Church of England Schools are committed to offering high quality collective worship. It is seen as the unique heartbeat of the school and is offered as part of a wider opportunity for pupils and adults to encounter faith by engaging in conversations about God, both as individuals and together. At Harbury, worship is truly welcoming, inclusive and exemplifies the principles of Christian hospitality. We seek to meet the needs of all, wherever they may be on their journey of faith and belief.
Our aims are:
To repeatedly explore the school’s vision- To love, learn and grow together- which is based on our school bible verse ‘Let us not love with words and speech but with actions and in truth’ 1John3:18 and how it underpins our shared values and virtues and make continuous connections between these and Bible stories.
To support pupils and adults to encounter faith through conversations.
To help pupils and adults to appreciate the relevance of faith in today’s world by encountering the teachings of Jesus and the Bible
To develop understanding of the Christian belief in the Trinitarian nature of God.
To offer the opportunity, without compulsion, to all pupils and adults to grow spiritually through experiences of prayer, stillness, worship and reflection.
To enable all pupils and adults to appreciate that Christians worship in different ways (using music, silence, story, prayer and reflection)
To support pupils and adults in learning about the varied liturgical and other traditions of Anglican worship, festivals and where appropriate, the Eucharist.
To enable pupils to develop skills through engaging in the planning, leading and evaluation of worship
Collective worship reflects the Anglican status of Harbury C of E Primary School and builds upon the rich, lived diversity of Anglican tradition and identity. In the same way as worship in churches is aspirational, constantly evolving and being re- imagined, there is an expectation of a continuous, dynamic reimagining of what collective worship means at Harbury.
Inclusive
Worship is collective in that it involves meeting, exploring, questioning and responding to others and, for some, to God. Pupils, their families and other adults can expect to encounter worship that is inclusive of, and fully accessible to all. Care is taken to ensure that the language used by those facilitating worship avoids assuming faith in all those participating, listening and watching. It will involve meaningful contributions from the whole school community, including pupils. Inclusion also ensures pupil involvement in planning, leading and evaluating worship.
Worship reflects the faith, belief and ethnic communities that our school serves and validates, embraces and celebrates all protected characteristics.
Invitational
At Harbury, parents, pupils and adults can expect to encounter worship that is consistently invitational. Worship provides the opportunity to engage whilst allowing the freedom of those of different faiths and those who profess no religious faith to be present and engage with integrity. The metaphor of ‘warm fires and open doors’ captures this idea- it is important that the door is open, all are welcome, to come in and sit as near or as far away from the fire as they feel comfortable. Pupils and adults are invited to pray, if they wish to do so and in their own way. An option to reflect is also given.
Inspiring
Pupils and adults of the Harbury community can expect the worship they encounter to be inspirational. It enables big questions to be asked about who we are and what we do. We will tell the ‘Harbury story’. Worship aims to motivate pupils and adults into action, into thinking differently and into reflecting on their and the wider community’s behavior and actions. We aim to inspire pupils, their parents and other adults to become courageous advocates of causes. It will encourage different thinking about their faith, beliefs and/ or philosophical convictions.
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