Let your light shine

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

Collective Worship is a focal point of each day at Winslow CE school. It is underpinned by our Christian , values – kindness, forgiveness, honesty, respect and love to learn – and Jesus’ teaching of shining our light before others and giving glory to God.

We have structured our Collective Worship using Roots and Fruits to ensure that learning is clearly rooted in the Bible and the Church year. We believe that Collective Worship should:

• be engaging, inspiring and transformational
• involve the children and allow them to play an active part in worship
• include a range of creative opportunities e.g. music, silence, symbol and drama
• develop the Christian vision, values and ethos of our school and contribute to spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of all participants

Each half-term we explore fully one of our school Christian values.

The pattern of Collective Worship is:

Years 1 to 6:

Monday – Whole School Worship led by Rev. Stephen O'Connor from St Laurence Church, Winslow

Tuesday – Whole School Worship led by Headteacher or SLT.

Wednesday – Key Stage Worship including worship through singing.

Thursday – Key Stage Class Worship using iSingPOP themes.

Friday – Whole School Worship and Celebration.

Reception:

Monday – Jack in the Box Big Bible Story.

Tuesday – Class Worship and Stilling

Wednesday – Class Worship through singing

Thursday – Jack in the Box Big Bible Story.

Friday – Class/Whole School Worship and Celebration.

As a Church of England school we follow the liturgical calendar and celebrate each of the Christian festivals. We learn about festivals from other faiths, our world and the environment and British traditions and customs.

Our children are encouraged to participate in our worship. A team of Worship Leaders help lead collective worship, sharing our liturgy and Bible readings regularly.

This is a favourite song used during collective worship to help children understand the meaning behind the verse from Matthew 5:16.

Prayer

Our school community is invited to pray both during Collective Worship and at other times during the school day. Each classroom has a Reflection Area where children can pause, be still and think about how they can let their light shine.

A prayer basket is available to all and prayers are taken back to St Laurence Church regularly to be blessed.

Collective Worship for our community

As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, three prayer stations were placed around our school. These encouraged people to reflect on trust, hope and love.

Our prayer stations have developed and are currently focused on the ‘I am’ statements of Jesus taught from the Gospel of John. They encourage the participant to think about letting their light shine. These will be in position over a 2-year cycle.

During the academic year all classes visit our local church at least twice. They visit as part of their RE topic and for a service which they lead.

Our Collective Worship is evaluated on a regular basis using our Gold Book. All adults are encouraged to give feedback and pupil responses are invited through the Gold Book and pupil voice.

The overwhelming feedback post COVID-19 was that everyone had missed worship as a whole community and that we wanted to worship through singing again too. However, the most successful elements of our class-based worship from during the pandemic have now been incorporated into our regular pattern of worship. This includes discussing wider aspects of our world, the practice of stilling (Contemplation Toolkit) and having the freedom to use outside spaces for worship.