Collective Worship Policy
‘As a Church school Collective worship is at the very heart of our daily life.’
Recognising it’s historic foundation, the school will preserve and develop its religious character in accordance with the principles of the church at parish and diocesan level.
The school aims to serve the community by providing education of the highest quality within the context of Christian belief and practice. It encourages an understanding of the meaning and significance of faith and promotes Christian values through the experiences it offers to all its pupils. The school has identified seven values that we feel reflect the purpose of our school:
Faith, Compassion, Forgiveness, Respect, Trust, Responsibility, Hope
The school holds a daily act of Collective Worship which fulfils the requirements of the Education Reform Act 1988, as amended by the Education Act 1993. The act of Collective Worship is held atwhole school, key stage or class level and is consistent with the purpose of the school as laid down in the school’s Trust Deed as outlined in the National Society’s statement:
“The daily act of collective worship required by law in the school shall be consistent with the faith and practice of the Church of England and the basic curriculum required by law in the school shall include religious education consistent with the faith of the Church of England.”
And
“Use should be made, within the provisions of the Education Acts for the time being in force, of the parish church or other Church of England place of worship, both for occasional acts of collective worship and for religious education.”
Definition of Worship
Collective worship in our school is the time when we meet together to acknowledge and celebrate those values and that ethos that is central to our school within it’s
community. The school is Church of England and as such holds the Christian trinity at its heart.
Aims of Collective Worship.
‘ Explore, Encounter, Experience’
To give pupils the opportunity to explore, reflect and consider together issues which are important in both moral and religious context to the ethos of this school and the wider community.
To contribute to the individual’s personal development, to enhance spiritual and moral development.
To encourage individuals to explore, reflect upon and question their own beliefs and to consider the beliefs and feelings of others.
To build a community identity and spirit within which individuals feel valued
To offer all participants the opportunity to encounter and experience worship which is enjoyable, creative and relevant.
To experience a sense of awe, wonder and mystery
To explore the teaching of the Bible and the place of Christian values
Organisation of Collective Worship.
A programme of daily collective worship is planned using a flexible two year rolling programme to ensure there is continuity of themes and teaching. This always includes Christian values linked to our school values; seasons, festivals and holy days; special school days and an international focus-a timetable is displayed on the staffroom wall.
Leading Worship
Worship is led by staff, pupils and visitors either with the whole school, key stage or class group.
- Each term the rector or other visitors will lead worship as arranged within school or at the parish church of All Saints, Belton.
- There will also be key acts of Collective Worship to mark the major Christian Festivals, such as Christmas, Harvest and Easter, held at the church.
- The headteacher leads weekly whole school acts of worship
- Class led worship takes place regularly and usually includes a celebration of achievement and sharing of work as well as a time for reflection
- Choral Worship is held weekly to provide an opportunity to reflect on the words of songs and their relevance
- A worship group led by year 6 children plan and lead an act of worship each half term
- A weekly celebration assembly is held which includes a reflective element with a song chosen by a class and prayers written and led by pupils
Content of Collective Worship.
Collective Worship will be planned to take into account the requirements of the Trust deed for the school and also the experiences, backgrounds, ages, abilities and aptitudes of the children.
Whilst each act of Worship is consistent with the faith and practice of the Church of England, elements from other traditions are introduced where they give rise to a deeper understanding and reflection of the Christian faith. All acts of worship will wherever possible be planned to ensure that they are accessible and inclusive for staff and pupils alike. The acts of Collective Worship will be linked by a common theme. These themes, lasting two or three weeks, will be as varied as possible but always offer opportunities for worship and variety of starting points. Themes may include social issues, moral concerns, aspects of religious education and religious, seasonal and commemorative celebrations among others. A two year cycle of themes provides a broad and balanced overview.
A wide variety of methods will be used within Collective Worship and there will also be variety in the modes of worship employed. These will include: singing, story, reflecting, silence and stillness, poetry, prayer, dance, drama, mime, music both performed and taped.
Monitoring and Evaluating Collective Worship
- A record of collective worship is kept centrally and staff are required to write comments in this after leading assembly.
- Each week a class is involved in evaluating and reflecting upon collective worship. Time is allocated for this by the class teacher and a reflective book passed on along with a candle as part of Friday morning celebration.
- The Head teacher and CW co-ordinator carries out focussed observations
- Time is allocated during staff meetings to evaluate the impact and development of collective worship
- Pupils are given the opportunity to discuss CW via the school council and annual pupil voice questionnaires
Resources
Assembly/Collective Worship books and supportive posters are available and include a variety of bibles and bible stories, Values for Life Packs, Music to support Choral Worship, Artefacts and the Worship display board. Use is also made of CW websites eg
Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development.
One of our key aims of Collective Worship is to offer pupils opportunities for spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
Spiritual development will be promoted by:
> celebrating special achievements
> using artefacts and different stimulii to focus on providing
opportunities for reflection;
> considering the variety of beliefs and feelings;
> thinking about aspects of life which have special meaning prompting
or arising from awe, wonder or creativity.
Moral development will be promoted by:
discussing moral and value codes found in school, in
religions and in wider society;
> talking about friendships, relationships and bullying;
> developing empathy and compassion for others;
> considering a variety of moral issues from different perspectives.
Social development will be promoted by:
> bringing visitors into school from the local, national and global communities;
> finding out about each other’s lives;
> coming together as a school community to share and celebrate;
> sharing experiences together.
Cultural development will be promoted by:
> using music, dance, art, drama, story, artefacts and songs from their
own and a range of cultural backgrounds;
> exploring and valuing the pupils’ own cultural backgrounds and
those of other people.
Withdrawal
The rights of withdrawal from Collective Worship for both staff and children will be maintained although we as a school wish to provide an approach to collective worship which will allow all of our school community to participate. We seek to provide times within school life where adults and children can arrive at the threshold of worship and proceed over it if they so chose. It is hoped therefore that all adults and children attending will be included within its provision and not excluded from it.
Staff should ensure they have formally informed the Headteacher of their decision to exercise their right of withdrawal. Parents must inform the Headteacher, if they wish to withdraw their child/children from Collective Worship
Co-ordinator/Responsibilities.
The responsibility for the Collective Act of Worship at this school is that of the Governors and Headteacher.
The Governor with responsibility for Collective Worship is currently Mr John Tindale
The Lead Teacher is the Mrs A Richardson, whose role is:
to plan and maintain the Worship programme;
to evaluate the provision of Collective Worship;
to invite and ‘brief’ appropriate visitors to lead worship during the year;
to update and maintain resources.
To support staff in their delivery of Collective Worship.
Evaluation.
The Headteacher and Foundation Governors are responsible for ensuringthat pupils are given worship experiences and opportunities in keeping with our Church School Status. Observations and discussions with staff and pupils will form the basis of this evaluation. The Governor with responsibility for monitoring this area of our provision will report to Governors inline with procedures.
Compiled by: Foundation Governors / Reviewed by staff: Aut 2012Approved by:Governing body / Next Review: Aut 2015
Reviewed: Aut 2015 / Next Review: Aut 2018