- It helps pupils’ spiritual development by teaching them about God and giving them the opportunity to worship Him together. It offers pupils the opportunity to hear about Him from the Bible, to develop their own relationship with Him through prayer and to reflect on themselves and their place in His world. It encourages silent reflection, helping children to recognise the spiritual dimension of life.
- It helps pupils’ moral development by taking time to become aware of different life values, teaching respect for other faiths, while developing a common ethos and shared values based on Christian standards.
- It promotes pupils’ social development by helping them feel part of a community and by reinforcing positive attitudes to others. Our worship will encourage participation and response, whether through active involvement in the presentation of worship or through listening to and joining in the worship offered.
- It helps pupils’ cultural development by drawing on our Christian heritage through the Bible and other key writings and through religious festivals and practices. Pupils are also given the opportunity to experience and respond to appropriate music, literature, art and artefacts.
Inclusive, Invitational, and Inspiring
Inclusive: Worship is collective in that it involves meeting, exploring, questioning, and responding to others and, for some, to God. In the Church school pupils, their families and other adults can expect to encounter worship that is inclusive of, and fully accessible to, all.
Many pupils and staff in our schools will come from homes of different faith backgrounds as well as of no faith background. Moreover, many pupils will naturally be at different stages of their spiritual journey during their time in school. Pupils should be given the opportunity to think and ask questions. There should be space to consent, and dissent: to participate and to stand back; and to consider.
It is recognised that pupils will bring their own experience to worship. Inclusion requires pupil involvement in planning, leading and the evaluation of worship.
Invitational: Parents, pupils and adults can expect to encounter worship that is consistently invitational. Worship should provide the opportunity to engage whilst allowing the freedom of those of different faiths and those who profess no religious faith to be present and to engage with integrity. The metaphor of ‘warm fires and open doors3 ’ captures this idea. The warmth of the fire derives from the clarity and authenticity of the Christian message at its heart. There is no value to an encounter with a watered down, lowest common denominator version of faith. Importantly the door is open, all are welcome to come in and sit as near or as far away from the fire as they feel comfortable. Pupils and adults should always only be invited to pray if they wish to do so and should be invited to pray in their own way. Prayer should always be accompanied by the option to reflect.
Special Services
Special services are held in the church at the end of each term, allowing pupils to participate in a Harvest, Christmas, Easter and End of Year service. Parents and Governors are invited to join us in these services.
Collective Worship Committee and Leading Lights
Pupils play an active role in planning worship. The Collective Worship Committee meet with the Headteacher and Rector on a termly basis to review worship within the school. A new initiative ‘Leading Lights’ also allows pupils to plan and lead aspects of worship on a regular basis.