On the Queen’s Regional Course you get access to the same top-quality training as the college-style programme, but organised to allow you to carry on with work or with home or family responsibilities. Lectures and worship happen every Tuesday night, and twice a term there are residential study weekends at Queen’s. Each year there is also a one-week Easter School. Training typically takes three years, but it might be shorter if you have previous theological qualifications or training. Your length of training will be determined by the Church of England, not by Queen’s.
The shape of the year
This formational pathway is shaped around residential weekends and a week-long residential Easter school, together with weekly evening classes. The year is split into three terms, and in each term we have a half-term break, when there are no evening classes. We try to make our half-term breaks match those for schools, though this is not always possible as local education authorities do not all plan the same term dates.
Evening classes
Students on Queen’s Regional Course have regular evening classes (Tuesday evenings on campus) during term-time. Whenever possible, these classes are accompanied by Worship and a meal.
For some students, some of their weekly modules might be delivered through online learning rather than evening classes.
Residential weekends
There are 6 residential weekends each year (each running from Friday evening to Sunday lunchtime). These bring together Anglican ordinands with Methodist Student Ministers who are also training part-time, and independent students (many of whom are also preparing for ministry in their own churches). Each weekend includes teaching which relates to one or more academic modules. Each weekend contains three additional formational components:
- A community meeting and cell groups.
- Shared worship. Students lead most of the worship at each weekend on a rota basis. Each weekend also includes a staff-led service which is usually a service of Holy Communion.
- Meals and time for relaxation.
Easter School
Each year there is also a residential Easter School.
- The Easter school in your first year usually takes place in Holy Week, and includes an intensive experience of the worship associated with the period from Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday.
- The second and third year Easter Schools normally take place in Easter Week (the week after Easter) or the following week.
The exact dates (and lengths) of these varies from year to year depending on when Easter falls. Each year the Easter School forms the input for a different academic module.
Hands-on learning in your home church
We expect all ordinands to continue active involvement in their home church.
If you are a part-time ordinand you are expected to have some active involvement in ministry on Sundays. The expectations for this are set and agreed in discussion with the minister. The practice and experience gained in leading worship and preaching in the local church feed into a worship portfolio, compiled over the duration of your training.
Placements
Part-time ordinands normally do a part-time placement which stretches over at least 10 weeks in the summer term of your first year of training. The placement is church-based in an Anglican church. We work with you and your DDO to determine the best place for you to do your placement – it will normally be somewhere which will stretch your existing experience, perhaps in terms of church tradition, or context, or some particular form of ministry or mission. For the duration of your placement you will be worshipping in your placement church and not your home church.
Personal tutorial oversight and support
Students are allocated a personal tutor whose task is to focus on the formation of the ministerial candidate. This enables the personal tutor to take the lead in preparing the end of year summative report which goes to your bishop.
Opportunities to engage with the world church
Queen’s is an international community, with serving ministers from around the world studying here as part of their own ministerial development.
In addition, we encourage all students to make the most of our international links and the visits which take place each year to different contexts around the world. In recent years these have included exchanges with theological colleges in South India and Sri Lanka, and we are hoping to expand the range of opportunities in the next few years to include Africa and continental Europe, and different sorts of ministerial context.
