Collective Worship
At Holy Trinity, collective worship is at the heart of our daily life together. Rooted in the Christian faith and the values of the Church of England, worship offers a time for the whole school community to pause, reflect, and grow spiritually. Collective worship takes many forms and includes opportunities to experience prayer, sing, listen to Bible stories and consider how Christian teachings can guide our everyday lives.
Our worship is inclusive, invitational, and inspiring—welcoming everyone, whatever their beliefs, and encouraging children to think deeply about faith, values, and the world around them. Through collective worship, we aim to nurture respect, compassion, and a sense of belonging, helping pupils to flourish both as individuals and as part of a caring community.
Inclusive
At Holy Trinity, pupils and adults can expect to encounter worship that is inclusive of, and fully accessible to, all. Many pupils and staff in our schools will come from homes of different faith backgrounds as well as of no faith background. We recognise that many pupils will be at different stages of their spiritual journey during their time in school. Pupils will be given the opportunity to think and ask questions.
We will ensure that care will be taken to ensure that the language used by those facilitating worship avoids assuming faith in all those participating. Collective worship will involve meaningful contributions from the whole school community, including pupils and their own experiences.
Invitational
Pupils and adults can expect to encounter worship that is consistently invitational. There will be no compulsion to ‘do anything’. Rather, worship should provide the opportunity to engage whilst allowing the freedom of those of different faiths and no religious faith to be present and to engage with integrity. Pupils and adults will only be invited to pray if they wish to do so and will be invited to pray in their own way.
Inspiring
Pupils and adults can expect the worship they encounter at Holy Trinity to be inspirational. Worship aims to be formational and transformational, enabling pupils and adults to ask big questions about who we are and why we do what we do. It aims to motivate pupils and adults into action, into thinking differently, and into reflecting on their and the wider community’s behaviour and actions.
As a result of inspirational collective worship, we want participants to be inspired to become courageous advocates of causes. We aim to encourage them to think searchingly about their faith, beliefs and/or philosophical convictions.
Occasionally, there will always be those who are uncomfortable to enter through this open door of worship in our schools and so the Church of England recognises the right of withdrawal from collective worship for those parents or pupils who wish to exercise this option.
How our school’s Christian Vision is lived out through collective worship
Collective worship is also used to explore and implement our school’s vision statement, particularly in relation to creating in children a feeling of awe and wonder, promoting a sense of faith and celebrating our Christian ethos.
Our vision is based on what Jesus said to His disciples in John 13:34 - ‘A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
Collective worship will unpack the meaning of ‘love’ for Christians and all who attend collective worship. This will include exploring the following themes:
- Family
- Friends
- Community
- Serving others
- Resolving conflict
- God’s love
1 Corinthians 13: 4-7:
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Our Core Christian Values flow from our vision and provide a supportive reference for children to aspire to our vision These are:
- Reverence (the uniqueness of every person & the wonders of our world)
- Hope (for the aspirations they have)
- Koinonia (a family rooted in love)
- Service (serving others and our world)
- Perseverance (love of learning; reaching aspirational goals)
- Compassion (for our school family and the wider world)
These Christian Values will be the focus of Collective Worship for each term.
Spirituality is a unique experience for every person involving stillness, appreciation, reflection and/or prayer. It is a feeling, sense or belief that there is something greater than our physical existence, something more to being human than the things they can see, hear, smell, taste or touch, helping them to consider how it affects the way they live. In our Christian context it means that the divine nature of God affects their lives beyond our daily sensory experiences.
