Collective Worship is a statutory requirement for all schools in England and Wales. However, at St Margaret’s C of E Primary School, Collective Worship is so much more than this.  It is a time for our school family to come together, learn together, reflect together, a time for children, staff and visitors to be still, engage and if they feel called to, respond.  It is the heartbeat of our school and it plays a fundamental role in shaping pupils’ character, thinking and actions. 

Collective Worship at St Margaret’s strengthens and supports the distinctive Christian character of our school and reaffirms our Christian values of friendship, forgiveness, respect, koinonia, truthfulness, thankfulness and perseverance.

Worship reflects the variety of traditions found in the Church of England as well as other Christian traditions, and recognises and follows the Church of England’s liturgical year. The daily act of worship is central to our ethos and is supported by all staff and governors, it is inclusive, invitational and inspiring.

Our school community takes part in collective worship on a daily basis, as follows

Children leading worship

At St Margaret’s children leading worship is a central part of our routine. We have a collective worship team, made up of pupils, staff, governors and the church community and as such children are heavily involved in planning, delivering, monitoring and evaluating collective worship.  In addition to this the children have the following roles:

Format taken from 'Children leading worship' by Helen Matter.

Visitors

Weekly visitors leading worship allows our children to  appreciate the relevance of faith in today’s world, as they encounter the teachings of Jesus and the Bible from different perspectives. Christian visitors from around the world help them to recognise Christianity as a world wide faith and enables all pupils and adults to appreciate that Christians worship in different ways.

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Open the Book

The children all enjoyed going to St Margaret’s Church this afternoon for collective worship. Thank you to the Open the Book team, telling the Christmas Story and involving the children - OTB is always one of the children’s favourites!

Our Collective Worship Team and School Council representatives have had a wonderful morning  @DBELeicester  Advent service at Leicester Cathedral.

As part of @InterfaithWeek  Year Five led a whole school collective worship to share their learning on the Islamic Faith. They showed great knowledge, understanding and respect, well done Year Five.

As part of  @InterfaithWeek  Year Three led a whole school collective worship this morning to share their learning on Hinduism. They showed great knowledge, understanding and respect. A wonderful worship Year Three, we are all incredibly proud. 

Year Three have lead assembly to share their learning on Diwali with the whole school. They told the story of good conquering evil brilliantly. Well done and thank you Year Three. 

Harvest festival celebrations at St. Margaret’s Church.

On 18th May 2016 Year 6 pupils enjoyed leading collective worship with the Open the Book Team. They performed the Bible story from Genesis of Jacob and Esau.

On Thursday 24th March, Year 4 led the whole school in our collective worship at St Margaret's Church.  They shared the Easter story with us, told through poems and songs, which the whole school sang.

Jesse Tree

During our collective worship times in the run up to Christmas, the children have been adding objects to our Jesse Tree. A Jesse tree is a fun way for children to trace the 'royal' roots of Jesus from Adam and Eve through the centuries to Mary and Joseph. It is called a Jesse tree because of a verse in the Old Testament in the book of Isaiah which says 'A shoot shall come from the stump pf Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of its roots.'

The objects on the tree include:

• Apple - Adam and Eve
• Ark and dove - Noah and the flood
• Star scene and Abraham figure - Abraham, Father of God's people
• Dagger - sacrifice of Isaac
• Ladder - Jacob's ladder
• Coat and wheat sheaves - Joseph
• Burning bush and staff - Moses
• Stone tablets - Moses and the ten commandments
• Scroll - Isaac's prophecy
• House - Bethlehem
• Harp - King David
• Temple - King Solomon
• Lion - Daniel
• Saw and hammer - Jesus the carpenter
• White rose - Mary, the mother of Jesus
• Writing board and pen - John the Baptist
• Stars - Jesus, Saviour of the world

Uganda - Aim for Change assembly 2.12.15

Today Mrs Ridout from the charity Aim for Change came in to talk to us all about her recent visit to Uganda. She talked to us about life in Uganda so we were able to compare a child's life in Uganda to our own lives. We learnt about how her Christian beliefs impact on the work she does and the difference that makes to so many people's lives.

The Children in Year 5 talked about their thoughts on poverty and read out a prayer they had written to end our assembly.

Remembrance Day

The whole school gathered together for two minutes silence at 11am. A group of children read some poems and prayers to mark Remembrance Day.

Poppy wrote this prayer:

Dear God,

We thank you for the people who gave their today for our tomorrow. We thank you for the things you created to make us who we are now. Forgive us for the things we have done. We are like a flock of sheep within our fold - God will protect us. There are still people out there fighting. Help us to remember that, whilst we have peace in our country, many countries don't have peace.

In Jesus Christ's name.

Amen