Collective Worship

Intent

Our Collective Worship Policy is based on the Vision and Values of our Christian School. This is underpinned by Luke 1:37, “For with God, nothing will be impossible” alongside the 6 values that are the foundation of our Christian belief in school.

Our daily act of collective worship aims to ensure that the Christian character of our school is preserved and developed. This requires worship to be consistent with the faith, principles and practices of the Church of England. In addition to this, we also take into account DfES legislation.

At Great Wishford, the daily act of collective worship is viewed as an integral and important part of school life. Through this, and in the general ethos of the school we seek to promote our mission statement of ‘no challenge too big, no child too small- for with God nothing will be impossible’.

It is a time where we come together to share our love of God based on promoting the Christian values which underpin and flow into the ethos of the school. As such, the contributions of staff, pupils, church clergy and other visitors are valued highly. We also actively seek to encourage the attitudes of awe, wonder and reflection. Our school ensures that every child is entitled to an opportunity for daily worship.

At Great Wishford Church of England Primary School our intent is to:

• Provide regular opportunities for the children to participate in collective prayer and reflection.
• Frequently share and discuss stories from the Bible and discover the meaning and learning of these stories.
• Explore the meaning of each School Christian Value and express what this means to them.
• Build strong relationships with members of the school church and local community via the holding of Community Events and taking part in regular church services and reflections.
• Encourage the children to reflect on current issues in the world and what they can do to contribute to the healing or improvement of this – i.e. charity work/prayer/changing their actions etc.
• Explore with the children the power of faith and how this can guide and support them in all challenges they may face.
• Explore with the children the joy of singing God’s words.
• Create opportunities for the children to explore that of other faiths and gain a good understanding and mutual respect of their beliefs, culture and traditions.

Implementation

We gather every morning at 8.50 for Collective Worship - it is a lovely way to come together and start the day positively. We use the Roots and Fruits worship planning as well as Picture News. Both root all learning in the Bible and Church year, which enables us to make strong and meaningful connections with both our Great Wishford and British values.

Each collective worship follows four elements:

Welcome, Learning, Reflecting and Responding and is enriched by the use of:

• A weekly news or Bible story/quote or discussion stimulus
• Quotes and questions to encourage deeper thinking about each value
• Photographs and posters to root the teaching in the everyday experience of children
• Stories, poems and art
• Prayers and guided reflections from traditional and contemporary authors

Our worship is based on: The Liturgical church calendar; our Christian values; PSHE and British Values; special events such as ‘World book day’; global affairs; issues which arise from everyday life and the Christian ethos of the school, taking into account the age, aptitude and family background of our pupils.

Our current timetable is as follows:

• Monday: Whole School Values worship led by the Head Teacher who introduces the key theme and focus for the week.
• Tuesday: Whole School worship further exploring the value or class based collective worship exploring responses to our value exploration.
• Wednesday: On Wednesday, we are joined by church volunteers for Open the Bible at the end of the day, 3pm. On the weeks when Open the Bible do not visit, we follow the termly planning of: class based worship in response to our exploration of a value; church service, or whole school worship.
• Thursday: On Thursdays we explore how British Values and School Christian Values are lived out across the world. We use a Picture News or story time worship to look at daily life and events in the news and reflect on how these  are showing values in action, or how using our values, we could help make these events better, fairer etc.
• Friday: On Fridays, we have whole school celebration worship led by the Head Teacher. This is a celebration worship where Value Champions are celebrated, as well as other celebrations which are important to children including birthdays.

In addition to this, visiting groups and individuals are welcomed into the school regularly to lead worship. Class reflective diaries are kept, recording children's reflections. Evaluations are made on the planning and training is encouraged and available for those who wish to lead acts of worship. Parents are informed on a termly basis about the themes for worship and there is a weekly reflection on the Head Teacher's newsletter.

The right of parents to withdraw their children from all or part of the act of worship will be respected. Pupils withdrawn will be appropriately occupied within the school. Parents wishing to do so are advised to discuss the matter with the Head Teacher in the first instance but are not obliged to state their reasons for doing so. It is expected that staff convey their commitment by participating in and leading worship.

Impact

Collective worship is accessible to all children of any religious background, or none, regardless of race, gender or disability. The collective worship and RE leads collate and draw conclusions through evaluation forms and by speaking with the children, staff and other adults on the quality of acts of worship. Class worship leaders gather thoughts and feelings in class reflection diaries.

Monitoring is carried out throughout the year. Here the children and members of staff are asked to share their views and feelings about collective worship, offering suggestions for any changes or improvements they feel would improve this time together. Findings are passed onto collective worship lead on a termly basis. Suggested developments are discussed with the Senior Leadership Team as well, the Academy Council’s SIAMs meeting and members of the Diocese. Parents receive the worship themes for the term ahead in newsletters and are welcome to come and discuss any queries or problems with the collective worship lead (headteacher).