Collective Worship At Cawthorne

Cawthorne Collective Worship Policy 2025

Church of England Liturgical Calendar 2025-2026

INTRODUCTION

At Cawthorne, Collective Worship remains a relevant and essential component of an education that enables all of our children to flourish and to ‘live life in all its fullness’ John 10:10. It will help educate for wisdom, knowledge and skills, hope and aspiration, dignity and respect. This in turn will allow our school community to achieve our shared, Christian vision, evidence our intended outcomes and develop our community so that we live well together and flourish in our lives.

We see collective worship is seen as more than a daily ‘awe and wonder’ moment. It is the unique heartbeat of our school and is offered as part of a wider opportunity for our children, staff and community to encounter faith by engaging in conversations about God, both as individuals and as a collective. This form of encounter, through worship, is welcoming, inclusive and exemplifying the principles of Christian hospitality. We offer an approach that seeks to meet the needs of all, wherever they may be on their journey of faith and belief.

INTENT

We are committed to offering high quality collective worship that is grown out of our unique, local context and out of our children’s experience, including their cultural backgrounds. We recognise and value collective worship as central to fostering a sense of community and to expressing our shared, Christian vision. In practice this means that structure, planning, evaluation, participation, collaboration, and inspection of worship are all taken seriously to ensure that we meet our legal obligations as well as nurturing happy, healthy, confident, responsible individuals who flourish in all aspects of their lives.

The aspiration to provide collective worship that is Inclusive, Invitational and Inspiring is underpinned by the following aims and objectives and will be monitored and quality assured through Governor visits, Diocese representatives and the Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS).

IMPLEMENTATION
At Cawthorne, Collective Worship will:

• Explore our school’s vision and how that underpins our shared values. In doing so, it will reflect on moral values such as compassion, gratitude, justice, humility, forgiveness and reconciliation; and develop virtues such as resilience, determination and creativity that develop character and contribute to academic progress

• Lead children and the school community to become courageous advocates of causes and encourage them to think searchingly about their faith, beliefs and/or philosophical convictions

• Help children and adults to appreciate the relevance of faith in today’s world by encountering the teachings of Jesus and the Bible and developing understanding of the Christian belief in the trinitarian nature of God

• Offer the opportunity, without compulsion, to all children and adults to grow spiritually through experiences of prayer, stillness, worship and reflection

• Enable all children and adults to appreciate that Christians worship in different ways, for example using music, silence, story, prayer, reflection, as well as through the varied liturgical and other traditions of Anglican worship, festivals and, where appropriate, the Eucharist

• Enable pupils to develop skills through engaging in the planning, leading and evaluation of collective worship in ways that lead to improving practice

In line with the Church of England Vision for Education, we want our children and school community ’to leave Cawthorne with a rich experience and understanding of Christianity. We are committed to offering them an encounter with Jesus Christ, the Christian faith and providing vital opportunities (Collective worship, including prayer, reading and reflecting on the Bible, liturgy, sacrament and experience of the musical and other imaginative riches of Christianity) for them to practice in a way that enhances their lives.’ Church of England Vision for Education: Deeply Christian, Serving the Common Good. 

IMPACT

Achievement at Cawthorne is defined as each child flourishing in their life and evidencing our shared, school outcomes. The delivery of imaginative, varied and relevant Collective Worships ensure that our children will:

• Enjoy worship - driven by our children’s involvement and joyfulness
• Feel a valued part of our school community by participating in collective worship together
• Share in cultural events, festivals and celebrations – knowing more and remembering more
• Feel safe in knowing that they can share their deepest thoughts - through prayer or privately without judgement
• Develop their spirituality and an awareness of it through different learning opportunities
• Be able to use the language provided by our values to articulate how our vision and values are put into action at school and beyond
• Demonstrate and evidence our values in the daily lives of our school community
• Be empowered to become courageous advocates who shine bright for all to see
• Demonstrate increased confidence verbalising their inner voice in front of others
• Live enhanced and enriched lives in all their fullness

Collective Worship And Our Growing Faith Adventure

Growing Faith promotes a partnership between The Church, our School and Home. By utilising new imaginative practices, we provide opportunities that allow our children and parents to talk about faith and spiritual matters, ask big questions and seek answers, take our Cawthorne School Values and observe them being demonstrated in the right way towards each other, nature and the world around us.

Providing a new way to access high quality worships in the home, our families are welcome to become partners in Collective Worship: involved, informed and enabled to collaborate together if they so wish. In doing so, our community will have the opportunity to connect in unison to encounter faith and belief by engaging in conversations about God as individuals and as a collective.

Cawthorne Messy Church

Working in conjunction with Cawthorne Methodist Church, we offer regular opportunities for our children, their siblings and family members to participate and engage in Messy Church. This is a different type of Church for children, adults and families that is held in school and involves creativity, celebration and hospitality. It’s a form of Church for people of any age, at all stages of their faith journey and whatever their beliefs – a school congregation that is as valuable and worthy of investment as any other. Messy Church models and promotes good ways of growing as a family: a nuclear family, an extended family, and a global and local Church family though a wide range of fun activities. These introduce Jesus, give an opportunity to encounter him and to grow closer to him if the participants so wish. Will we see you at our next Messy Church?