Christians believe that prayer, as a means of talking to God, or listening to what he has to say, is effective and can change situations and people. It is a vital part of a Christian's life. Consequently, many churches will regularly pray for their local schools as a means of supporting them.
Around the country, there are thousands of such prayer groups. In some instances, a church will set up a prayer group to meet especially to pray for your school, or a group of local schools. Some prayer groups meet on school premises, others at a local church or in homes. Some meet during the day, others meet before school, after school or in the evenings. The frequency of meeting depends on the time available for the members ranging from weekly to termly. Those who attend may include Christian parents, teachers, governors, pupils and local church members.
Many headteachers welcome the setting up of a church prayer group for a school. Even if you don't believe that prayer is effective, you may be grateful for this expression of support for the school, and may feel that 'it can't do any harm'.
Usually a member of the prayer group will contact you to let you know where and when the group is meeting and invite along anyone from the school who would like to join in. They may ask whether they can pray about any particular needs that the school has.
In response, you can ask them to assure you that the information will be treated confidentially and give them some general topics to pray about, without naming individuals in need. Topics could include major events in the life of the school e.g. inspection visits or school trips, new staff and pupils starting at the school, people who are ill, appointing new staff, pupils sitting exams and so on.