We hold a daily worship which is broadly Christian in character and comprises of a song or hymn, a prayer or a period of contemplation/reflection, and a Bible (or other relevant) story which serves to illustrate the values we are trying to promote.
These may be conducted by the Headteacher, a member of staff, the children or sometimes a visiting speaker.
We visit St Mary’s church throughout the year at the major Christian festivals, and to hold special services e.g. Year 6 leavers. Reverend Blewett (and Burt the puppet!) come into school to take collective worship once a month.
Our Collective Worship timetable is as follows:
Monday: Whole School Worship led by Mr Thomson, Head of School
Tuesday: Class Collective Worship by Class Teachers
Wednesday: Whole School Singing Worship led by Mrs Bran Munro, Music Lead
Thursday: Picture News, led by Mrs Newman, Assistant Headteacher
Friday: Whole School Celebration Worship led by Mrs Michelle Parsons, Executive Headteacher
Dear God
Thank you for our school and everyone within it.
In the spirit of St Mary, teach us to show compassion and tell the truth.
Give us courage and creativity to learn and grow.
Help us to give service to our community.
Amen
In school, one child in every class is nominated as the 'Worship Champion' each term. Their job is to make a record of all the learning that has taken place during worship time, in order to create a whole class record over the year.
At St Mary's, we encourage children to think about the world that they live in, by asking questions about what they see, hear and experience. These questions are open ended, with no right or wrong answers, but we aim to broaden children's thinking processes, develop their spirituality, develop speech and language skills and to build confidence in their ability to express themselves. A question is posed at the end of Wednesday's collective worship. The children then have time to think about it, before discussing their ideas in detail back in the classroom. You can view some of the children's answers displayed in our class reflection areas, or within our whole school 'Big Questions' book! Examples of questions include: 'Can you be good and bad?', 'Is world peace possible?' and 'What's the most valuable thing in the world?'
Each term, a different class takes responsiblity for leading collective worship for the whole school and their parents.
In Religious Education, we use a resource called ‘Understanding Christianity’, which enables pupils to know about and understand Christianity as a living world faith, by exploring core theological concepts.
Children learn about the ‘big story’, which takes them through the core concepts of God, Creation, Fall, People of God, Incarnation, Gospel, Salvation and the Kingdom of God.
To launch the use of this resource, each class from EYFS to Year 6 took a concept, and basing their work on the original artwork by Emma Yarlett, produced a class image to best display this concept, often incorporating aspects from our local community. The finished pieces were stunning and are on show in school.
We are an inclusive school, welcoming those of all faiths and none.
We recently had a visitor join us to deliver an inspiring collective worship about Judaism.