Collective Worship
For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)
ASPIRE to Greatness
Our school pursues a deeply Christian and inclusive vision and mission. We believe that all members of St Stephen’s CE Primary School are born to make a difference in God's world. This is captured by our motto (Aspire to Greatness) and is taught through our school values.
Children at St Stephen's understand that living a life of 'greatness' means living a life of 'goodness' - serving others through good deeds and transforming society with love. We want children who leave St Stephen's to be passionate about serving God and transforming communities through acts of goodness.
Worship at St Stephen's is all about preparing children to transform society through service to others:
We explore scripture and learn so that we are better equipped to take action and let the light of Jesus shine through us.
We praise God and give thanks.
We listen to and talk to God through prayer, stillness and reflection.
Collective worship is the most important part of our day as a school family. Worship is inclusive, invitational and inspiring.
Inclusive: Worship is distinctively Christian but is wide-ranging and varied in style. Our use of music and song includes a blend of traditional hymns and lively modern worship music. Many songs include actions, providing inclusivity for younger pupils. We also value other faiths and worldviews as part of worship, ensuring that children from all faiths (and those with no faith) feel cherished.
Invitational: We use language carefully in collective worship to ensure it is both invitational and welcoming. We support children to engage with worship in their own way, ensuring it is suited to their spiritual development journey. Children are invited to take part.
Inspiring: We want children to walk away from worship with fresh energy and a renewed motivation to do good (so that they may 'Aspire to Greatness' and change the world). Worship often feels like a celebration! We want everyone in our school family to feel the deep joy of communicating with God.
Our ethos group (the Values Leaders) is led by the Ethos Leaders within Year 6. Every child in school is a Values Leader.
Children and adults contribute to the ongoing evaluation and improvement of collective worship to ensure that it meets our goals.
In our delivery of Collective Worship, we adhere to guidance set out by the Church of England - see below.
Worship in 2024/25
Throughout the 2024/25 academic year, we are exploring the theme ‘Living Lives of Greatness’. This will support pupils to develop an understanding of what it means to live by our school values and ‘Aspire to Greatness’.
To begin, the children will unpick the question: What is greatness? Understanding this is essential to understanding our school vision and mission. Children will learn what Jesus said about greatness and will learn about a range of 'great' role models in the Bible.
As the year progresses, the children will think more about what this all means for us as we seek to live lives of greatness and transform the world with God's love.
iSingPop (Wednesdays)
On Wednesdays, we use the iSingPop Collective Worship resources as we worship together in our own classrooms. These resources follow a theme each term. Our children love the animations, the dances moves, the songs and the energetic presenters!
Find out more about iSingPop by following the link below:
https://www.isingpop.org/schools
Celebration Assemblies (Thursdays)
Celebration assemblies energetic, fun and celebratory! We reflect with thanks on the week as we celebrate each other and our collective successes.
We celebrate:
Great moments (Photo of the week)
Birthdays
Individual achievements in school (VIP Awards)
Individual achievements outside school (Awards from home)
The Golden Broom (Cleanest classroom award)
Worship Together Across the Diocese (Fridays)
On Fridays, we use the Diocese of Blackburn's 'Worship Together' resource. This connects us with other Church of England schools across Blackburn Diocese via an engaging Collective Worship video with Bible stories, prayers and reflections.
Collective Worship Policy
The school's Collective Worship Policy can be accessed via the policies page.
School Prayer
In the 2024/25 school year, our Year 6 Ethos Leaders developed a School Prayer. Children are invited to say the school prayer together when we gather for collective worship. The words remind us of our school vision:
Dear God,
Fill us with your goodness,
So we can spread your kindness,
And live a life of greatness.
Amen
This show video is designed to support children to learn the words and actions to the School Prayer.
