At Bathford Church School, Collective Worship is an important part of our daily school routine. It enables children and staff to reflect on our whole-school themes and values, particularly Christian values, and consider the impact they have on our everyday lives. Collective Worship provides opportunities to reflect on God, the teachings of the Bible, and our role within the wider community.
Bathford Church School has strong links with our local church, St Swithun’s, and we are very fortunate that once a week, on a Thursday, Reverend Lauretta or Reverend Jane from the St Swithun’s team lead our worship. This may involve sharing stories from the Bible, celebrating special occasions such as Harvest, Easter and Christmas, and supporting children to reflect on Christian values and their application in daily life.
Our Aims for Collective Worship
Our Collective Worship aims to:
- Provide opportunities for worshipping God.
- Provide opportunities for participants to develop a closer relationship with God.
- Encourage a sense of awe and wonder at the beauty, power and mystery of the world.
- Encourage resilience in the face of local and global current events.
- Encourage the development of a sense of spirituality.
- Encourage a sense of community within and beyond the school.
- Foster a sense of fellowship by bringing together pupils and staff to celebrate shared values in school and in the wider community.
- Share experiences and celebrate special occasions and events relating to individual pupils, the school community and the wider world.
- Enable children to develop their understanding of the Christian faith and the teachings of the Church.
- Acknowledge, understand and respect difference and diversity, recognising that we are all unique and loved by God.
- Enable children to consider moral issues.
- Provide time for quiet reflection, prayer and other appropriate responses.
We believe Collective Worship should be a positive experience for all children. We aim to provide opportunities for them to explore different approaches to Christian worship in an inclusive, engaging and meaningful way.
Our Trust Collective Worship policy can be found here:
https://www.bwmat.org/about-us/policies/
Christian Values
Our Collective Worship is based on a Christian value each term. We follow a three-year cycle, exploring the following values:
We have an SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural) map for each long term, which identifies our Christian value, whole-school theme, and significant festivals and events. This is used to plan our termly Collective Worship programme.
Pupil Involvement
Our School Council and House Captains play an active role in leading Collective Worship. House Captains help to promote our school values and rules of Be Your Best, Be Kind, Be Respectful and Be a Team, recognising and celebrating children who demonstrate these values through the awarding of house points.
Each term, classes take turns to write prayers that are shared during Collective Worship.
Within every act of worship, children are encouraged to participate, whether through acting out stories, sharing their thoughts and ideas, reading, praying or helping to lead parts of the worship.
Each long term, every class leads a Family Assembly, where children have the opportunity to speak in front of the whole school and their families. In the Autumn Term, children share what is special to them. In the Spring and Summer Terms, they showcase their learning linked to our whole-school themes and curriculum topics. These special Family Assemblies are a highlight of the school calendar and are always very well attended by parents and carers.