Collective Worship is an important part of each day at Shap Endowed CE Primary School. Held at the end of the school day, it gives children and adults a shared opportunity to pause, reflect, sing, pray, think and be together.

Our worship is rooted in our Christian vision:

With children and the church at the heart of our school, we are living in harmony within our community; nurturing one another to create an environment from which all can soar.

Throughout the year, worship helps us explore our six Christian values of Friendship, Trust, Peace, Koinonia, Compassion and Creation, alongside Bible stories, Christian teaching, the Church year and themes that help children think about their own lives and the wider world.

Inclusive and Invitational Worship

We want every child to feel that Worship Time belongs to them. Our worship is inclusive, invitational and inspiring. Children are invited to participate in prayer and reflection, but are not required to pray or express a particular belief.

We recognise that children and adults connect, wonder and reflect in different ways. Our Sacred Pathways approach therefore helps us include a variety of experiences through nature, beauty, creativity, relationships, questioning, stillness, caring for others, justice, music and celebration.

Worship may include Bible stories and scripture, music and singing, discussion and big questions, drama, creative activities, prayer, quiet reflection and outdoor worship.

A Familiar Rhythm

Our whole-school worship has a familiar structure which helps create a special and reflective time within the school day.

Children enter calmly and our Worship Councillors help prepare the space, music and presentation. We light a candle and use our school prayer, which includes the words:

May the light of God's presence shine among us.

The style of worship varies depending on the theme and leader, and children may be invited to talk, question, sing, create, act, pray or reflect quietly. We finish together with prayer, reflection or song before children leave.

Children Helping to Shape Worship

Children are not simply an audience for Collective Worship. Our Worship Council plays an important part in its life and development.

Worship Councillors help prepare and lead worship, contribute to music and presentations, gather the views of their classes and talk with worship leaders about what children enjoy and what could be improved.

Pupil voice has already helped us develop more outdoor and creative worship and greater opportunities to learn about Christianity around the world. We continue to listen to children so that their ideas genuinely help shape future worship.

Our Church and Christian Community

Our links with the local church and wider Christian community bring variety and richness to worship.

We regularly welcome Rev Stephen Tudway and Ruth Hutchings from St Michael's Church, alongside friends from the Methodist Church, Church in the Barn and NISCU. Children also experience Bible stories through Open the Book and take part in worship and celebrations at St Michael's Church during the year.

Experiencing different Christian traditions and styles helps children understand that Christianity is a living and diverse global faith.

Celebration Worship

Friday's Celebration Worship is a joyful end to our week and families are warmly invited to join us.

Each week, our Worship Council chooses a ‘Living in Harmony’ focus, linked to our Christian vision and values. Staff then recognise children who have particularly lived this out during the week through our Living in Harmony Awards. This helps children make the connection between the things we explore together in Worship Time and the way we actually live, learn and treat one another.

We celebrate children through our Soaring High Awards, recognising achievement in areas including Learning, Kindness, Spirit and Together, as well as particular curriculum areas and wider aspects of school life. Children may receive one of our little eagle charms as a reminder that there are many different ways to soar.

We also celebrate our Reading Raffle, team achievements and children's successes and achievements beyond school.

Our School Vision Song

Our Friday Celebration Worship concludes with our School Vision Song, “A Safe Branch from Which to Soar.”

The song was created with singer-songwriter Ruth Lyon during our 2026 Vision & Values Week, with Helvellyn children contributing their ideas and voices. Singing it together at the end of each week gives us another way to revisit our Christian vision and reminds us of the kind of community we are seeking to be,  one in which we nurture one another, live in harmony and help everyone to soar.

Listen to our School Vision Song below.

 

Listening, Reflecting and Growing

We regularly consider the impact of Collective Worship through pupil voice, Worship Council, staff and governor monitoring and feedback from worship leaders. We are interested not simply in whether children behave respectfully during worship, but in what makes them think, wonder, question and respond.

Our 2022 SIAMS inspection recognised that Collective Worship is “inclusive, invitational, and integral to the school's life.” Since then, we have continued to develop children's leadership and evaluation of worship and broaden the ways in which children can engage spiritually.

Above all, we want Worship Time to be a place where our school community can come together, explore our Christian vision and values, encounter Christian teaching and have space to consider the big questions of life, faith and the world around us.

Please see below for our current Collective Worship overview and timetable.

Shap CE School Anthem

• Shap CE School Anthem
  Our school anthem, composed by our children, demonstrates our Christian vision and associated Christian Values! We sing this in our Worship Times too!