We Start the Day Together
Our School Day starts at 9am in the Hall with a Collective Act of Worship. A child will light a candle to remind us that God is with us and then sing a song together. We like singing; we enjoy the feeling of togetherness that it gives us and we’re especially keen on songs with actions! We have a theme for our assemblies that changes each term. We have 12 themes that we look at on rotation, these are: Generosity, Compassion, Courage, Forgiveness, Friendship, Respect, Thankfulness, Trust, Perseverance, Justice, Service and Truthfulness. These fit in well with our School’s Community Values which form the basis of how we behave in School. Assemblies may involve a short interactive talk, a story with a moral, a short video clip, a drama, a quiz or an illustration. All will involve a short period of collective or individual reflection and a prayer.
This year (2017/18) our themes will be:
- Term 1: Thankfulness
- Term 2: Trust
- Term 3: Perseverance
- Term 4: Justice
- Term 5: Service
- Term 6: Truthfulness
We also send home an activity sheet for parents to use with their children for each theme.
On Mondays we do more singing than usual as it’s our Songs of Praise, there may be a short ‘Thought for the Day’ and a prayer.
Tuesday's Collective Worship is our main assembly to explore our termly theme or enjoy a visit from members of other Churches in our faith community.
On Wednesday’s we ‘Open the Book’.
On Thursday children meet in their Class or Key Stage which enables them to explore a theme that is more closely aimed at their age group.
On Friday it is our ‘Well Done’ assembly where the achievements of two or more children from each class are celebrated, House Points are totalled, children gaining their ‘Best Ever Score’ in Big Maths are congratulated and the completion of a ‘Lexia Level’ is marked with a certificate. Other achievements, such as swimming, music or sports awards may also be applauded.
Parents are welcome to attend any of our Acts of Collective Worship except the Thursday Class worship, but parents most usually attend the Friday ‘Well Done’ assembly – especially if their child is receiving an award! We let parents know with a ‘Well Done Postcard’ the day before if this is the case.
Collective Worship finishes with the candle being extinguished by a child whose Birthday it is (or the nearest if their Birthday falls at a weekend or during the holidays) and at 9.25am children return to their classrooms ready to enjoy their learning.