Space for reflection in yurt pitched in school

Students at York’s Bootham School were given space and a chance to reflect as its RE teaching department was transformed into a reflective space for students.

They were able to gather in an indoor yurt, which featured a calming bubble tube as a focus for meditation, as the school marked National Quaker Week.

Bootham’s head of religious education, Tracy Copestake, said the yurt would give students at the school a chance to think about what was going on in other parts of the world. The yurt featured a world map where prayers and thoughts could be posted by students in recognition of people in areas of crisis or conflict in places across the globe.

She said yesterday: “Students will have the opportunity to reflect on the Quaker teachings which challenge us to ‘Be patterns, be examples, in all countries, to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one.’

“In school our outlook is beyond the limits of national boundaries – in the yurt we’ll have a world map where prayers and thoughts can be posted for people in areas of crisis or conflict; we’ll make cut-outs of our footprint to stick on the wall describing the steps we have made this year and the things we hope to achieve in the months to come,” she added.