Collective Worship
As a Church of England school collective worship is the beating heart of our school life. It brings and gives life to all we do. Collective worship is a sacred and significant time of each school day, where we gather together as a school family.
Collective worship strengthens and supports the Christian identity of our school, reaffirms our vision and associated values of respect, determination, forgiveness, frienship and service and celebrates the central role that each pupil and adult have to play in our community.
Our acts of collective worship reflect the variety of traditions found in the Church of England and recognise and follow the Christian liturgical year. The daily Christian act of worship is central to our ethos and is supported by all staff and governors. It makes an important contribution to the overall spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of the whole school community.
Each adult and pupil will experience worship that is truly welcoming, inclusive and exemplifying the principles of Christian hospitality.
Collective worship therefore will be:
• Inclusive – Our acts of worship recognise that pupils and staff come from homes of different faith backgrounds as well as no faith backgrounds, so it will be inclusive of, and fully accessible to all. Care will be taken to ensure that language used by those facilitating worship avoids assuming faith of those participating, listening or watching.
• Invitational – In our acts of worship, there is no compulsion to ‘do anything’. Rather, worship will 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. Pupils and adults will only be invited to pray and sing if they wish to do so.
• Inspiring – By asking and discussing big questions about who we are and what we do in worship we hope to motivate pupils and adults into action. There will be opportunities to think, reflect and ponder on their and the wider community’s behaviour and actions.
Aims of collective worship
Collective Worship offers pupils, staff and the wider school community the opportunity to:
• Gather together to share sacred moments of joy, challenge, grief and love.
• Explore the school’s distinctive Christian vision and values in action
• Reflect on the nature of God and on the teachings of Christ through Biblical texts
• Express praise and thanksgiving to God
• Be still, pray and reflect
• Explore the big questions of life and respond to national events
• Foster respect and deepen spiritual awareness
• Explore Christian values and attitudes
• Share each other’s joys and challenges
• Celebrate significant and special times in the Christian calendar