We are a Church of England Primary School and this gives us a particular outlook on educating children. As with the very early days of most church schools, the education was offered to all children no matter what their beliefs, tradition, racial or economic background.  The very foundation of the school is based on inclusion and treating all people with respect.  We wholeheartedly embrace that and endorse this in our vision:  

Enjoy the present~Educate for the future~Inspire with love

‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.’ Matthew 19:14

We recognise the uniqueness and joy in every child and give opportunities for children in a safe learning environment, to form memories and experiences that they will cherish for the rest of their lives.

We have six core Christian values which reflect the qualities we aspire to develop and promote in our learners throughout the year.

In addition, we look to provide opportunities for the children at St Michael's to develop spiritually throughout their time with us.  To find out more information as parents you can nurture your child's spiritual journey click on the link below.

https://youtu.be/fI-iXfQMqfE

A lot of our work around spirituality is inspired by the work of Rebecca Nye who wrote:

“Spirituality is our innate capacity for relationship with something greater than ourselves”

We believe spirituality is our response to the experiences that shape our understanding of ourselves, others, the world and beyond. Nye develops this into four relationships, which have we have adopted for our framework as 4 lenses that support exploring these connections with ourselves, others, the world and beyond.

We are using these in our daily acts of service as well as in our learning across the curriculum.

We have also introduced the language of ripples . A ripple is created by noticing or experiencing something deeply. A ripple begins with ordinary drops in the water, not extraordinary events. A single experience—a question, a moment of beauty, an act of kindness, a time of stillness or an encounter with God—can begin a ripple that spreads through our thoughts, relationships and actions in everyday life.

We recognise that spiritual development is not linear or measurable. Like ripples on water, it is ongoing, sometimes gentle, sometimes transformative, and often difficult to see in the moment. Every child experiences and expresses spirituality in their own unique way.

Our ripple starts with our self – being self-aware, so that we can build strong positive relationships with others, notice the beauty in the world around us, so that we can express meaning, purpose and connectedness.

Ripples are connected explicitly to the school values, to emphasise the positive ripples we want to see in our school. Ripples can be noticed, made or shaped in all aspects of school life, in ourselves, with others, in the world and beyond. Our role as adults is to notice organic ripple moments that happen and engage and support children in them, to create ripple moments for all children to experience and guide children as they make ripples, and to support children to shape the ripple that they create.

We recognise that spirituality is nurtured within the whole school community. Adults are not simply facilitators of children's spiritual development; they are fellow travellers. We therefore create opportunities for staff to pause, reflect and notice the ripples within their own lives and work. Through these moments of reflection, we deepen our awareness of ourselves, one another, the world and God, enabling us to model authentic spirituality for the children in our care.

Examples of this might be found in:

• In professional development
• In pupil learning meetings
• In professional growth
• In staff room display
• In appreciation to individuals
• In individual support
• In wellbeing approaches

Across the school we have ripple reflection spaces to be used to reflect, pray, wonder, ask questions, give thanks, pause.

In the entrance to the school, we great visitors and pupils with a ripple display. There is also one in the hall. These displays serve as reminders of our approach and prompt us to tune into ripple moments across the school day. They also allow us to remember the moments that matter and celebrate these.

 

These values are discussed and explored within the classrooms and through our daily acts of Collective Worship. Through our values, we have high expectations for our children in terms of how we should behave towards each other in order to create a safe learning environment in which everyone can make a positive contribution and challenge themselves to do their best.

We have new values images to help us think about our values lots in school and to understand each in a consistent, child-friendly way.

Though our self-others-world-beyond lenses we consider how we might ripple the values out into our school community and the world around us, enocuraging acts of courageous advocacy - taking action and standing up for injustice, beign a voice for others and having a positive impact on the world around us.

Pupils who demonstrate our values are awarded 'ripple of the week' awards and we share with the school how they have spread the value across the community.

We gather together one a day for service, which focusses on a different value each term. We explore Theology, vocabulary, inspirational stories and stimuli, reflecting on how these impact how we act in the world.

We have a mixture of whole school service, key stage service, class service and praise service across each week. We also welcome Reverend Joanne and Father David from the Fromestide Benefice of Churches.in to lead our worship fortnightly as well as termly visits from the Winterbourne Worship team for 'Out of the Box' Services. The whole school walk to St Michael's church for Christingle, Easter and Harvest services, as well as a special Year 6 leavers service.

We also have a pupil-led Service. Each Thursday morning, the team of Year 6 pupils lead Service for the whole school. They follow the theme for the term. During the service, the pupil team welcome the school, read a lesson or tell a story from the Bible and give time for children to respond and reflect. 

In the UK, parents and carers have the legal right to withdraw their child from Religious Education (RE) lessons and from collective worship if they wish. At our school, we respect and support this right. RE and collective worship are important parts of school life and aim to promote understanding, respect and reflection among pupils of all backgrounds and beliefs. However, we recognise that families may have different views, and any parent or carer who would like to discuss withdrawing their child from these activities is encouraged to contact the school to talk through the arrangements and any alternative provision that may be made.