Worship
Collective Worship
At St. James’ RC Primary School, the daily act of collective worship is viewed as an integral and important part of our every day school life. Collective worship provides us with an opportunity to further develop our relationship with God. It is a time where we come together to share our love of God giving Him glory, honour, thanks and praise.
The Aims of Collective Worship
We believe that collective worship in our school community gives us the opportunity:
To contemplate the mystery of God
To unite our worshipping Eucharistic community
To reflect on spiritual and moral issues
To grow in liturgical understanding and development
To reflect the Catholic nature of the school
To reinforce prayers which are part of the Catholic tradition
To provide opportunities to celebrate the liturgical season and special feasts
through liturgy, ritual, symbol and prayer.
For the school community to celebrate, to give thanks, to wonder, to acknowledge success, applaud achievement and to respond to loss and difficulties.
To develop the necessary skills of reverence, contemplation, reflection, interpretation, empathy and meditation.
All of these opportunities will enable our relationship with God to be deepened and enhanced.
Implementation
A variety of opportunities for worship are provided, including individual prayer, group prayer in both formal and informal styles and settings, and the celebration of the Eucharist which is the centre of worship for the Catholic community. Those organising prayer, liturgies and assemblies encourage our children to contribute their skills, and gifts to the preparation or worship and to participate as actively as possible.
Prayers encourage us to remember that God is at the centre of our lives, at the beginning and end of our days and in the decisions we make. Therefore, the pupils and staff of St James say prayers at the beginning of the day, before and after lunchtime and at the end of the day. Prayers are also shared at staff meetings, governors meetings and parent gatherings.
Whole school assemblies take place on Monday and Friday. The Monday assembly is led by the Headteacher and is centred around the Gospel readings. The Friday assembly is our award assembly which offers us an opportunity to acknowledge and reward children for their achievements both in and out of school. It plays an important part in promoting the ethos of the school which is that all children are valued and all achievements are recognised.
KS1 and KS2 assemblies take place at different times of the day on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. KS2 Wednesday assembly focuses on the “Wednesday Word.”
Father David, our parish priest, celebrates class Masses in the school with the children, staff and parents every half term. The Parish community of St James the Great are also invited to attend. The pupils attend whole school Masses at our parish church, every half term and on Holy Days of Obligation if they occur in school time. St James’ pupils contribute to the order of the Mass.