Collective Worship
Our School Day starts at 8.50am 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 worship 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. Collective worship 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 (2024/25) our themes will be:
- Term 1: Generosity
- Term 2: Compassion
- Term 3: Courage
- Term 4: Forgiveness
- Term 5: Friendship
- Term 6: Respect
Open the Book
During Collective Worship every week on a Monday, members of the St Birinus, St Mary’s and Woodfalls Methodist congregations 'Open The Book' and read a Bible story to our children from The Lion Storyteller Bible. Sometimes the stories involve some acting, audience participation or dressing up. There is always time to reflect on what the story teaches us and a choice to join in the prayer at the end.
Newsday Tuesday
A member of staff shares a news bulletin style Collective Worship with child-friendly news stories that are local, national and international. Animal and space stories feature quite heavily! We also sing a little more on this day than usual, as we learn new songs or prepare for upcoming Christian festivals. We link these collective worship sessions to our British Values.
Values
Wednesday’s Collective Worship is our main assembly to explore our termly theme.
Songs of Praise
On Thursdays children join together singing songs of praise.
Well done Worship
On Friday it is our ‘Well Done’ assembly where the achievements of the week are celebrated. We have our Well Dones, Stars of the week, Golden Ticket winners, Golden Book entries and TTRS awards. Parents are encouraged to attend this collective worship and we let parents know if their child will be
receiving an award with a ‘Well Done Postcard’ the day before and a follow up email (just in case).