Being a Church School

Collective Worship

“inclusive, invitational, inspiring”

As a Church School, we hold a daily act of Collective Worship for our pupils where we gather, engage, respond and send. Worship is Christian in nature and has regard for the family background and the ages and aptitudes of our pupils.

Collective Worship provides the opportunity to worship God within the rich tradition of Christian prayer and worship. We aim to foster a sense of fellowship by bringing all members of our school community together each day for times of celebrating, sharing, reflecting, responding and praying in an open and sensitive climate. Individuals are invited to explore and deepen their spirituality and to respond both in their own lives and within the community.

Through Collective Worship at Freeman’s, we aim to strengthen a sense of belonging and a sharing of values, including Christian, School and British Values. In addition, we aim to stimulate the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of our pupils. Through Worship, individuals will develop an understanding of God as revealed in Jesus Christ, hear and respond to the teachings of the Bible, experience prayer and prepare for their daily experiences and responsibilities with the belief that God is involved in every area of life.

Our Acts of Worship contain elements of the following:

• Consideration of, and response to, the life and teaching of Jesus Christ.
• Knowledge and appreciation of the Bible.
• Praise and prayer to God.
• Exploration of the symbolism within the Christian faith and the Anglican tradition.
• Respect and tolerance for people of all faiths, races and cultures.
• Promotion of fundamental British Values.
• Participation in hymns and songs.
• Invitations to participate and observe.
• Recognition of, and response to, the spiritual dimension of human experience.
• Ritual and ceremony, stillness and reflection.

Worship is led by a wide range of members of our teaching and leadership team with contributions also being made by the children, including our Year 6 Worship Leaders. We benefit from regular Christian visitors who lead our worship, including staff from St Barnabas Church, the CSALT team (Christian School Assembly Link Team) and the CAT team (Christian Assemblies Team). Pupils and staff are involved in evaluating the effectiveness of Worship.

Local Church

We have a very close link with St Barnabas Church.

Please click here to view their website

Some of our Acts of Worship take place at St Barnabas Church, where parents are invited to join us as we celebrate important times in the school and Church year, including Harvest Festival, Christmas and Easter.

The church also run experiences for our children across the year. For example, some of the church members deliver Experience Easter for all of our children. 

Showing Our Values at Home

We want our values to be children’s virtues and to help us achieve this vision each child has a ‘Values Passport’. This is a passport that they take home every month when we start learning about a new value. Inside the passport is a list of possible ways in which children can show that value at home. If a child shows our values at home this is celebrated at one of collective worships and children are awarded with a values badge. All the badges have been designed by children. See photos below for a more visual explanation! 

 Spirituality Day

On Wednesday 10th January, both St Barnabas and Freeman’s schools held a Spirituality Day.  The day was introduced in Collective Worship and together we discussed what spirituality meant to us.  We talked about ‘Wow, Ow and Now’ moments and how we respond to those different moments in our lives. 

During the day the children spent time in the hall where there were different spirituality activities set up.  These included activities where children could think about different Ow, Wow and Now moments in their own lives and the lives of others. 

The children found the activities thought provoking and really valued the time they had to reflect and think. 

Prayer Club

 We offer our children at Freeman's a lunch time Prayer Club. The Club is designed to:

• encourage prayerfulness (including different types of prayer; asking, praising, saying sorry, thanking) 
• encourage reflection (about self, personal relationships, the world) 
• consider big issues/questions of life and faith such as justice, peace, conflict 
• develop spirituality 
• provide safety, calm, quiet; place to breathe and relax 
• mini pilgrimage from one space to another 
• non-denominational space; welcoming to children of all or no faith (inclusive) 

Stations are set up in the Prayer Club for children to explore. These include: 

• Bubble prayers (say a silent prayer and release it to God whilst blowing soap bubbles into the air) 
• Thankful box (give thanks in all circumstances) 
• Prayer wall/board (post-it notes with prayers stuck onto a wall or board) 
• Hope rope (tie or untie a rope/string/ribbon - representing letting go of worries - feeling ‘knotted up’) 
• Leave it there (write a worry on a note, screw it up and bin it) 
• Just a minute (1 minute timer - sit and reflect on all the people you will meet today and what acts of kindness you can show them) 
• Sand trays (write worries and then wipe them out) 
• Pray the news (encourage children to look at First News and pray for something they read about) 
• Please beads (place a bead into a bowl to represent a hope or wish) 
• Opportunity keys (hold a key and reflect on something new, an opportunity) 
• Mirror reflections (reflect on positive qualities of yourself, how God sees and values you) 
• Helping hands (write or draw on a hand print the people you can turn to for help in times of need) 
• Forgiveness stones (drop a stone into a bowl of clean water and let go of something you feel guilty about) 
• Calm jar (shake glitter jar/snow globe then watch as all the glitter settles)