Collective worship is the unique heartbeat of a Church school and is offered as part of a wider opportunity for pupils and adults to encounter faith by engaging in conversations about God, both as individuals and together.

Here at St Paul’s, our collective worship reflects and reinforces the school’s vision aims and ethos. We strive to articulate a message that is inspiring but also recognises the wholeness of each child with the desire to facilitate their emotional and spiritual growth. Our collective worship both implicitly, and explicitly, demonstrates our Christian values.

These are: Trust, Wisdom, Perseverance, Respect, Hope and Compassion.

At St Paul’s School we consider Collective Worship to be an important part of the school day. An opportunity to reflect and develop the school’s distinctive Christian character but also an opportunity to contribute to the academic achievement, personal development and wellbeing of pupils and staff. A moment of pause, stillness and quiet in the midst of a busy day.

We aim for our collective worship to

• Be a daily expression of our school’s Christian vision.
• Be inclusive, invitational and inspiring for all pupils, staff and parents and visitors
• Offer the opportunity, without compulsion, to all pupils and adults to grow spiritually through experiences of prayer, stillness, worship and reflection
• Enable all pupils and adults to appreciate Christian worship in different ways, for example using music, silence, story, prayer, reflection, the varied liturgical and other traditions of Anglican worship, festivals and, where appropriate, the Eucharist.
• Help pupils and adults to appreciate the relevance of faith in today’s world, to encounter the teachings of Jesus and the Bible and to develop their understanding of the Christian belief in the Trinitarian nature of God and its language.
• Enable pupils as well as adults to engage in the planning, leading and evaluation of collective worship in ways that lead to improving practice. Leaders of worship, including clergy, have access to regular training.
• Encourage local church community partnerships to support the school effectively in developing its provision for collective worship.

Each Collective worship will take the format of:

• Gather
• Engage
• Respond / Reflect
• Send

Collective worship looks different each day of the week at St Paul’s. We have a theme each term or half term, with a key focus each week. The focus is introduced on a Monday in a whole school assembly. Then on a Tuesday this is explored through a school or British value. Then on a Wednesday we have class thoughtful time, that will either explore the weekly focus in more detail or explore a big question (often resonating with the weekly focus). Thursday is a key stage gathering and led either by the church or takes a current perspective looking at something from the news (using ‘Picture News’). Then on a Friday we have a whole school celebration assembly, where we are reminded of the weekly challenge that was set on Monday and then we celebrate achievements by pupils from the week.

This term our theme is “Face to face with Jesus”. Each week we explore a different character or group of people who were changed from meeting Jesus.

We are then reflecting on their experience and whether this prompts us to make some changes too!