Developing Spirituality

Spiritual Development: Encouraging pupils to explore their beliefs and values, reflect on their experiences, and develop a sense of wonder about the world. 

As a Church school some of this development may be rooted in the Christian faith and teachings.

At our church school, we believe in nurturing the whole child,  this includes their spiritual development. We encourage children to explore the world around them with a sense of awe and wonder, helping them to develop curiosity and reverence. Our approach focuses on supporting children to reflect on themselves, their relationships with others, the wider world, and their understanding of God. We recognise that children come from a variety of faith backgrounds or may not have a belief in God, and we aim to create a respectful environment where everyone can develop their own spirituality. Through this, we guide children to grow in their spirituality, building strong values, empathy, and a deep sense of connection to the world and the divine. 

Finding the extra-ordinary in the ordinary  

Some spiritual moments cannot be planned for and are spontaneous within the every day.  In addition to the spontaneous moments, we also plan for children's Spirtual Development and this is integral to our Curriculum Design adn Worship Planning. We plan in opportunities to ask and answer Big Questions, have moments of awe and wonder and times of reflection. These moments and questions are built into our Curriculum Planning in every year group. 

We focus our Spiritual Development plans on four specific dimensions:

• SELF - The Inner Dimension - developing self-awareness, self-confidence and self-worth.
• OTHERS -  The Social and Moral Dimension - developing relationships with others.
• THE WORLD -  The Environmental Dimension - developing understanding of the world both in terms of awe and wonder but also social justice and responsibility.
• GOD -  The Transcendental Dimension - developing understanding of, and sometimes their personal, faith in God.

"Don't just do something - sit there!"

Based on the book by MK Stone, we encourage children to spend some time 'being still'.

We work to develop children's skills that will enable them to fully explore their own feelings and experiences, and those of others in a range of ways: 

• to develop the skill of being physically still, yet alert. 

• to develop the skill of being mentally still, and to be able to concentrate on the present moment. 

• to develop the ability to use all their senses. 

• to promote an awareness of and enjoyment in using imaginative potential. 

• to encourage quiet reflection during a lesson. 

• to develop quiet individual self-confidence in expressing inner thoughts in a variety of ways. 

• to find an inner peace. 

• to appreciate that we arrive at some of our deepest insights through stillness and silence, whether we be Humanists, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists. 

• to appreciate that silence can be a means of communication.