Children & Young People

Oxford Quaker Meeting provides three separate meetings for children to coincide with our 11am Sunday Meeting for Worship:

  • Beansprouts (age 0-3)
  • Sunflowers (age 4-12)
  • Teenagers (age 13-17)

Three times a year children and adults come together for an all-age Meeting for Worship.

We also have Tea, Cake and Play, a group for babies and toddlers, on Tuesdays.

Each summer we organise a Family Day.

Children and Young People’s Committee

Children’s meetings and other activities for children and young people in Oxford are overseen by the Children and Young People’s Committee (CYPC), whose members are appointed by Oxford Local Meeting. 

Our aims are that:

  • Children enjoy coming to Meeting!
  • Families are welcome and supported; and both adults and children can play an active part in the life of the meeting, growing in a sense of community.
  • Our children share with and show concern for others.
  • Children are introduced to new ideas and a sense of seeking.
  • Children find friends in the meeting, amongst both adults and children.
  • Children have opportunities to identify and clarify moral and social issues. Children learn about love, peace and conflict resolution as part of everyday life.
  • Children learn about Quakerism, Christianity, the Bible, and other faiths.
  • Children come to understand and enjoy the Quaker silent worship and carry that understanding into adult life.

We comply with Area Meeting’s safeguarding policy (which also covers vulnerable adults).

Children and Young People’s Work Advocate

Oxford and Swindon Area Quaker Meeting appoints a Children and Young People’s Work Advocate. This person speaks up for the need to include children and young people in the life of local and area meetings, and supports local meetings to develop their work with younger members.

Youth, Children and Families Development Worker

Julia Dover is the Youth Children and Families Development Worker for Oxford and Swindon Area Meeting and Mid-Thames Area Meeting. She works with Quaker meetings across the Thames Valley to help us to develop as intergenerational and all-age communities, including helping meetings to develop new, inspirational activities and events which bring children, young people and adults together in creative ways.