Radwinter C OF E Primary School

Collective Worship Policy

Philosophy

As a school we want children to feel part of and grow in the Christian Faith. We

believe collective worship is an important part of the spiritual development of our

Children. It is the cornerstone of our day and the basis for much of the other learning and activities throughout the school day.

Aims

  • To promote Christian and British values.
  • To promote our school values of Fairness, Respect, Kindness, Service and Forgiveness.
  • To encourage children to develop a spiritual and moral dimension to life through the use of words, music and images.
  • To encourage children to develop a growing awareness of God and understanding of what it means to be a Christian.
  • To promote a sense of awe and wonder within our children of the natural and man-made world around us.
  • To provide opportunities for reflection and response.
  • To involve children with the local churches by holding collective worship at times in church and by inviting the vicar, Rvd Philip Tarris and church warden Helen O’Brien to lead worship once a week in school. The SWAT (Saffron Walden Assembly Team) also regularly lead collective worship in school.
  • To enable the children to feel at home in the local church organisation.
  • To understand and respect other faiths.

Legal Status of Collective Worship

The 1988 Education Reform Act requires that ‘all pupils in attendance at a maintained school shall on each day take part in an act of Collective Worship’. We seek to do our best to keep the spirit of this legislation by ensuring we provide a high quality act of worship on a daily basis.

The themes are based on both Christian and British values and the Christian calendar. Collective acts of worship vary between whole school, class assemblies and celebration/sharing assemblies. This enables worship to be relevant and appropriate to the age groups involved. Collective worship is normally held first thing in the morning to set the tone for the school day.

The school recognises that there is a difference between Acts of Collective Worship and the assembly of children. On some occasions assembly may proceed or follow and Act of Collective Worship. When this happens the transition from Assembly to worship will be marked in some suitable way e.g. the lighting of a candle or reflecting on an image on the whiteboard, moment of silence and reflection etc.

Teachers attend whole school worship sessions. All staff and governors are invited

to attend any collective worship sessions throughout the year and parents are invited to a large number of our acts of worship and celebration.

Planning, Recording and Evaluation

Collective worship will be treated like any other part of the curriculum when it comes to matters of planning, delivery, resourcing and evaluation. The content and methodology of Collective Worship should be varied and there is evidence of this in planning.

Each week there is a theme for Collective worship. These are published at the end of the collective worship policy (see appendix 1). Those leading worship that week are encouraged to relate their worship to this theme (although it is expected that, on occasion, the theme may be replaced with another that is seen as fitting and relevant for example a big news story, local event etc.). The themes chosen are broad enough to allow all those leading worship to approach the theme from their own perspective. This will mean that by the end of the week the students will have had the opportunity to reflect on the theme from a variety of viewpoints.

Each person leading worship is asked to plan his or her act of worship in as much detail as they would any learning activity. Planning sheets for collective worship are filled out by staff and visitors and are kept in a central file in the staff room.

Staff are often observed leading acts of worship and are also given opportunities to evaluate their leading of collective worship on a regular basis. This encourages staff to reflect on their experience, the experiences offered to the children and ensures that we offer good quality, consistent worship.

Content

As a Church of England School our main themes are Christian. Materials from world faithsare used where appropriate to enrich the theme. Other religions are acknowledged and respected. Reverend Philip Tarris and Helen O’Brien (church warden) lead Collective Worship regularly as do visitors from the SWAT team. Visiting speakers are invited to lead collective worship and the content is discussed in advance with the Headteacher and/or collective worship subject leader.

Generally our acts of worship follow a consistent pattern which is in keeping with the Anglican nature and traditions of our school:

  • lighting of candle, welcome
  • opening prayer/time of quiet
  • hymn/song/worship
  • story, poem, drama etc
  • explanation and expansion of story/poem etc content
  • possible 2nd hymn/song
  • time of quiet/refection
  • time of sharing
  • closing prayer

It is recognised and valued, however, that worship should be a free act in which flexibility, time and space should be given to allow for reflection, questioning, investigation, celebration and response. Therefore, the leader of worship should adapt plans accordingly should they feel it is right.

Each term children attend church at Radwinter or Hempsted and take part in a variety of services. These include but are not limited to:

-A Harvest festival, celebrated in September/October;

-A Christingle service, Christmas nativity and carol service held in church in December;

-Easter service in the spring term

-The Leavers’ Service in Church towards the end of the summer term, lead by Year 6

-Eucharist services (held termly)

We recognise that acts of worship should not be solely confined to set times in the hall but that it should be integral to the life of the school and it’s members. We encourage moments of quiet, reflection, celebration and prayer in the classroom as well as in our acts of collective worship and allow time and space for children to question and explore themes discussed in collective worship time.

Children’s participation

At Radwinter C of E primary school, we understand that acts of worship are an essential part of a child’s development and therefore believe that they should be involved in the planning, initiating and evaluating of collective worship within our school. Children are often rich in inspiration and ideas and we actively seek and encourage to get them involved in as many ways as possible.

  • The children recently received a questionnaire where they were able to share their views on our current worship and to suggest ways of improvement. As an ongoing form of evaluation there are also ‘feedback questions’ asked of some children by a worship council member after each worship session.
  • There is a prayer box in the hall in which the children may either place prayers they have written (which they may then share in future acts of worship) or place requests for prayer. Prayer is also actively child-lead in a variety of different ways throughout worship sessions.
  • All worship sessions are interactive in nature, allowing children to participate at a level that suits them.
  • Children are encouraged to join in with and accompany worship in different ways e.g. by playing the recorder or piano
  • Our worship councilconsists of children from each year group and from a multitude of faiths and abilities. These children are involved in the planning and leading of worship sessions each term and of regular monitoring and evaluating of worship.
  • All children in the school participate in the leading of their class assembly once a term.

Resources

Topic ideas and resources for RE are kept upstairs where they are accessible to all staff. Music for collective worship sessions is kept in the hall. The “Come and Praise” CDs and books are available, although we now often use other music with words on the screen to enrich our worship. A worship table for a focus candle and crucifix symbol are kept in the hall and set up for collective worship. The table also displays a cloth which the children designed and made using well-known Christian symbols and images from Bible stories. It also has a changeable center which we change to reflect the colours of the church calendar as appropriate. A church year calendar is displayed in the hall in the form of a ring; this is adapted according to the current season.

Right of Withdrawal

All children will attend the daily act of collective worship unless they are withdrawn by parental request. Children who are withdrawn from collective worship will be

supervised in a suitable area of the school, and will enter the hall in time to

participate with any other aspects of collective worship e.g. announcements, notices

or celebration of achievements.

If there are any concerns about Collective Worship, parents are encouraged to contact

the Headteacher.

Reviewed September 2016. To be reviewed September 2017.