Blaby Stokes CE Primary School is a welcoming Church of England school, rooted in Christian values where everyone is respected and included. Please see below for more information about our church school.
 

Collective Worship

Collective Worship is central to education in our school and forms part of the school’s overall provision for prayer and worship. Collective Worship in our school respects the diversity of belief and commitment, but it is Christian in character. 

Intent 

‘We want pupils to leave school with a rich experience and understanding of Christianity, and we are committed to offering them an encounter with Jesus Christ and with Christian faith and practice in a way that enhances their lives…Collective worship in schools, including prayer, reading and reflecting on the Bible, liturgy, sacrament and experience of the musical and other imaginative riches of Christianity, provide a vital opportunity for this.’ 

 The Church of England Education Office, Church of England Vision for Education: Deeply Christian, Serving the Common Good. (The Church of England Education Office 2016) page 10 

Worship should be inclusive of pupils and staff of all faiths and beliefs or none, invitational where all are invited, not required, to participate, and inspiring all to reflect on their lives and the world, wherever they may be on their journey of faith and belief.

Implementation 

• We will share the school’s vision and how it underpins our shared values and virtues.  
• We will reflect on moral values such as compassion, gratitude, justice, humility, forgiveness and reconciliation; and develop virtues such as resilience, determination and creativity that develop character and contribute to academic progress. We will reflect on our School Christian values and show how these can feed into our daily lives as well as showing pupils how they link to other values in our communities. 
• We will help pupils and adults to appreciate the relevance of faith in today’s world by encountering the teachings of Jesus and the Bible and developing understanding of the Christian belief in the trinitarian nature of God.  
• We will offer the opportunity, without compulsion, to all pupils and adults to grow spiritually through experiences of prayer, stillness, worship and reflection.  
• We will enable all pupils and adults to appreciate that Christians worship in different ways, for example using music, silence, story, prayer, reflection, as well as through the varied liturgical and other traditions of Anglican worship, festivals and, where appropriate, the Eucharist. 
• We will enable pupils to develop skills through engaging in the planning, leading and evaluation of collective worship in ways that lead to improving practice  

These ideas are taken from The Church of England guidance  Worship Guidance  

Impact 

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. 
• Affirm Christian values and attitudes. 
• Share each other's joys and challenges. 
• Celebrate special times in the Christian calendar. 

These ideas are taken from The Church of England guidance  Worship Guidance 

DIOCESE OF LEICESTER

ALL SAINTS CHURCH, BLABY

Windows, Mirrors, Doors: How we encourage spirituality

‘Spirituality is like a bird.  If you hold it too closely, it chokes. And if you hold it too loosely, it escapes.’ Yisroel Salanter Lipkin

 

At BSP Primary, we believe that it is very important to provide all children with a range of opportunities to help them develop spiritually. We believe that spiritual development may not be synonymous with RE and Collective Worship and can be explored through many different curriculum areas and as part of our personal development offer.

As a school we focus on the idea of 4 concepts of spirituality: self, others, world and beauty and beyond. We start with ‘big questions’ about life and we plan a series of encounters (windows) that open up the possibility of reflection (mirrors). Finally, the children are given the opportunity to put into action what they believe and value (doors).

We use the Windows, Mirrors and Doors model to support spiritual development. 

Windows – Learning about life

We give children opportunities to become aware of the world in new ways; to wonder about life’s ‘Wows’ (things that are amazing and unexplainable as to why they evoke such a response) and ‘Ows’ (things that upset us and cause us to be uncertain).  In this, our children are learning about life in all its fullness.

Mirrors – Learning from life

We give children opportunities to reflect on their experiences; to meditate and reflect on life’s big questions and to consider some possible answers.  In this, they are learning from life by exploring their own insights and perspectives and those of others.

Doors – Learning to live life

We give children opportunity to respond to all of this; to do something creative as a means of expressing, applying and further developing their thoughts and convictions.  In this they are learning to live by putting into action what they are coming to believe and value.