Children and Youth
Our Vision of Religious Education
The Unitarian Fellowship of Peterborough is a caring, supportive community in which people of all ages are known and befriended, and may know and befriend others.
We envision a Religious Education program that encourages spiritual exploration, grounds our children and youth in Unitarian Universalist principles and values, teaches them about our religious tradition and fosters an awareness and understanding of other religions. We envision an environment of mutual learning in which we promote and model the skills for being in community.
Our Philosophy of Religious Education
We believe that our values are worth carrying forward into the future through our children. This means we strive to:
- create an environment of love and trust where they know they are cared about as unique individuals;
- share knowledge of our religious heritage, its Jewish and Christian and Unitarian Universalist traditions, as well as the history and wisdom of other world religions;
- encourage exploration and questioning of ideas, fears, and dreams;
- nourish a sense of belonging to family, friends, community, and humanity as well as a responsibility towards the natural world;
- stimulate a sense of wonder and worship as they consider the mystery of existence and the moral issues in their lives.
Program Descriptions
On Sunday mornings we offer programs for children and youth of all ages. High quality child care for infants and young children up to Senior Kindergarten is provided by paid child care workers. Individualized attention with appropriate toys and activities are provided to help create a safe and comforting environment.
Sunday morning classes for children and youth explore a variety of themes, grounded in our principles and philosophy of religious education. Classes are led by enthusiastic and dedicated volunteer teachers. We follow an experiential learning model and offer a range of learning opportunities in each session, including arts activities, cooperative games, nature activities, and group sharing and discussion. The class groups are: Red Group (Grades 1-3), Blue Group (Grades 4-6) and Green Group (Grades 7 and up).
Our Youth Group (Grades 9 and up) meets on Thursday evenings from 7:30 to 9:00 pm. Under the supervision of Kim Thomas, Youth Advisor, our youth are encouraged to develop their own program and to share their talents with the fellowship through special projects such as youth–led services. Youth also have the opportunity to connect with other UU youth by attending regional conferences. Two weekends each year, youth in Grades 10-12 have the opportunity to participate in the Our Whole Lives sexuality education program hosted by the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa.
Volunteer Participation
Volunteer involvement is integral to our cooperative religious education program and we encourage your participation. Whatever your schedule or talents, we have a place for you, as part of a teaching team, assisting in the nursery or preschool groups, sharing a particular gift or talent with the children, or planning special events. Please contact the Religious Education Coordinator to discuss your interest in the program.
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This Work, The Unitarian Fellowship of Peterborough, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Canada license, although certain works referenced herein may be separately licensed.
Where noted, portions of this site are copyrighted by one or more of the following, and are used with copyright holders permission: The Unitarian Universalist Association, The Canadian Unitarian Council, The Unitarian Fellowship of Peterborough.