Collective Worship and Spirituality at BSM

Collective Worship at Blandford St Mary Church of England Primary School 

Collective Worship at our school is highly valued, with time set apart each day for the whole school community to gather together in a time of reflection, to have the opportunity to engage with their own spirituality, to learn about the Biblical teachings and further explore our school's vision and values. During these special times, the school is still, quiet and respectful. 

Christingle

In our Christingle Service, we heard that Jesus said, Christians are ‘the light of the world’ (Matthew 5.14-16) and that they should love the world like God does.

Christians are called to be a shining light for those people who are in dark places and Christians are called to love everyone, particularly if they are having a bad time.

No matter what we believe, we can all be shining lights and show love to those who are in need of it.

Harvest 2022

This year, we have once again held a whole school harvest service to celebrate God's goodness in creation. During our harvest service, we thanked God for providing us with the resources to grow such a wide variety of delicious foods in our world. We also took the opportunity to thank the people who grow and harvest our foods - mums and dads in their allotments and the farmers in their fields.

Our school community collected food items to donate to the Blandford Foodbank. As you can see from the picture below, our families, once again, have been extremely generous in their donations to help others. Thank you. 

We have looked at the work of Andrew Ricketts to help develop a spiritual curriculum in school based around the idea of four concepts of spirituality: 'Self, Others, Beauty and Beyond.'  At Blandford St Mary, we refer to our spiritual moments as, 'Mirror, Door, Window and Candle Moments.' 

Self / Mirror Moments: Spiritual learners become increasingly aware of the concept of self – the inner person and the way that this shapes an individual’s perception of themselves as a unique human being.

Spiritual learners reflect on the relationship that they have with their sense of being a unique person.

Others / Door Moments: Spiritual learners become increasingly aware of the concept of others – a growing empathy, concern and compassion for how to treat others.

Spiritual learners reflect on how their values and principles affect their relationships with others.

Beauty / Window Moments: Spiritual learners become increasingly aware of the concept of a physical and creative world – they develop a growing relationship with beauty through the ability to respond emotionally to experiences of the wonder of the natural world and the results of human creativity.

Spiritual learners explore their understanding of beauty and the affect this has on their perception of and relationship with the world.

Beyond / Candle Moments: Spiritual learners become increasingly aware of the concept of the beyond – a growing relationship with the transcendental and the ability to explore experiences beyond the everyday.

Spiritual learners search for meaning in their very existence and their place in the greater scheme of things.