Collective worship is central to life at St. Faith’s and plays a strong role in enabling pupils to live life in all its fullness. Pupils experience a range of worship styles, enabling them to participate in ways which support their spiritual development. SIAMS, 2019

Collective Worship at St Faith's

We understand worship to be a special act or occasion whose purpose is to show reverence to God. Collective worship involves members of our school community coming together in a variety of ways, for example: as a class, a key stage or a whole school. We encourage everyone, children, staff, parents and governors to reflect and participate. We have planned our collective worship themes based on the teachings of Jesus as well as Christian values and the traditional of the Anglican Church. This structure ensures the children have the opportunity to explore a wide range of issues in depth.

As a Church school, we place a strong emphasis upon Christianity, however we aim to ensure that our collective worship reflects the diverse society in which we live, and particularly our school community. We aim for all children/adults to feel included. We do this through a value based approach and through encouraging all children to share their contributions. At all opportunities, we encourage a greater awareness of other beliefs/faiths/festivals.

Organisation of Worship

We hold a daily act of collective worship in our school. This may include music, song, stories, and shared experiences, readings from sacred writing, prayer and reflection.

We conduct collective worship in a dignified and respectful way. It is a period of calm reflection. We regard it as a special time and expect children to behave in an appropriate way. We ask children to be quiet and thoughtful and to listen carefully to the teachings and participate fully in prayer and hymns. We create an appropriate atmosphere by using prayer, music, candles or other objects to act as a focal point for the attention of the children. The pupils are encouraged to express their ideas and points of view. There is a focus on active participation, with children talking and sharing ideas with partners. Children’s involvement in and opportunities to lead aspects on collective worship is encouraged.

Our Friday Family Worship time reflects the achievements and learning of the children. We encourage the children to participate by sharing their learning with the school community. This is an opportunity to acknowledge and reward children for their achievements both in and out of school.  We invite all parents and carers to our Family Worship as this promotes the community spirit of the school.

A daily prayer is said in all classrooms led by teachers at the end of the day.

Worship Themes

We focus on one Gospel value each half term in collective worship.

This year (2022-23) the Gospel values we are exploring are: