Children’s Meeting

Note: In-person children’s meetings are suspended during the current Coronavirus pandemic. For information about our current activities for children, including the all-age meetings, please refer to the ‘Forty-Three’ newsletter.

Oxford Quaker Meeting provides three separate meetings for children to coincide with our 11am Sunday Meeting for Worship. These meetings aim to help the children feel part of the life of the Meeting by making friends among both adults and children and by exploring Quaker practice, history, and testimonies. At 11:50, all the children and helpers join the adult Meeting and are embraced in the gathered silence.

There are three groups, all run by parents and volunteers:

• Beansprouts: Supervised play for 0-4 year olds, including a story, activity and some singing.
• Sunflowers: A meeting for 5-12 year olds which takes place in the Long Room from 11:00am. The content varies from week to week and includes drama, discussion, cooking, craft activities, storytelling and games.
• Teenagers/Young People: 12-18 year olds are welcome, either in the adult Meeting for Worship or by joining with the other children’s groups as participants or helpers. They may also be invited to take part occasionally in age-group specific evening or weekend activities and events, generally organised across the Meetings in the Oxford and Swindon area.

Over-18s are invited to join our Students and Young Adult Friends group.

The Meeting has a long tradition of having three all-age Meetings for Worship each year, where the children and teenagers join the second half of the adults’ Meeting for Worship, and we have a semi-programmed activity as a whole meeting.

In addition, we hold an annual Family Day in the summer, with lunch, games, activities, treasure hunt and a comedy workshop. It is suitable for children from babies through to teenagers, together with their parents.