Collective Worship is a time when the whole school comes together to think about different themes.  Its purpose is to:

• Experience the rituals that are followed in church i.e responding to a Christian welcome, lighting the candles, learning from scripture and joining together to reflect and pray;
• Enable pupils to reflect on and question issues such as belonging to the school community, the wider community and to humanity as a whole
• Reinforce a sense of community and cohesion through appreciating those things we have in common
• Develop a reflective approach to life
• Support pupils in the development of spiritual, cultural and moral perspectives.
• Develop a sense of the individual's place in the world beyond the physical, material and the here and now
• Provide time to consider values and beliefs - both their own and those of others
• Raise awareness of difficulties experienced living a life based on values, beliefs and principles which may not be shared by everyone in the wider community
• Provide opportunity to celebrate achievement and to share times of celebration
• Support students in responding to crisis at a personal and collective level and provide them with a vocabulary to explore feelings and responses
• Support those who have particular needs or who are engaged in times of crisis

Collective Worship  reinforces the sense of the school community, by giving pupils the opportunity to share things of worth with each other, within a reflective space.  Those pupils who have a faith will be able to use the reflection time to consider issues in the light of their religious beliefs and to pray or worship internally as they feel appropriate whilst those pupils who don't have a religious belief will have the opportunity to reflect and make a personal internalised response to the same stimulus. They will also be able to enter into dialogue with those of faith, enabling both believers and non-believers to appreciate each other's stances.

At St. Stephen's we use our school values to explore beliefs and to teach the children behaviours which will help them in their future lives.  Our school values come from MIcah 6:8 - justice, mercy and humility.

School Prayer

We recognise that prayer is an opportunity for people of different faiths to communicate with their God.  At St. Stephen's,  we encourage the children to use prayer as a means of reflecting on issues discussed in Collective Worship or to think about themselves and others.  We have a prayer corner which children can go to write prayers.   Children are invited to share these prayers each week during worship.

Our School Prayer

Dear God

Thank you for our school and all our friends and family.

Please help us to follow our school values so that we persevere with all we are trying to accomplish so that we can be the best we possibly can be, and to always be honest and respectful.

Help us to be responsible people who are trustworthy, kind and welcoming and who support others in need.

Let us have peace and love in our school and let it be the best place to learn.

Amen