Collective Worship

Click here to read our weekly Big and Little Question.

Click here to find out more about our Junior Chaplains.

Click here to find out more about our class and library Reflection Corners and Prayer Spaces.

Click here to find out more about the way we work as a school to show God's love to others.

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Collective Worship Policy

AIMS OF COLLECTIVE WORSHIP

- provide children with an opportunity to worship God;

- give children experience of Christian acts of worship within an Anglican framework;

- provide opportunities to explore different Christian Values.

- give children the opportunity for reflection and thought in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility;

- provide a special, quiet, focused time where children are invited to explore issues for themselves and reflect and learn from their own experiences;

- provide an experience where children can consider moral and spiritual issues;

- provide worship which is appropriate for children’s needs and interests and to encourage their participation;

- be an activity distinct from, but linked to and supportive of, other school activities;

- provide experience which enables children to develop sensitivity and a sense of wonder, awe and mystery for the world of which they are a part;

- provide opportunities to ask and answer ‘Big Questions,’ related to our worship.

- provide an opportunity for celebration of the school community, its life, its work and its ethos at which staff and pupils can come together as a family;

- develop children’s skills, for example, in music, drama, ICT.

DELIVERY

Our collective worship rolling programme outlines the content for worship each week. One of our school principles is central each week, with a linked strand and theme, along with Biblical teaching and relevant national or international events, where appropriate.

A daily act of collective worship is provided for all pupils. This will be held in various ways – whole school, class groups or phase groups – giving an opportunity for all children to take part. The faith and practice of the Church of England is explored in collective worship through a child’s time in school. All collective worship is time-tabled:

Monday 9.00-9.15 Whole School Hall - Bible teaching linked to weekly theme

Tuesday 9.00 - 9.15 Whole School Singing

Wednesday 9.00-9.15 Whole School Church - parents are welcome

Thursday Class-based Worship - children have an opportunity to reflect and respond to the weekly theme. In children's class worship sessions, they are provided with opportunities to reflect upon the weekly principle, strand and theme. Application and impact is key; children in Key Stage Two are also encouraged to respond through reflection activities such as: discussion, debate, Bible journalling, art, drama, music, singing, prayer and many other exciting tasks. Children of no faiths or other faiths are enabled to reflect on the weekly theme in their own way and join in with reflection and response wherever possible. This leads to increasingly deep conversations as children progress through the school.

Friday 9.00-9.15 Whole School Hall Celebration Worship (See below)

Please click here to see a gallery of independent pupil responses to collective worship.

ACHIEVEMENT CELEBRATIONS

A separate, but linked, place is given for the celebration of the school and individual achievements – including reference to pupils demonstrating the school’s principles in action. Our principles of Wisdom, Grace and Hope each have two learning behaviours attached to them. Within learning, where children demonstrate the six learning behaviours, they are given Dojos and stamps linked to the principle, and the associated learning behaviour, they have demonstrated. A central display in the hall celebrates these pupil achievements and the demonstration of our principles. In this way, our Christian ethos underpins and surrounds all that we do.

PUPIL INVOLVEMENT

Junior Chaplains (pupils from Year 1-6) contribute to the planning and delivery of collective worship through regular meetings with the Headteacher and/or Collective Worship leader. They lead the call to worship and school prayer. They are also responsible for collecting pupil feedback in relation to collective worship and the maintenance of reflective areas in classrooms. Year 6 Junior Chaplains also support pupils in EYFS and KS1 during class worship weekly, and assist in updating the Junior Chaplain page on our website.

Click here to find out more about our Junior Chaplains.

IMPACT OF COLLECTIVE WORSHIP

Our pupils regularly tell us about the impact collective worship has upon their friendships, home lives and their learning. Regularly, pupils are inspired by the collective worship theme and request additional time to reflect on the theme. One example involved our Year 5+ 6 classes asking their teacher if they could spend more time reflecting upon the theme of 'WISDOM: Integrity: Stand up for your beliefs' based on the Bible story of Daniel. This led to amazing reflection during Black History Month, where pupils linked their topic learning on Hidden Figures and discrimination to their class worship reflections.

Recently, a pupil in Year 2 was inspired by collective worship and wrote a Psalm praising God. She set this to a tune and asked to share it with the whole school and use it to tell others about Jesus.

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Read some of our pupils' comments below.

"Worship links to wisdom, grace or hope. We reflect on the Big and Little Question in our class worship and it's the same theme as Monday worship so it follows"

"Worship is a quiet time to reflect"

"We also have reflection journals where we sometimes reflect or draw ideas about the Big and Little Question"

"It's ok if children aren't Christian, they aren't left out and we can still join in because the themes are the same like generosity and kindness. Teachers say if you don't want to pray you can reflect, so it doesn't leave anyone out or make them feel like they should go somewhere else"

Read some more of our pupils' comments below. (Pupil voice, March 2021 - at this time, worship was shared in class via videos)

What is worship?

It helps you to learn about God so we can tell our parents about God
It's where you learn about God and Jesus so you know even more and can tell other people
When you go to pray and talk with God
Praising God
Celebrate Jesus dying on the cross for us
It’s a way of expressing your love for God
Telling people who God is and why we pray to God
It is thanking God for sacrificing his life on the cross for Christians
Bowing down and singing to God, praying
Church, singing songs to God and thanking him
Worship doesn’t have to be in church you can do it anywhere, in your bed, in class, outside
Praising someone, praying to them, putting their name up high, so you don’t do anything that’s bad and they are always on your mind

What do you like about worship?

The prayers
Learning different things about God
Discussing things and thinking about how it can affect our lives
You can listen to the songs and hear God’s word
The music really inspires me when I think about the word of God and what he is saying to us
I like when we pray in silence about the good things God has done
Time in between each bit of the video to discuss what the story means in our life and then pray about it more
Celebrate about God and Jesus
We all get a chance to tell each other our thoughts

Does the school encourage you to forgive? How?

Yes. Even if you don’t want to you should always
They encourage us to be helpful and not mean
Forgiveness is one of the key things in the Bible and we are a Christian school
When you have hurt someone you say sorry because that’s how you make friends again
Friendship break ups, the teacher or HT would encourage you to forgive and hug it out
People say sorry and forgive one another. The teacher says well done for forgiving and that makes you feel a bit happier and that you did the right thing.

Does the school encourage you to treat everyone with respect even if they are different? How?

Yes they encourage us to be kind. Respect them and they respect you. That makes you feel better.
Always try and make a good choice and resolve it – the teacher helps
We respect each other’s choices
Different doesn’t mean you don’t have to respect them
If everyone is treated the same everyone in the world would be happier
They say put yourself in someone’s shoes and consider how you would feel
They encourage you not to do things that would hurt other peoples’ feelings

Does the school help you to think about ‘Big Questions’? What kind of questions? How?

Yes in worship. They tell us a bit of the answer and then we have to find the rest out ourselves.
One big question we’ve had is about how you would use your skills to help people.
Also we did how would you make someone feel better and encourage them.
We have books with them in and they encourage us to think about our actions.
One example is should we treat other people the same and is that fair
Big questions challenge your brain to think big

What are our school principles? What do they mean?

Wisdom Grace and Hope = Wisdom means clever, Grace means forgive people, Hope means something you really want in the future
Wisdom Grace and Hope = Wisdom means wise, being wise to make good choices. Forgive and let go, that can also be wise because it fixes things. Also smartness. You can share your wisdom with others.
Grace means to give grace and mercy to others. You can show love and forgiveness to other people.
Hope means to be inspired by your hope for God to forgive you. Also you can persevere. You can know God’s hopes for you.

WORSHIP EXAMPLES

Worship is planned carefully, but worship leaders (the Headteacher, Deputy Headteacher and teachers) are led by children's interests and comments and therefore at times move away from the collective worship rolling programme, in particular as part of Key Stage and Class worship sessions.

Recent whole school worship

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Recent class worship (Thursdays - led by class teachers and Junior Chaplains)

St Andrew's C of E Primary School