|PIC1|School pupils facing exams this month can look to a new source of revision aid this year, with the publication of a set of downloadable prayer cards designed to be included in students’ crib card packs.

The brief prayers – written in bullet point style on a postcard-size format – call for God’s help in facing the stressful time and ask for a sense of calm and focus during revision ahead of the big tests.

The Church of England, in association with the Culham Institute, has also published a selection of resources for school assemblies in the run-up to the exam period. The reflections focus on the example of a number of people in the public eye to help young people retain a sense of perspective about the nature of academic success and failure.

From sporting heroes to business leaders, the famous figures are used alongside Bible readings in the suggested reflections to illustrate how determination and sense of purpose can help achieve results. The guidance suggests that citing young achievers such as sailor Michael Pelham and swimmer Ellie Simmonds could show how making tough choices and focusing on what you do best can help when faced with testing times, while Nelson Mandela’s battle against circumstance is also highlighted as an inspirational role model for students.

One of the chosen ‘crammer’s prayers’, written by Jen Bates, a gap-year student working for the Church of England Youth Council and the Diocese of Chichester, reads:

Jesus,

Keep reminding me of the bigger picture over the next few weeks,

Keep me in your hands when all other hands disappear,

For I am convinced that neither entry requirements nor exam results, neither anticipation nor doubts, neither success nor failure, nor any expectations, neither last minute fears nor anxieties, nor anything else in life, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Please, don’t let me forget it!

Another of the prayers to be reproduced in postcard format is written by the Rt Rev John Saxbee, Bishop of Lincoln and Chair of the Board of Education:

Dear Lord,

I want to do my best to fulfil the potential you have given me.
Help me:

- to stay calm

- to keep things in perspective and be content with the best I can do on the day

- to look out for my friends who need a bit of encouragement, and

- to always remember that the real test is how closely I can follow in your way.

Amen.

Bishop John comments: “Ever since I was a lad, exams have brought me out in a cold sweat. The last minute cramming, the nervous anticipation of turning over the test paper, the packed timetable of exams that never seems to have an end in sight.

"It all makes it easy to forget that God’s plan for each of us is about much more than a test score. Of course, exams do have a place as barometers of what individuals have learnt and how a school is performing against other schools.

"But I hope these prayers and assembly plans will help young people face the forthcoming tests with calm and strength, safe in the knowledge that God loves them no matter how bleak the exam timetable looks.”

The collective worship reflections have been specially written by the Culham Institute, a charitable organisation which researches and develops policy and practice in religious education and collective worship. The reflections can be easily adapted for use by youth groups or Christian Union meetings.

The exam stress prayers form the latest addition to the Church of England website’s regularly updated selection of prayers for contemporary concerns, including a selection of prayers for those affected by debt or concerned about the financial crisis, published in September 2008 and viewed nearly 90,0000 times so far; and recent prayers for the developing situation regarding swine flu.

The swine flu prayers include prayers for the people of Mexico.

On the web:

The swine flu prayers are available at www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/prayers

The exam resources are freely available at: www.cofe.anglican.org/exams