This week I acquired something I’ve never had before – a kitemark. It’s come at a really interesting moment, because this year I succumbed to a bout of mid-January slumping. Perhaps it was because December ended so well, with a new workshop group gelling nicely, some poems about to be published in one of my favourite online journals and some publication news so good that it is embargoed for months. Perhaps it was because my twixtmas was unusually busy, celebrating a family diamond wedding anniversary. Maybe it was starting a much-needed total bottom out of my study, to get it to work with my new work commitments instead of uselessly supporting projects long completed; and, of course, not – yet – getting it finished. Whatever the reason, I hit the ground running as hard as I could in January and by the middle of the month I was beginning to wonder if I had the speed or stamina to get through.
Spoiler alert: I have, and although my kitemark isn’t in getting through it feels a bit as if it is. So let’s make the kitemark do a little dive and see what’s what.
The BSI runs the official kitemark scheme, and it says:
The BSI Kitemark™ is one of the world’s first well-established trust marks. Recognized as a symbol of outstanding quality, safety, and trust, the Kitemark has been informing the decision-making of consumers and businesses for over 100 years. BSI Kitemark certification confirms that a product or service’s claim has been independently and repeatedly tested by experts, meaning that you can have trust and confidence in products and services that are Kitemark certified.
Wow! No wonder I got a bit overworked if I was having my products or services independently and repeatedly tested by experts. But my kitemark, unsurprisingly, isn’t quite one of those. Mine has been awarded by a relatively new and rather excellent national organisation called RE Hubs, which works to help connect the Religious Education community to opportunities to engage with religious and spiritual people and places in real-world ways – mainly high quality school visits to religious places, and high quality visits by people with particular religious or spiritual knowledge or expertise to schools. To get the kitemark I’ve had to show the organisation who I am, explain how I’m qualified to do these things and attend their training. It means that schools can invite me in to talk with and listen to students, to deliver workshops and projects, confident that I’m going to share my knowledge and experience in ways that are attentive and sensitive to them, their needs and their contexts. I’m pretty chuffed about that!
I’ve had years of formal and informal experience going into schools and hosting school visits from nursery to A level, ranging from giving assemblies to running bespoke projects over a half term. The work can be mainly creative (usually writing or drama), mainly spiritual (usually experiential learning) or mainly Christian (especially hosting church visits!) and they are always inclusive and always at least a bit creative and a bit spiritual. I’m learning all the time, and this part of my work is one of the key pillars of what I do. It’s a bit dispiriting, perhaps, that even though I knew I could do it, getting a kitemark is strangely validating. But perhaps not, because it’s brilliant to be endorsed by an organisation like RE Hubs, whose purpose is to support great RE through connecting young people with genuine places and people whose daily lives involve thinking deeply about the religious and spiritual aspects of life and responding to them. Count me in!
And book me … explore this website to find out more or contact me with your questions or ideas about bespoke events or projects, or to make a booking herehttps://hilaryelder.com/contact/
Photo by Charlotte Harrison on Unsplash