Children and Youth Programs

Youth Religious Education: Sundays 10:30–11:45

Childcare

Child care is available for infants– preschool age children. Childcare is provided by experienced, paid baby sitters during worship. While the childcare room best serves children from ages one until they are ready for First Day School, parents with infants are welcome to stay with their child in the childcare room and babies may also remain with parents in worship. There is a sign-in sheet for childcare, and parents pick up (and sign-out) children after worship.

First Day School (FDS)

Our religious education program for children ages 4 – 5th grade gathers at 10:30 on First Days. While some children will be ready to attend FDS at age 4, all children should make the transition from childcare to FDS by age 5. Children should be ready to participate and be part of the circle of children in FDS, where there will be stories, songs, prayer, games, etc. First Day School is a spiritual community for the children within the larger spiritual community of our meeting, and safety is crucial to the space being a welcoming place for all. If a child is unable to participate appropriately, or their behavior is disruptive to the group, one of the two adults with FDS will walk the child over to the meeting house to find a parent. At 11:30, the FDS group will return to the meetinghouse to join the final minutes of worship.

Young People’s Group (YPG)

Youth ages 5th grade – 12th grade are welcome to join in the activities of the YPG. 5th graders are invited to attend both FDS and YPG as they are led, depending on program offerings. YPG offers a community for older youth to explore issues related to being a Friend, how we live our Quaker testimonies, and to do service work. For example, YPG walks to downtown West Chester one First Day each month to discuss issues important to them in an environment that is “outside” the meeting house. YPG gathers on the meetinghouse porch after opening exercises and returns to the meetinghouse to join the final minutes of worship. On days when there is no YPG program, youth are invited to attend FDS, but are encouraged to stay in meeting for worship with the adult community.

Sundays 10:30 a.m. in the Meetinghouse.

Sundays at the rise of (right after) Worship.

Third Sunday of the month (Sept-May) in lieu of Coffee Hour.