The Impact of Collective Worship

How we live out this in our school – a celebration of excellence 

Through our collective worship we want our children to develop a deep understanding of our school vision and the Christian theology that underpins it “… for we are all one in Christ” Galatians 3:28.  To achieve this we have six progressive vision curriculum themes that shape the foci for collective worship for the term, which allow us to explore inspiring human stories and the teachings of Jesus.  The windows, mirrors and doors, structure our collective worship to ensure that children and staff have the opportunity to become aware of the world in new ways, including moments that wow as well as ow; reflect on these experiences and to learn from life and then respond through expressing their thoughts and beliefs and put into action their beliefs and values.

How we achieved this 

The termly progression begins with the overarching question and then builds to deeper questions, designed to challenge children and staff’s thinking about their behaviour, values and beliefs.  It ends with questions designed to bring children’s reflections and learning together to inspire them to take action.  As the term progresses, weekly reflective worship becomes action worship. The school is deliberate in its choices of images and human stories to ensure that children have the opportunity to explore humanity's glorious diversity. 

The difference that it makes 

At Dunbury, we are developing a culture from which the vision can lead to holistic flourishing of children and adults throughout the school community.  The collective worship plan and structure aim to enable high quality modelling of values and a depth of reflection that will lead to personal and spiritual growth.  There is a growing body of evidence through pupil voice and reflective journaling that this is beginning to happen.  In recent monitoring, pupils were able to talk about the value collective worship had on them personally and collectively.  

Without collective worship:  

‘There would be no God thoughts’

‘I won’t be able to let go of things’  

‘Not everyone will do the right things’ 

Positives about Collective Worship:

‘I really like Collective Worship; the words used give me reassurance’ 

‘The people we learn about inspire me. [Nick Vujicic] inspires me’ 

‘It helps me to never give up as I reflect on others who have overcome such barriers.’