“Collective worship is the unique heartbeat of the school and is offered as part of a wider opportunity for pupils and adults to encounter faith by engaging in conversation about God. It should be truly welcoming, inclusive and exemplify the principles of Christian hospitality. This is an approach that seeks to meet the needs of all, wherever they may be on their journey of faith and belief.”
Collective Worship statement of Entitlement and Expectation March 2021
Our daily worship is intrinsically linked with our school’s Christian values and focuses heavily on how to live out those values in our daily lives. We start each day coming together as a “family “ so we can spend time together and set the day ahead in a way that promotes our overarching vision but focusses also on the value we are considering. We celebrate and consider significant events, festivals and faith days in a fully inclusive way. At All Saints CEVA School, collective worship is:
- Invitational, offering everyone the opportunity to engage in the act of worship, whilst allowing the freedom for those of other faiths and none to be present with integrity.
- Inspiring and creative, impacting the whole community and motivating them into action to be courageous advocates.
- Inclusive, where all are welcomed, have a voice and are listened to.
- The heartbeat which breathes life into our daily lives
Worship is highly engaging and interactive. As part of our continued desire to improve, staff receive training and support to ensure high quality provision, which is monitored, and feedback provided as part of our improvement cycle. Visits to a wide range of churches and visitors into school ensure our children are engaged in a wide range of worship styles.
We use the “Roots and Fruits” resource as a main framework for Worship. Looking in depth at one value each half term with therefore 12 values across the two-year cycle.
We consider always “With Jesus as our guide we will inspire a passion for learning, high aspirations and respect for all.
“Whatever you do. Work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord "
This theologically rooted Vision is underpinned and reinforced further by the Collective Worship Values. These being:
Generosity “God Loves a cheerful Giver “Corinthians 9;2
Compassion “Clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” Colossians 3:12
Courage “Be Strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Forgiveness “Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive others.” Colossians 3:13
Friendship “Encourage one another and build each other up”. 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Respect “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Matthew 7:12
Thankfulness “Always be thankful.”1Thessalonians 5:16
Trust “My God is my strength in whom I trust.” Psalm 18:2
Perseverance “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13
Justice “Learn to do right. Seek justice.” Isaiah 1:17
Service “Serve one another in love.” Galatians 5:13
Truthfulness “Tell the truth to each other.” Zechariah 8:16
We have adopted the Windows Mirrors Doors approach which we encourage as part of our daily collective worship.
Windows
Opportunities to look out on the world to gaze and wonder: The Wow and Ows moments. The things we find amazing and bring us up short.
Encounter: The learning about life
Mirrors
Giving opportunities for children to reflect, to look inward to consider some of the big questions of life: To explore their own insights and those of others.
Reflection: The learning from.
Doors
Giving opportunities to children to respond, to do something to go through the door of a creative expression of their own thoughts and convictions.
Transformation: The learning to live by putting into action what they believe.
Recognition
Every half term the collective worship lead and the Headteacher look at all of the class notes regarding the value that have been demonstrated in each class. One person is identified to be awarded the special” Value “Award. This is for outstanding behaviour or action related to the current value. Their family are invited to Celebration Worship, and it is shared in our newsletter H2H.
"We like to start the day with Worship as it gives us the opportunity to pause and think. We can get our minds into school and put to one side any difficulties that we may have had before school." Year Five Child.
Please click below to find out further information about the types of worship we experience at All Saints:
Child-Led Worship
Class worship is a valuable opportunity for children to celebrate together as a class whilst supporting their teachers in leading. Our children offer prayers and intercessions which they create. They lead the class in school prayer and liturgy, help with the telling of the stories and develop their spiritual understanding through the "I wonder…." questions. Every class invites parents, carers and family to celebrate their collective worship creation annually.
Our class worships are carefully timetabled so that each class can share the Collective worship work they have been studying /focussing on the previous term . Our Reception class share theirs at the end of the academic year so they can cover all six values
Each class with their class teacher help to plan a child-led collective worship for the rest of the school (and their grown-ups!) We were especially keen on this being led by the children, and so they were involved in every step of the planning.
Each class prepare a presentation including songs, drama, prayers and an explanation of their understanding of the value and how this is shown in everyday life at All Saints.
The school choir attends the Sunday service at both All Saints and All Hallows across the year and performs as part of the service . Children such as the Head boy and Head Girl plus the Headteacher are involved in the reading of intercessions and Readings.
Community-Led Worship
Across the academic year our Church priest Canon Paula York leads worship on a Wednesday. Sometimes this is at All Saints and All Hallows church on other occasions it is in school worship.
Once the worship time has been delivered by Canon Paula she then stays and works within a classroom supporting with an RE lesson. There is a rota of this across the school so that every class has a session with her. This enables Canon Paula to act as a resource when the class is covering an Understanding Christianity theme and for her to see the other faiths that we teach.
We are also fortunate to have the Christian Assembly Team who every month come to lead worship . They deliver worship based around a series of parables /Bible stories. Areas covered this year are :
- Wise and Foolish Builders
- Parable of Talents
- The good Samaritan
- A modern parable of Advent
- The great Feast
- The Lost Coin
- Good Friday and the Good Shepherd
- The Pharisee and the tax collector
- The Persistent widow wanting justice
- The Prodigal son
- The faithful servant
The children love having guests in our collective worship and respond beautifully to different styles of worship. They are quick to volunteer and participate.
We go to All Saints and All Hallows for our own services such as Harvest, Christingle, Nativity , Candlemass , Easter and a whole school production in the summer. The children are very used to a variety of leaders and members of the community including Foundation Governors leading worship at the church.
It is important that the children can be familiar with the church environment and that they see this as an extension of our school building! Overall we have many opportunities for community-led worship which we believe is an asset to our school.
What do we do in worship?
We carefully plan and create worship that is highly engaging,
inspirational and inclusive of everyone.
Children are involved in aspects of worship (the planning, delivering and response.) across the school year.
We gather stakeholder voice and use this to improve and adapt our worship. We follow a 'gather, engage, send' method using the helpful visual concept of 'windows, mirrors and doors'. This encourages the outward approach to life, seeking to look at how this reflects on our own lives and then considering what active approach we can take to change the world.
Our Worship guide will give you an understanding of how a collective worship works at All Saints and the schedule of themes within the overarching value.
| Title | Download |
|---|---|
| pdf Teachers Worship Plan | Download |
| Title | Download |
|---|---|
| pdf RE Statement of Entitlement | Download |
| pdf Collective Worship Policy 2024 | Download |