A packed Castlehold Baptist church in Newport came to witness the commissioning of 13 new Street Pastors and the first 10 School Pastors on the Isle of Wight. The service included presentations from the coordinators of each project, the High Sheriff, Chair of Isle of Wight Council, Isle of Wight OCU Superintendent and Director of Parent and Community at Medina College.
Isle of Wight School Pastors will be one of small but increasing number of initiatives around the country supporting school communities. Here on the Isle of Wight we are delighted to be piloting this initiative in partnership with Medina College in Newport.
School pastors will be patrolling after school initially on a Tuesday, Thursday and Friday outside Medina College and on the routes the students walk home. School Pastors will be available to offer practical support by listening, helping and caring for students and people in the wider school community. We will be working closely with the College and Police Safer Neighbourhoods Team to see how we can continue to best support the College community. Whilst school pastors are on patrol they will be supported by fellow team members who will be praying for them and the situations they encounter.
The new Street Pastors will allow us now to extend the Street Pastors scheme on a Saturday night in Ryde , so we can patrol 3 out of every 4 Saturday nights, plus give extra support to the schemes already running in Newport and Ventnor.
It was wonderful to have so many people there on the commissioning evening, giving their support to these wonderful people who give so freely and put themselves in sometimes quite difficult situations.
We’ll be looking for more volunteers to start training early next year, and it’s never to early to express your interest in joining the awesome Street and School Pastors team.
