Spirituality at James Knott C of E Primary School
”Looking in, Looking Out, Looking Up”
Why is Spirituality Important?
The Church of England’s Vision for Education states a core desire of ‘life in all its
fullness’. As a Church of England school, it is essential that we educate and develop the
whole child ensuring Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural development.
We explore Spirituality by providing our children with opportunities to be still and
reflect. Spirituality enables children at James Knott C of E Primary school to be Happy,
Healthy and Fulfilled.
Developing Spirituality in Our School
Spiritual development is closely linked to our School Vision and provides children with
opportunities to reflect and think about:
- Themselves (LOOKING IN)
- Their relationship with others (LOOKING OUT)
- God and Jesus’ teachings (LOOKING UP)
IN: “We learn how to love ourselves so we can flourish and strive to be the best we
can be.
OUT: “We put our love in action, showing our love within school, our local community
and the wider world.”
UP: “We learn how Christ’s love is more than just words and feelings. True love in
shown through our actions and determination to do good.”
LOOKING IN at James Knott C of E Primary School means:
- Awareness of their own feelings and being able to reflect.
- Awareness of how unique they are and a happiness of who they are.
- Being thankful for the things they have and the person they are.
- Exploration of personal faith.
LOOKING OUT at James Knott C of E Primary School means:
- Showing empathy and understanding in relation to injustice and inequality.
- To love and be loved.
- To Be More and make a difference.
LOOKING UP at James Knott C of E Primary School means:
- Encountering and experiencing God
- Opportunities for prayer and reflection
- Making sense of the world
Our children encounter a wide range of opportunities to develop their
spirituality throughout their time with us. These include, but are not limited
to:
- A daily act of Collective Worship.
- Reflection tasks linked to Collective Worship.
- Worship Leaders planning and delivering Collective Worship.
- Children leading in daily prayer.
- Singing and a school Choir.
- A weekly act of Celebration Worship.
- Reflection Areas to encourage children to quietly reflect and pray throughout the day.
- Educational visits to places of worship
- School Value rewards and recognition.
- Displays around school are though-provoking and encourage children to
- be reflective.
- Our restorative behaviour policy allows opportunities for children to; reflect on the choices they make, understand that sometimes we will make mistakes and that we can learn from these.
Spirituality in Our Curriculum
Our ambitious enquiry curriculum ensure that children are exposed to a wide variety
of spiritual experiences and deep meaningful questions. Children’s spiritual
development is shown by their:
- Beliefs, religious or otherwise, which inform their perspective on life and the decisions they make
- The respect they show for different people’s values and feelings
- Sense of enjoyment and wonder in learning about themselves, others and the world around them
- Use of imagination and creativity in their learning
- Confidence to reflect on their experiences
Impact of Spirituality
In developing Spirituality our children realise how wonderful they are and realise their
own potential. They are self-aware and show empathy towards others in and out of
school. Our children are curious, open-minded and can explore things in appropriate
ways. They can express and understand feelings and have a strong moral sense of right
and wrong. Although able to enjoy and embrace quiet and stillness, they possess an
active imagination.
Spirituality helps us to love God, one another and ourselves respectfully and
inclusively. Through love and all it embraces we strive to put our love in action
to be the best we can be.