebrate love and commitment.”

Mister Nifty pointed out Grunge Textures which is a get site to get free backgrounds for your presentations. On top of that they are high enough quality to be useful for print design as well. As they say on their site:

We have a growing collection of quality images ready for you to download including Aircraft Aluminum, Asphalt Textures, Brick Textures, Concrete Textures, Drains, Vents, & Grates, Grafetti & Vandalism Textures, Metal Textures, Mud, Clay & Earth, Old Machinery, Paper & Cardboard Textures, Peeling Paint Textures, Rusted Metal Textures, Spills & Splatter Textures, Stone Textures, Trash & Garbage Textures, Wood Textures, and other Distressed Surfaces.

How inappropriate is modern music? Church Relevance have highlighted some statistics, where researchers analaysed Billboard magazine’s top 279 most popular songs of 2005 to determine what percentage of songs referenced tobacco, alcohol, and drug use. Here are some highlights from their findings:

• 1 in 3 songs portray substance use (33.3%)

This includes:

• 4 in 5 rap songs (77%)
• 1 in 3 country songs (36%)
• 1 in 5 R&B/hip-hop songs (20%)
• 1 in 7 rock songs (14%)
• 1 in 10 pop songs (9%)

Only 1 in 25 songs have anti-use messages (4%)

The average teenager is exposed daily to approximately 84 references to explicit substance use in popular songs, although this exposure varies widely by musical genre. Although the study did not analyze the frequency of sex and violence in popular music, 46% of substance use references were associated with sex, and 29% were associated with violence.

It is worrying that the average teenager hears 588 messages a week about substance use compared to one message a week from the youth group. A youth leader better make his message count. [via Church Relevance]

Some of the most popular textonyms show intriguing links between the originally intended word and the one the predictive text throws up -- "eat" becomes "fat" and "kiss" becomes "lips", "home" is "good" and the vodka brand "Smirnoff" becomes "poison".

Greg Gilbert is continuing his series on church and music, this time including some challenging questions:

• Do you get bored when someone reads a longish passage of Scripture in your church? Do you start wishing they’d get on with the music?
• Do you need music playing in the background for the reading of Scripture to affect your emotions?
• Does a prayer seem too “plain” or “stark” to you if it doesn’t have music playing behind it?
• Do you feel depressed a few weeks after a worship conference because you haven’t felt close to God in a long time?
• Do you desperately look forward to the next conference you’re going to attend because you know that, finally, you’ll be able to feel close to God again?
• If you’re in a big church with great music, are you able to worship when you visit your parents’ small rural church?
• Do you ever feel worshipful in the middle of the week, at work, at school, etc. just because of thinking about God and his grace? Or does that only happen when the music’s playing?
• Do you tend to feel closer to God when you’re alone with your iPOD than you do when you’re gathered with God’s people in your church?
• Do you feel like you just can’t connect with other believers who haven’t had the same “worship experiences” that you have? Can you only connect with other believers who “know what it feels like to really worship?”
• Is your sense of spiritual well-being based more on feeling close to God, or knowing that you are close to God because of Jesus Christ?