Collective Worship at St George's

We provide a daily act of collective worship. Worship lies at the heart of Christian life and at the heart of our school. This reflects the traditions of this country which are, in the main, broadly Christian. At St George's this takes many exciting and spiritually developing experiences for all the children. At St George's Collective Worship often makes links to our school's core Christian Values. We follow the Anglican Church Calendar when planning Collective Worship and St George's has built up an excellent relationship with the Church to support this work. Children are encourage to plan, lead and evaluate worship throughout the year, with children regularly leading prayers, meeting with Mrs Accastello and governors to evaluate worship and join in with acting out Bible stories. Our Worship Leaders are responsible for setting the space for worship to take place in and leading the gathering, prayers and sending out. Worship Leaders have their own page below.   

We believe that the outcomes of Collective Worship should be:

• Social experience
• Awareness
• Spiritual experience
• Development of Skills
• Development of Knowledge
• Confidence
• Ability to pray

Every child has opportunities to take part in Collective Worship and develop spiritual reflection.

The timetable below shows which Collective Worship we have each day. Below you will find a copy of the Collective Worship Themes we plan for. These are planned by staff and Foundation Governors termly and monitored by the Head Teacher and Foundation Governors from St George's Church.

Collective Worship lead by all teachers, children, Foundation Governors, clergy from St George's Church and other visitors to the school.

The Coordinator for Collective Worship is Mrs Accastello.

"If a school is to be an intelligent community it will always need space to reflect, time to stop, to consider its priorities, to extend its horizons. That is what collective worship is about." Dr Rowan Williams - Former Archbishop of Canterbury

Worship Leaders are children who volunteer from Year 2.

What do Worship Leaders do?

• The Worship Leaders welcome everyone to worship by reading a ‘gathering’.
• Worship Leaders bring prayers from classroom prayer trees and prayer boxes and read them during collective worship.
• Worship Leaders read the relevant ‘sending out’ at the end of collective worship.
• They wear a special badge on their uniform to let other children know they are Worship Leaders and they can speak to them about collective worship.
• They may help to tell stories and act during worship (but all children have an opportunity to do this if they wish to).
• They help the collective worship leader to plan worship themes. 
• Worship Leaders have the opportunity to plan and lead their own worship. 

Our Definition of Spirituality

Spirituality is derived from Hebrew ruach, which had a range of meanings:

• spirit
• breath
• wind

  • that which gives life and animation to something

By being spiritual we are exploring beliefs and our experiences; we respect all faiths, feelings and values; we enjoy learning about ourselves, others and our world; we use our imagination and creativity; we reflect.

At St George’s we offer endless opportunities for all children and members of the school community to explore spirituality. As a Church of England school this often reflects our distinctively Christian character.

In school we give opportunities for reflection. Be it in lessons or collective worship, children develop an understanding of looking back and reflecting on what they have experienced. This may take the form of looking back and taking from the past, from a Bible story, from a picture/icon/view/learning experience… The focus is to help us in our lives today and tomorrow.

We provide children with opportunities for spiritual development in three ways:

WINDOWS: giving children opportunities to become aware of the world in new ways; to wonder about life's 'Wows' (things that are amazing) and 'ows' (things that bring us up short). In this children are learning about life in all its fullness.

MIRRORS: giving children opportunities to reflect on their experiences; to meditate 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: giving children opportunities 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.