St. Mary’s RC Primary School

Prayer and Worship Policy

We believe that prayer is central to our lives. Prayer is our contact with God.

Every classroom has a special area for prayer which is used as a focus for daily prayer. These are arranged in a fashion to provoke thought, discussion and emotions using statues, the Word of God, pictures, material and other focuses which stimulate the senses.

Collective Worship is timetabled once a week for all classes. It is an opportunity for the children to worship as a class, or a year group, using a reflective theme from a collection called ‘Statements to Live By. A prayerful and reflective mood is prevalent, using music and images to create a peaceful, reflective atmosphere. The statement is then displayed through the week and is revisited during the whole key-stage assembly.

The children have set prayers for each year group – these encompass traditional and modern, and vary in length depending on age-group. The children also learn and pray the school prayer which was written by the chaplains, the Mission Statement and Bishop John’s prayer for the Diocese.

In the months of May and October children from KS2 have the opportunity to pray the Rosary together at morning break. These sessions often take place on the roof-garden or the peace-pole, depending on the weather. These sessions are led by the Chaplains and members of staff. In May, rosary packs are sent home each night through the month, so that each child has the opportunity to say the rosary with their families. The child then writes about the session in a prayer journal, adding photos were possible.

The school chaplains lead prayer and worship sessions in the library on Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. These are open to both children and staff.

As Mary is patron of our school, children, staff and visitors have the opportunity to embark on the ‘Faith Walk’, which tells the story of Mary’s life through art and the architecture of the school.

Staff take opportunities to pray together. These opportunities include attending Mass together, INSET days and Staff Meetings. Teaching staff attend assemblies as role models for the children and to reinforce the statement of the week.

As we are currently in the Church’s ‘Year of Mercy’, all the classroom doors are ‘Doors of Mercy’, which include a scriptural reference and work that the children have done based on this.

Each class has an ‘intention’ board which focuses the class to pray for the intentions of one of their pupils and their families each day.

Each term we have the opportunity to worship together as a whole-school community in Holy Mass at Our Lady’s Church. We also have the opportunity to celebrate class masses throughout the year. These can take place in the Lady Chapel in Church, or sometimes in classrooms depending on the weather.

Each half-term we also have ‘praise assemblies’ in the school hall. This is an opportunity for the whole key stage to come together in a celebration assembly, focusing on praise and worship. The children make their way to the hall in song and waving banners they have created in class. Once there, they are led in worship/reflection by staff.

In every class/large rooms there are crosses by the door for each child/adult to touch when they enter the room.

Finally, the 5Ws, the five-fold model of how we should live as a Christian community are displayed. These are central to how we live and treat one another, day to day, at St. Mary’s, in the image of the early Greek Christian communities. They are – Word, Welcome, Witness, Worship and Welfare.

ASSEMBLY/COLLECTIVE WORSHIP TIMINGS

In Class Collective Worship: Monday 9.15 am (FS/key stage 1) and Tuesday 9.15 am (key stage 2)House and good work assembly on Thursday (FS/key stage 1) and Fridays (key stage 2), continuing the theme from the Collective Worship.

RE DISPLAY

Each classroom includes –

  • Prayer/Reflection area, with 5Ws and ‘Statement to Live By’ displayed
  • ‘Door of Mercy’ – on ever class door to reflect Year of Mercy
  • ‘Intentions’ board – to pray for children and their families daily.
  • Class Saint display
  • Class prayers displayed, along with new school prayer
  • Mission Statement displayed
  • Bishop John’s prayer (‘Stay with us Lord on our journey’) and school prayer displayed

The hall has several displays –

  • Chaplains’ information board (saint of week, word of week, etc.)
  • ‘Diocese of Salford’ family
  • ‘The Way, The Truth and The Life’ topic board –containing class work from that half-term’s topic (selection of Nursery to Y6)
  • ‘Big Question’ board – week’s big talking point for discussion in assemblies, class and dinners.
  • Of immediate impact in the hall are the scripture quotes, both written on walls and hung on banners. These are used as discussion points and signposts as to how live our life according to God’s word.

Foyer Area –

  • Mission Statement area – to illustrate the importance of Mission Statement and how it works in our school
  • Prayer Table – this is changed weekly by chaplains to reflect the liturgical calendar
  • Further scripture banners

The ‘Faith Walk’ is extremely important to us as it tells the story of the patron of our school, Our Lady. Guides can be found at the office.

Throughout the school, the Mission Statement is clearly visible on corridors, stairwells and classrooms. Also prominent on both stairwells are further quotes from scripture.

M. McGrail

Autumn 2015