The Odd Unboxed Spaces of Step

Being part of Step means that you occupy a unique space every time you walk into a school. You’re not a teacher, even if you might spend most of your day teaching. You’re not quite a youth worker, even when running your lunch clubs. You’re not church, even if meeting you is, for many students, their first encounter with Christianity.

This odd, unboxed space that we find ourselves in is one reason for the incredible connections we’re able to build with students. They share their triumphs with us knowing that we’re their loudest cheerleaders and turn to us when they need an adult’s help. They also trust us with conversations and questions that have no other outlet.

I’ve been reminded of just how valuable this is over the past week, while running the Relationships and Christian Values lesson with Year 9 at Samuel Ryder. The aim of the lesson is to help students understand what Christians believe about relationships, sex and marriage, and the values that underpin those beliefs.

But once the ice is broken (with the help of some Romance Academy playing cards!), students grab the chance to talk with us about a whole host of related topics, from consent and the things that make sex physically and emotionally safe, to jealousy and the impact of pornography.

As one teacher noted, it’s brilliant that Step has built rapport with Year 9 to the point that they feel able to bring up these issues. They are issues that have enormous potential to impact young people’s safety, joy and self-worth throughout the rest of their lives. “There’s no way they’d have asked me those questions!” the teacher said (with slight relief, I noticed!).

I’m aware that we use the word ‘privilege’ a lot in our Latest News updates, but there is no better word to describe the inbetween-y space that we hold in schools and being witness to the things that happen there.