Collective Worship

 The Importance of Collective Worship at St Clement’s CEP 

Our Collective Worship policy strengthens and supports the Christian identity of our school, reaffirms our vision and associated values of St Clement’s Church of England Primary School and celebrates the central role that each unique and diverse child has to play in their community.  

Our worship reflects the variety of traditions found in the Church of England, and will 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. 

Collective Worship will be:  

Inclusive – Our acts of worship recognise that pupils and staff come from diverse 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 expectation to participate. 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. Providing everyone with the opportunity to grow spiritually and be given opportunities to reflect together.  

Collective Worship gives pupils and school staff the opportunity to:  

• Engage in an act of community  
• Express praise and thanksgiving to God  
• Be still and reflect  
• Explore the big questions of life and respond to national events  
• Foster respect and deepen spiritual awareness  
• Reflect on the character of God and on the teachings of Christ through Biblical texts  
• Affirm Christian values and attitudes 
• Share each other’s joys and challenges 
• Celebrate special times in the Christian calendar 

Parental Withdrawal  

Worship is regarded as special time in our school day where we gather as a school family. Reflecting our ethos as a Church of England school, collective worship is an inclusive opportunity for those of all faiths and none to be present with integrity. We respect the legal right of parents to withdraw their child/children from acts of collective worship, so would welcome the opportunity to discuss this decision with them. Following these discussions, any desire to formally withdraw children from worship must be done via a letter to the Headteacher.  

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  
• Become Agents of Change, working to make a positive impact upon their own lives, lives within the community and wider world 
• 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 

Implementation  

Collective worship is planned by a variety of stakeholders including staff, pupils, when possible, the incumbent of our local church and external visitors from World Religions: Judaism, Sikhism and Hindus in consultation with the collective worship leader. This act of worship will take place at the school day and in any regular school grouping e.g. whole school, key stage or class. Our school plans systematically and cohesively use Canterbury Diocesan Collective Worship Planning which is adapted and changed to meet the needs of our community, by the children and teachers. This ensures that there is a shared understanding of the long- and short-term planning of worship and this enables continuity.  

 Our Collective Worship Timetable  

We are mindful of the variation in personal, spiritual styles and provide a range of creative opportunities to enable all to engage in the acts of worship. These include: music, videos, silence, symbolism, drama, and use of IT.  

Our worship consists of 4 stages:  

Gather – we welcome the community, for example, (with music, liturgy and the lighting of a candle)  

Engage – we share, for example, (a Bible reading, followed by an activity to engage pupils with the Christian message).  We look outwards and learn  

Respond – pupils, for example, (discuss, share, reflect, pray or sing).  We reflect on our experiences.  

Send – we share, for example, (the message of the worship again and ask pupils to think about how they will affect their day / learning/ behaviour.  

We close with liturgy, final prayer, music and the blowing out/ turning off our special candles). 

 Guiding Lights 

Guiding Lights lead termly Collective Worship: Harvest, Remembrance, Christmas and Easter. Music will be played and set up before Collective Worship begins allowing for children to walk in and out silently; Worship Adults will ensure children are settled and sitting in silence. 

Prayers 

Saying prayers together is an important part of everyday life at St Clement’s CEP. We say different prayers at different times of the day, and it would be useful if you could help your child to learn them. During worship we also encourage the children to make up and say their own prayers so that they recognise that they can have their own conversations with God whenever they like – these often go along the lines of: thanking God for something, saying sorry for something and asking for help.