UNITED SCHOOLS FEDERATION

St. Michael’s C. of E. Nursery & Primary School   St. Catherine’s C. of E. VA Nursery & Primary School

St. Mary’s C. of E. VA Primary School   Marldon C. of E. VA Primary School  

COLLECTIVE WORSHIP POLICY

Introduction

As VA and VC schools within the federation we believe that Collective Worship plays a very important role in the life of our schools.  It is an opportunity to celebrate all aspects of school life to support our curriculum and to provide an opportunity for stillness and reflection in what is often a very busy, active day for our children.

Aims

The central aims of Collective Worship are to:

•  provide our children with regular opportunities for stillness and reflection
•  promote children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development
•  celebrate the values and worth of the school community and all who belong in it, including the sharing of the gifts and talents of our children.
• help children develop and understanding both of the nature and language of worship
•  help children develop respect and sensitivity to the beliefs and values of others
• support the broader curriculum through the use of art, music, dance, story, drama and other visual and oral means of communication.

The Legal Position

The 1988 Education Reform Act states that collective worship must be on a daily basis for all registered pupils.  Furthermore, acts of worship “must be wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character, i.e. reflect the broad traditions of Christian belief.”  At the United School’s Federation we have developed a range of themes and topics through which collective worship takes place.  Key themes include love, joy, trust, forgiveness, justice and the value of all human life.  We believe these themes are clearly Christian in nature but are universal in their application.  We recognise that in our schools we have children from a variety of faith backgrounds and that many children have no religious background at all.  Great care is taken in our collective worship to ensure that all children feel valued and special and that their integrity as human beings is consistently upheld.  Collective Worship at United School’s Federation is an inclusive activity.  Parents do have, of course, the right of withdrawal from Collective Worship.  Parents who have any concerns about the provision and practice of our Collective Worship are strongly encouraged to contact the Head of Teaching and Learning / Headteacher.

Context of Collective worship

In order to promote children’s learning, our acts of worship vary in size and throughout the federation can include ‘guest’ assemblies (with visitors from local churches), house assemblies, Key Stage assemblies, singing assemblies and whole school praise assemblies as celebrations.

Visitors play an important part in the life of our schools and regularly contribute to acts of worship.  We record our acts of worship to inform our learning and plan for further developments.  We are developing a range of resources to enhance children’s learning.  These include stories, music, slides, poems, pictures and posters and DVDs all of which we hope contribute to a stimulating and thoughtful time for our children.

Conclusion

Collective Worship plays a very important role in our schools as we seek to develop our children in the skills of reflection and empathy, to encourage and celebrate their talents and to promote their spiritual and moral development.

Please read in conjunction with:

Parental right of withdrawal from Collective Worship and/or Religious Education