Collective Worship At Cold Harbour CE Primary School
Collective worship, or assembly as other schools may call it, is a very important part of our school day and Christian ethos. It gives the children the opportunity to come together to hear Bible stories, think, reflect, ask and answer questions, explore ideas, give thanks, sing and pray. The weekly timetable for collective worship is as follows:
Our Worship Ambassadors lead an assembly every half term linked to one of the School Values of Resilience, Respect, Trust, Thankfulness or Honesty.
Maryann Brooks from St. Mary’s Church, Bletchley and Peter Landry from Whaddon Way Church also come in and lead whole school assemblies each term.
Each half term The Bridge Builder Trust lead an assembly that teaches the children a key lesson that has ties with the Bible. The children are invited to share a prayer or to silently reflect on the theme of the assembly to consider how it might be meaningful or impactful to them. Their themes are detailed below.
- Changes what are you rooted in?
- Harvest – Do you really need that?
- Remembrance – Remarkable remembrance
- I’m the king of the castle
- What’s in your box?
- Where do you get your strength from?
- Facing your fears?
- Don’t run from your responsibilities
- The domino effect
- Start with the end in mind
Collective worship ambassadors
Our Worship Ambassadors are Tiana, Greatness, Lottie, Ivy, Archie D, Hridansh, Lily M, Ezekiel, Faye, Lily-Jane, Paulina & Alex, who will be under the support and direction of the RE Co-ordinators:
- Review and contribute towards the half termly planning of the school’s collective worship scheme.
- Support teachers with KS1 assemblies: reading Bible stories, taking part in role plays, working with children
- Run whole school assemblies
- Share ideas and reflections on the week’s value / teachings with the whole school
- Update the whole school collective worship display board.
Our Legal requirement
All schools must provide a daily act of collective worship for all pupils which must be ‘wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character’ (Education Reform Act 1988).
The aim of collective worship is to develop pupils socially, morally, spiritually and culturally. The 1994 legal framework documentation regarding collective worship still stands. Added to this is the recent requirement to promote British values as part of Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development (Ofsted, September 2014, DfE, November 2014).
Collective worship fulfils part of the school’s duty to develop pupils spiritually, morally, socially and culturally. Pupils are given the opportunity to learn about interesting cultural traditions and there meaning, listen to stories with a moral message and reflect on themes such as wisdom, courage or loyalty. It also draws pupils’ attention to the key values we hope to develop and promote both within our school community and in each individual. It is about the growth of the whole person, their character and social outlook, whatever their academic aptitudes.
Collective worship gives pupils and school staff the opportunity to:
- come together and foster a deeper sense of belonging as a member of a community
- express praise and thanks
- be still and have a moment of reflection
- consider the big questions of life and respond to national events
- foster respect and deepen spiritual awareness
- reflect on the character of God and on the teachings of Christ
- as appropriate affirm Christian values and attitudes
- share each other’s joys and challenges
- celebrate special times in the Christian calendar and other world religions