Our collective worship both implicitly, and explicitly, demonstrates our school vision and our Christian values of dignity and respect, unity, wisdom, hope, fairness and perseverance.

At our school, we consider collective worship to be an important part of the school day.  A time to reflect on and develop the school’s distinctive Christian character but also an opportunity to contribute to the spiritual and personal development and wellbeing of the children and staff. Collective worship is one of many daily opportunities for the school community to develop spiritually.

At St Nicolas’ Infant School we describe spirituality as:

Organisation of Collective Worship for the Academic Year 2021-2022

We hold a daily act of worship in our school, taking various forms. The exact day that the style of worship takes place may vary depending on the activities in the school, and availability of visitors however this is the intended pattern for collective worship:

• Monday ~ Worship celebrating styles of Christian worship around the world. Led by teacher or local clergy.
• Tuesday ~ Values, based on the school value for the half term. Led by headteacher.
• Wednesday ~ ‘Heart Song’ based on ‘Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing’ by Sally Lloyd Jones, which explores a Bible verse and applies it to everyday life. Led by headteacher, with fortnightly visitors from local churches and the community.
• Thursday ~ ‘Living Our Vision’, application of our school vision to everyday life. Led by School Council, Green Team and/or teacher.
• Friday ~ Worship linked to our vision and values. Led by clergy from St Nicolas’ Church.

Class Assemblies

Each class presents one class assembly in the academic year.  We invite parents to watch their child participate in a class assembly, either in person or by sending it as video via Tapestry.

Class Prayers

Each class has a short prayer time before lunch at hometime to encourage reflection on the day and appreciation of all we have. Classes may choose to begin the day with a prayer as well.

Prayer Spaces

We have school Prayer Spaces, with prompts linked to our vision and Pause Days, which children can use as a quiet space for reflection and/or as a place to contribute their own written, drawn or spoken prayers.

Each classroom and the playground also have Peace Corners, which is a quiet space for reflection and can be used by children for prayer.

Prayer times are sometimes led by an adult and sometimes by the children themselves. Prayer is always invitational, without any compulsion to take part unless the child chooses to.

We share prayer times in collective worship and in class, sometimes led by an adult and sometimes by the children themselves as well as a Prayer Space where children can create their own prayers. Prayer is always invitational, without any compulsion to take part unless the child chooses to.

Church Services

Each year, our whole school community go to our Church for special services. These services are to mark special seasons, festivals and events in the life of the school and Church community, such as Harvest, Christmas, Easter and our end of year Leavers' Service. The school community and Church work together to make these very special occasions to gather together in worship and celebration. Children lead some parts of the service, while Father Neil, Rev. Wayne (from Guildford URC) and school staff lead other parts. This creates an engaging, interactive time for the school community to reflect, pray and share time together in God's house.