Collective Worship in Church in Wales Schools

Church in Wales schools are committed to offering high quality collective worship. They are places that recognise and value collective worship as central to fostering a sense of cynefin and to expressing the school’s Christian vision. In practice this means that structure, planning, evaluation, participation, collaboration, and inspection of worship are all taken seriously by the school, the diocese and Church in Wales Education.

This document, adapted for the Welsh context from the Church of England’s guidance on collective worship has been produced to challenge, to guide and set expectations for Church school communities encouraging them to reflect on their practice and to ensure that collective worship remains the relevant and essential component of an education that enables all children and young people to flourish.

In Church in Wales schools, collective worship is seen as more than a daily ‘awe and wonder’ moment. It is the unique heartbeat of the school and is offered as part of a wider opportunity for learners and adults to encounter faith by engaging in conversations about God, both as individuals and together.

This form of encounter through worship should be truly welcoming, inclusive and exemplifying the principles of Christian hospitality. This is an approach that seeks to meet the needs of all, wherever they may be on their journey of faith and belief.

Collective Worship and the Law

Collective worship in community schools is grounded in the historical past and enshrined in educational law to be ‘wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character'*. In Church schools the requirement instead to reflect the Anglican status of the school as expressed in its trust deed liberates those leading collective worship to build on the rich, lived diversity of Anglican tradition and identity. In the same way as worship in churches is aspirational, constantly evolving and being re-imagined, there is an expectation of a continuous, dynamic reimagining of what collective worship means in the Church school.

* Education Reform Act 1988 section 7(1) and the corresponding section of the Education Act 1993.

Inclusive, Invitational, and Inspiring

Inclusive

Worship is collective in that it involves meeting, exploring, questioning, and responding to others and, for some, to God. In the Church school learners, their families and other adults can expect to encounter worship that is inclusive of, and fully accessible to, all. Many learners and staff in our schools will come from homes of different faith backgrounds as well as of no faith background. Moreover, many children and young people will naturally be at different stages of their spiritual journey during their time in school. Learners should be given the opportunity to think and ask questions. There should be space to consent, and dissent: to participate and to stand back; and to consider. It is an expectation that care will be taken to ensure that the language used by those facilitating worship avoids assuming faith in all those participating, listening and watching.

Collective worship should not be ‘done to’ but will involve meaningful contributions from the whole school community, including learners. It is natural that children and young people will bring their own experience to worship. Inclusion requires learner involvement in planning, leading and the evaluation of worship. Although part of a national legislative framework, collective worship in the Church school grows out of the local context and out of learners' experience, including their cultural backgrounds.

Invitational

Parents, learners and all members of the school community can expect to encounter worship that is consistently invitational. There should be no compulsion to ‘do anything’. Rather, worship should provide the opportunity to engage whilst allowing the freedom of those of different faiths and those who profess no religious faith to be present and to engage with integrity. The metaphor of ‘warm fires and open doors’* captures this idea. The warmth of the fire derives from the clarity and authenticity of the Christian message at its heart. There is no value to an encounter with a watered down, lowest common denominator version of faith. Importantly, the door is open, all are welcome to come in and sit as near or as far away from the fire as they feel comfortable. Learners and adults should always only be invited to pray if they wish to do so and should be invited to pray in their own way. Prayer should always be accompanied by the option to reflect.

Music and liturgies** used in worship should reflect the best of traditional and modern Anglican worship, it should connect with the theme and explore the sacred to educate and engage. Music used should reflect the diverse worship experience of the wider Christian community. Care should be taken with the music and liturgy, schools should think about what is most appropriate, at a given time, for the spiritual life of their particular community.

* Speech by David Thomson, Bishop of Huntingdon 2014 quoted in The Fruits of the Spirit: A Church of England Discussion Paper on Character Education (The Church of England Education Office 2015) page 13.

** Where there are joint schools the liturgies should reflect this status.

Inspiring

Learners and adults can expect the worship they encounter in a Church school to be inspirational. Worship should be formational and transformational: it should enable all members of the school community to ask big questions about who we are and why we do what we do. It should motivate children, young people 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, they should be inspired to social action. It should encourage them to think searchingly about their faith, beliefs and/or non-religious philosophical convictions.

There will always be those who are uncomfortable to enter through this open door of worship in our schools and so the Church in Wales recognises the right of withdrawal from collective worship for those parents or young people* who wish to exercise this option. This, and how to exercise this choice, should be explained fully in the school’s collective worship policy and referenced on the school’s website.

* Under Section 55 of the Education and Inspections Act, it remains the case that only pupils in sixth form education or over the age of compulsory school age (Section 55. 9) may withdraw themselves from collective worship.

Aims and objectives

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 the Section 50 Inspection of Church in Wales schools

Collective worship in a Church in Wales school will do the following:

Develop learners’ understanding of the traditions and practices of the Church in Wales
Contribute significantly to the spiritual development of all members of the school community
Employ a blend of approaches to worship relevant to the context of learners and the school’s cynefin
Afford opportunities for children and young people to take increasing responsibility for leading, monitoring and evaluating collective worship
Contribute positively to the well-being of all members of the school community

Provision

The rhythm of daily worship allows learners and adults to step away from the accountability demands of much of education, creating a space for an encounter with faith in God. It also provides the opportunity to reflect on larger questions of meaning and purpose. Children, young people and adults can expect that the school’s collective worship practices will provide a shared set of symbols, signs, words and actions which give the community a language upon which it can draw, in times of joy and grief. Such an experience is key to fostering a sense of cynefin within the school community. Whether in times of crisis or celebration, this time set aside in the school day provides everyone with the opportunity to gather and support one another as a community.

Throughout the year, Church school communities may meet to celebrate and mark certain seasons in the Church calendar, such as Lent and Advent. Other important events in the school year, such as the start and end of the academic year, may be marked by formal acts of collective worship. Children, young people and adults will encounter regular prayer and worship as a normal part of school life. These activities will help provide rhythm and stillness as a pattern of community life.

Parents, learners and all members of the school community can expect that worship in a Church school will follow a recognisable structure that will help focus worship on one idea. This helps to give organisation and clarity to the unfolding of that idea, as well as helping the leader to ensure that worship is age/stage-appropriate and moves away from making it a performance art. This could take the form of a welcome or prayer followed by a consideration of a Bible passage or story that the group can then reflect on through discussion, prayer, silent reflection or music. It will be something that all involved may want to share and discuss with others in school, in the community and at home.

Developing staff expertise and knowledge: Confidence through professionalism

Parents, learners and all members of the school community are entitled to be led in worship by those who have a secure understanding of the nature of collective worship in a Church school context and by those who are professional in their approach to working with children, young people and adults from all faiths and none. Therefore, it should be a priority to build up the expertise of staff, learners, clergy and other adults in facilitating collective worship in Church schools. To do this the schools should focus on ensuring the following.

Worship leaders, including clergy, should have access to regular training
Pupil worship leaders should be supported, encouraged and resourced to contribute meaningful acts of worship
Worship leaders, including clergy, should have access to high quality and current resources
The governing body should have robust systems in place to monitor the impact of worship effectively; this monitoring will meaningfully involve and afford opportunities for learners to lead this monitoring and evaluation. Those facilitating worship should have the opportunity to receive feedback and hear the outcome of evaluation
Those from outside agencies and church groups invited into the school to facilitate worship should be trained and properly briefed about the school, its context and the school’s vision. They should be supported and monitored as part of the school’s systems for the evaluation of the impact of worship
There should be a named member of staff responsible for collective worship with responsibility for ensuring that appropriate policy and practice including safeguarding procedures are in place and publicly available