Collective Worship Overview

All Church of England schools must provide a daily act of collective worship for all pupils which must be ‘wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character’.

Collective worship fulfils part of the school’s duty to develop pupils spiritually, morally, socially and culturally. Pupils are given the opportunity to learn about interesting cultural traditions and their meaning, listen to stories with a moral message and reflect on the Christian values we hope to develop and promote both within our school community and in each individual; Respect, Hope, Kindness and Courage.

Collective worship gives pupils and school staff the opportunity to:

• Engage in an act of community.

• Express praise and thanks to God.

• Be still and reflect.

• Express the big questions of life and respond to national events.

• Foster respect and deepen spiritual awareness.

• Reflect on the character of God and on the teachings of Christ.

• Affirm Christian values and attitudes.

• Share each other’s joys and challenges.

• Celebrate special times in the Christian calendar.

Worship takes place every day and may be whole school, key stage or class worship.

On a Monday, the Worship is always whole school and led by the Head Teacher. Each half term, a different Christian value is celebrated, and the weekly Monday worships look at that value in depth, relating key learning to biblical scripture.

On a Tuesday, the Worship is always whole school and led by the Head Teacher. The worship uses a range of key texts, art work and biblical scripture to promote Spirituality and a deeper understanding of our core Christian and British Values.

For worship on a Wednesday, the session is either led by Revd. Kate or it is class based. When Revd. Kate is leading the worship, it is based on the same theme as the Monday worship, reinforcing the main message for the week. When the worship is class based, the children have a range of topics which they explore to help develop an awareness and understanding of themselves, their peers and members of the community. In addition to these topics, the children are also encouraged to explore ‘big questions’ through some ‘Philosophy for children’ (P4C) questions using high quality texts as the stimuli.

On a Thursday, each year group will experience a 'Worship in the woods’ session once a half term (therefore 6 times a year).  ‘Worship in the Woods’ is a time for spending intentional time and space with God and each other outside the confines of a building. It provides children and adults with a time to enjoy creation, nature and be together. It allows us time to deepen our relationships with God and each other through connection and a greater understanding of the natural world.

On a Friday, we celebrate the children’s successes in our ‘Celebration Assembly’. We celebrate those children who have been showing our Christian values (hope, kindness, respect and courage) in school and at home and any achievements they have had outside of school.