Manifold Church of England Academy

Jesus the light of the world. Drawn by Ellie (Year 3)

Collective worship in action

Spiritual Development Day

The day started with a visit to St Lawrence’s Church where the children were able to explore the key features of the church. Fr John very kindly explained lots of the features that are unique to St Lawrence’s, including the Harpur-Crewe pew and the 1000 year old font. The children were able to find objects that featured in collective worship at school as well as objects that would only be used in church worship. 

Spiritual Pathways:

Discussion with the children regarding Spiritual Pathways and the different ways that we all think about ourselves, others, our world and God. We tied this in with the Windows, Mirrors and Doors ideas. Prayer/Reflection stations were set up to allow the children the opportunity to access different spiritual pathways. Children accessed stations that were creative, quiet and still, outside in nature and based around courageous advocacy. They had free choice and some chose to move around whereas others found particular stations that suited them the best. There was a clear leaning towards the ‘activist’ or ‘courageous advocate’ pathway and several children wrote passionate speeches about climate change and pollution.

Collective Worship:

Discussion with the children referring back to the visit to the church about how collective worship is set out (using the analogy of a sandwich! Bread either side represents the features of worship that are present every time, greetings, sending out, items on the worship table etc, and the filling in the middle of the sandwich represents the values/Bible based input that will be different each time). Concentrating on the ‘filling’, the children worked in groups to present a Bible story linked to the school Christian value of Love. Children were given a choice of ‘Creation’ or ‘The Good Samaritan’ and the focus was love for the planet and love for others. The children chose to act out and sequence the stories. Courageous Advocacy became a strong theme for the groups who were thinking about ‘Creation’. 
Songs for Worship:
We ended the day by learning some new songs for Collective Worship – ‘City on a Hill’ – Nick and Becky Drake and ‘My Lighthouse’ – Rend Collective.

Lord's Prayer Day

The day involved pupils visiting a number of prayer stations based on the Lord's Prayer.

'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name' - this provided the pupils with an invitation to connect with God as the perfect Father. Pupils considered what it meant to be the perfect Father.
'Your kingdom come your will be done on earth as in heaven' - an opportunity to reflect on what it means to acknowledge God as king. Pupils acknowledged that God is king over the whole world.
For these two parts of the Lord's Prayer - pupils made clay figures. They then used these to create a display symbolising that we are part of God's family. Pupils also made butterflies and wrote down what type of world they thought God would like us to live in ... peaceful, loving etc. They then used these to create a display in our reflection room.

'Give us today our daily bread' - an opportunity to thank God for his provision

'Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sing against us' - an invitation to accept God's forgiveness.

Pupils participated in a Teddy Bear Picnic and thanked him for the food they were sharing. They also received a prayer bear that they used to say sorry to God.

'And leads us not into temptation but deliver us from evil' - an opportunity to reflect on God's leading us through life.
Pupils wrote their own sorry prayers then crumpled them up before throwing them into the bin. This symbolised God getting rid of our sing when he forgives us.

'For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever, Amen.' An invitation to accept Jesus as King.
Pupils made their own crowns, acknowledging Jesus' place as king in our own lives.

Pupils from St Bartholomew's, a local school, joined us for the day.