Worship at St Mary’s

St Mary’s is a VA Church of England Primary School. As such it has a Trust Deed which states that worship “should be in accordance with the principles and practice of the Church of England”. Collective worship takes account of the ages, aptitude and background of the pupils and is provided daily.

Collective worship provides an opportunity for the children to explore, reflect upon and respond to the Christian faith, moral issues and their own beliefs. Participation and response are encouraged whether through active involvement in the presentation of worship or through listening to and joining in the worship offered. Collective Worship provides opportunities to develop community spirit and promote a common ethos based on the school’s Christian values.

The cycle and colours of the church year is observed and services are regularly held in the Church for major festivals. We have a school Eucharist in the church three times a year and children are encouraged to lead worship both in school and in the church.

Collective worship is planned around the school’s twelve Values (1 value per term) and the impact of it is evaluated by members of different classes. The school’s close relationship with St Mary’s Church means that the vicar regularly leads worship in school.

We have a school worship team and they prepare the elements and support teachers in the daily worship. As well as the head teacher all teachers lead worship and we enjoy having visitors occasionally to lead worship as well.

In support of the values, prayer is at the heart of our worship, all children know the Lord’s Prayer and they have opportunities during the year to write their own prayers. We have an annual prayer day in school and have a prayer basket where we put our prayers for the term. In every class there is a prayer station which allows children to reflect.

Our structure for worship consists of:

Daily act of worship 

We invite children to worship

It should be an enjoyable part of the day

A ‘party for God’

Main value this term is Community but we will be looking at all of our values.

Monday – Teams led by Head Teacher at 10.15 am

Tuesday – I SingPop in class

Wednesday – Worship through Song/Well-being Wednesday

Thursday – Worship Team led reflections in class

Friday –  Celebration worship - Lead a member of our Senior Leadership Team

Daily Liturgy:

Welcome

Learning – WINDOW

Reflecting – MIRROR

Responding – DOOR

We have classroom worship teams to help set up and prayer stations set up in class.

Colours of worship important and discussion of the Trinity must come into worship regularly. Children must also understand the spiritual development aspect of worship. Use these phrases with them they need to get used to them.

Open the Book (OtB) is an exciting storytelling project where Bible stories are shared with children in a way that is fun, interactive and memorable. As invited guests in school, storytelling teams use the Open the Book programme to prepare and present a 10–15 minute scripted Bible story to a school assembly, involving the children as much as possible.

Storytelling teams are made up of trained and safely recruited volunteers from local churches and organisations.

This term we had 3 of our Worship team help with the storytelling. Thank you to Olivia, Charlotte ad Ella.

How does OtB benefit schools?

• It gives the school a link with the community
• It provides opportunities to build cross-generational relationships
• It provides a time of quiet reflection that schools are required to build into their school day
• It makes an engaging school assembly