Collective worship
Collective worship at Crowle Primary Academy
In line with the 1988 Education Reform Act and the 1996 education Act, we carry out a daily act of collective worship which is ‘wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character’.
Our acts of collective worship aim to provide the opportunity for pupils to worship God, to consider spiritual and moral issues and to explore their own beliefs; to encourage participation and response, whether through active involvement in the presentation of worship or through listening to and joining in the worship offered; and to develop community spirit, promote a common ethos and shared values, and reinforce positive attitudes.
The majority of our acts will take place within the academy, however, on special occasions these may take place in other premises such as the local church.
Collective worship will not be used to teach RE any more than an RE lesson would entail worship. RE and worship are separate activities although they may reinforce each other.
What are the legal requirements for collective worship?
- Collective worship must be provided daily for all registered pupils.
- Parents have the right to withdraw their children from all or part of collective worship.
- Schools have a responsibility for the supervision of pupils withdrawn from collective worship but may not provide alternative activities.
- The requirement is to provide a daily act of collective, not corporate, worship. ‘Corporate’ worship is worship appropriate to a body (or corpus) of believers, such as in a church. ‘Collective’ worship is worship appropriate to a group with a range of views allowing a variety of responses.
- Collective worship must be “wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character”. It fulfils this if it “reflects the broad traditions of Christian belief, without being distinctive of any Christian denomination”. Consideration must be given to "the family backgrounds of the pupils” and "their ages and aptitudes". Not every act has to be of a "broadly Christian character" as long as "most" acts of worship "taking any school term as a whole" conform.
- Collective worship can take place in any group that exists for normal school purposes. So it can be a combination of the whole school, year groups, key stage groups or class groups.
- Collective worship can be held at any time of the school day. There is no statutory length of time for collective worship. It need not be long or elaborate, “less is more”: 5 to 15 minutes with a focus and a period of calm silence is usually plenty.
Definition of Collective Worship
Collective Worship is a time when the whole school, or groups within the academy meet together in order to consider and reflect on common concerns, issues and interests.
It provides a focus for personal development and reflection. It is an opportunity to reflect on fundamental questions of life and to celebrate things of worth.
The things that the academy consider to be of worth like our core values are consistent with Christian and other religious values like honesty, compassion, trust, forgiveness, humility, courage, service, respect, justice, and generosity etc. Through consideration of these values we ensure that our collective worship is ‘broadly Christian’ in character. Using religious teachings, stories and understanding of religious celebrations helps us to extend pupil’s thinking on these values. Our exploration of our themes will allow us to explore them from different faith and non-faith perspectives and what it means for each person, the school and society as a whole.
The Organisation of Collective Worship
Collective Worship is organised to provide a variety of groupings and will take place in the school hall or the classroom.
Collective acts of worship are incorporated into whole school assemblies based on planned themes.
Leadership
Every member of the teaching staff and occasional visitors will be involved in leading acts of worship at some point in the school year.
Planning Acts of Collective Worship
Termly assembly rotas including a range of themes, special occasions and events will be followed, but will be flexible to allow the inclusion of current and topical issues.
Crowle Primary Academy - weekly pattern of collective worship
Monday – whole school collective worship, led by the Headteacher or deputy headteacher (5-10 minutes)
Used to celebrate children who have been ‘noticed’ showing the academy’s values and rules.
Will also discuss the theme for the term and lead a worship time.
Introduce the agreed theme. A visitor from a denomination or faith could be asked to explain what the theme means to them or share an artefact or prayer that reflects the theme.
Tuesday and Wednesday - Class and year group worship led by teachers and pupils
Based on the theme.
Thursday - ‘Singing Assembly’
Songs will be chosen to reflect the academy’s values. Songs will be discussed as to their themes and what they show us or ask us to consider
An act of worship will be incorporated.
Friday – pitch assembly facilitated by the Headteacher or deputy headteacher but led in the main by the children.
This will reflect on achievements to explore qualities like teamwork, determination, resilience, hard work. A moment will be taken to explore how the learning children have done reflect our core values and time given for children to reflect.
How we demonstrate that it is time for worship in gatherings
Collective worship will always include opportunities for reflection. We don’t impose prayer on pupils or deny the opportunity of it for those to whom it is an appropriate expression of their beliefs. We give pupils a choice to opt in or out of prayer, by introducing it in an open ended way.
To reflect the mindfulness approach used in our PHSCE curriculum the leader of the assembly will use a chime to show that it is now time for reflection.
Crowle Primary Academy three year collective worship/ assembly plan
Children join whole school assemblies in year 1, they will therefore visit each theme twice throughout their time at the academy. This allows older children to revisit the theme and reflect in a different way.
Our core values – respect, resilience, kindness, independence, high aspirations.
The weekly assembly plan is below.