Worship

Collective Worship plays a critical and pivotal role in the life of our school.

Our vision of Love Learn Shine translates into and impacts directly on our collective worship provision as outlined below.

LOVE

Children learn of God’s love as best described in Corinthians

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Corinthians 13:4-8 4

LEARN

Through worship, children learn and explore Christian values through the teachings of the bible as well as stories from other cultures and faiths. They consider how these values can influence and impact on their lives and the lives of others helping to improve our world.

SHINE

Collective worship creates opportunity to celebrate diversity and uniqueness as well as the values of caring, understanding and compassion that all contribute to enabling us to shine. Through participation in and leadership of worship in its different forms (whole school and classroom based) children experience success and achievement.

Worship in School

Collective worship takes place daily. Our worship is both whole school, in phases and also class based. This balance provides regular opportunities for phases and the whole school community to worship together while also allowing opportunity for worship in smaller class based groups. This allows themes to be explored in more detail with an age appropriate focus as well as creating opportunity for children to lead worship with their peers.

A well established recognisable rhythm of worship including a key focal point, welcome, hymns, story, reflection and prayer all help ensure worship time is distinctive, special and impacts on the children’s lives.

Worship Weekly Rhythm

No Outsiders Worship

At St Peter’s CE Primary School, we strongly believe in the importance of Equality. This belief is modelled by our staff, our Local Governing Committee and our volunteers every day.

Our school culture is one where the whole school community work together to foster an environment of inclusivity. As children move through St Peter’s CE Primary, we want them to explore their differences so that they feel comfortable being their true self. We want children to know who they are, feel proud to be who they are, and also know that they are accepted without judgement.

All children are taught from their first year in school that we are all different and we like that. In Early Years and Years 1 and 2, we use picture books where characters are different, and we show that they are friends and they play together. As children move up the school into Years 3, 4, 5 and 6, we continue to use age-appropriate picture books to explore reasons why some people might feel left out as well as the protected characteristics defined in British Law.

Together, as parents, carers and teachers, we can prepare our children, give them the confidence to disagree when they hear prejudice, and show them that they are not alone. By using No Outsiders children build the language to challenge prejudice and show acceptance. Not only do they feel safe knowing they belong, they can also show and tell others that they too are safe: “I will be your friend. You belong here. You don’t have to change; there are no outsiders.”

We work to ensure that our children understand that:

There are No Outsiders at St Peter’s:

• Everyone is different
• We celebrate our differences
• We are all equal in our differences
• I can get along with you even if we are different
• We live in the UK, our British Values support this and the law says this too.

Click to read the No Outsiders-Parent Booklet

No Outsiders Overview St Peter’s

No Outsider Worship Master Slides

Spirituality Worship

Spirituality is not something we can see; it is something we feel inside ourselves. For us it is about, asking, thinking about and reflecting on big* questions and being aware of something ‘bigger’ outside of ourselves. It is about the relationship we have with ourselves, others, the physical world, and the world beyond the physical. Spiritual experiences or moments shape and deepen our understanding of ourselves and helps us make sense of all around us and be at peace.

Our agreed understanding of spirituality is:

“Spirituality is not something we can see; it is something we feel inside ourselves. For us it is about, asking, thinking about and reflecting on big* questions and being aware of something ‘bigger’ outside of ourselves. It is about the relationship we have with ourselves, others, the physical world, and the world beyond the physical. Spiritual experiences or moments shape and deepen our understanding of ourselves and helps us make sense of all around us and be at peace.

*Our agreed understanding of a big question is a question is a question that prompts deep thinking and discussion of belief, ideas and understanding. The purpose is to elicit thought and discussion rather than a particular final answer. For example, in Science, children may consider. ‘Bees can hurt us, are bees our enemies?’

Spirituality Worship Master Slides

Examples of Big Questions Explored in Spirituality Worships.

• What is generosity? When have you been generous? When have you received generosity?
• Have you ever been generous without telling anyone? Would you?
• Have you ever been put off doing what you are able to do because someone might be able to do it better?
• How can you use what you are good at to be generous?
• If everyone was generous in the world, there would be no more war.” Do you agree or disagree? Why? What are some other problems generosity might solve?

St Peter’s Church Worship Support & Involvement

The vicar of St. Peter’s is Dr Garrow.

Dr Garrow and Rvd Chris Clayton share leading worship in school every week. The teachers and other visitors also lead our worship regularly.

We also worship in church throughout the year including; Harvest, Christmas, Easter and our Leavers service. Look at the News Section of our Website for more news of our worships in Church.

Collective Worship Themes

We have created an annual cycle of themes that are explored through Collective Worship.  Please click on the link below to access the themes for this academic year:

Take a look at what we cover in worship:

Collective Worship Week by Week Overview 2024-2025

Collective Worship Themes & Guidance 2021-2022

Collective Worship Week by Week Overview 2021-2022

You can find out more about the worship at St. Peter’s church by following this link:

http://stpetersharrogate.org.uk/growing-together/children-and-youth/