Collective Worship
Our Christian Vision: What does the Lord require of you, To ACT JUSTLY, LOVE MERCY and WALK HUMBLY with your God. Micah 6v8
At Eltham Church of England Primary School, we recognise that our Christian faith is at the heart of our school and therefore Collective Worship is an integral part of our school day.
Our times of Collective Worship are of high quality and are planned to engage all members of the school’s community. The whole school gathers together every day to join in prayer and reflection. Worship is varied in its delivery and is regularly led by the head teacher, teachers, the Vicar of our connecting Church, guest speakers and the children, including the Worship Committee.
Our worship at the school underpins the fundamental teachings of the Anglican Church and is planned in line with the church year, providing opportunities for children to engage in Christian celebrations and events as well as acknowledging and learning about the celebrations and events of other world religions. Our Collective Worships allow us to reflect on our school Christian vision, Micah 6:8 ‘What does the Lord require of you, - To act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.’
And from this, we focus on our six school values of Love, Respect, Forgiveness, Understanding, Resilience and Enthusiasm.
Collective Worship takes place every day. Our Collective Worship looks like this for the week:
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Monday |
Introducing a school value, theme, religious event or key topic. |
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Tuesday |
Collective Worship led by a guest speaker or Reverend Caroline/Curate Jo from Eltham Parish Church: St John the Baptist. |
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Wednesday |
Golden Book – a celebration of our children’s successes, showing how our learning is rooted in our school values. |
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Thursday |
In-class Collective Worship focusses on Monday’s Collective worship or a particular topic. |
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Friday |
Worship – using song as praise and worship to God. |
Collective Worship Routines:
Every collective worship starts with a greeting by the leader - ‘May the Peace of the Lord be with you’ and a reply by the children and adults ‘and also with you.’
We then light the candles on the altar to remind us that Jesus is the light of the world and He is with us now by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our collective worship finishes with the prayer that Jesus taught us - The Lord's Prayer.
A weekly bible verse known as 'the memory verse' is taught each week and links directly to the theme of collective worship. This also underpins our Christian values and how biblical content is linked to our school values.
We regularly visit Eltham Parish Church throughout the school year. Services include a Harvest service, Christmas Carol Service and Nativities, Easter service and a service to ce;ebrate the feast day of St John the Baptist. The children are always highly involved in these and will retell parts of a story from the Bible or what they have been learning about in class linked to the service. All parents/carers are welcome to join.
Worship Committee
Each year, the classes select a worship committee member. These children are passionate and dedicated to promoting and aiding our Christian vision. They do this, through leading Collective Worships, supporting local charities and speaking to their class about ways that as a school we can continue to support the children with prayer, whilst continually developing their spirituality and beliefs. As a school, we have been supporting the Greenwich Winter Night Shelter. At Christmas, we received many donations from kind parents/carers and the Worship Committee helped to wrap these as presents for the residents at the Greenwich Winter Night Shelter to receive at Christmas.