Every class has students living through situations that adults would struggle with: parental separation, illness in the family, the death of a pet or grandparent, social exclusion, anxiety about school performance. SRE is not a counselling service, and volunteers are not mental health professionals. But SRE is a space where the Christian conviction that God is present in suffering can be offered with pastoral gentleness.
Children Carry Hard Things
Making Space Without Intrusion
Opening prayer can be a natural place to acknowledge difficulty without requiring disclosure: 'God, we know that some of us are carrying hard things this week that we haven't told anyone about. We're trusting you with those things right now.' This normalises bringing difficulty to God without requiring any student to name their situation publicly.
The Psalms as Permission to Feel
The Psalms model something that children rarely see modelled for them: bringing raw, unedited emotion to God. Psalm 22 ('My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?') is not a failure of faith — it's a model of it. When children see that the Bible contains lament, grief, and complaint directed at God, they learn that faith is not pretending everything is fine. This is one of the most important things SRE can teach.
Safeguarding Obligations Are Always Primary
If a student discloses abuse, harm to themselves or others, or a serious risk situation during SRE, your safeguarding obligations under your provider's policy and NSW law take absolute priority. Do not try to handle it within the lesson. Conclude the lesson calmly, ensure the student is safe, and immediately follow your provider's reporting procedure. The pastoral care you provide is real and valuable — but it has limits, and those limits exist for the student's protection.
