Worship & Spirituality

Subject Lead : Mrs Denton

Fun facts about me : I enjoy reading, listening to music and going to the theatre. I also love going to theme parks with my family and I love all things Disney!

I started working at Cooper and Jordan as the Church Schools Link worker for Aldridge Parish Church before returning to teaching here.

Worship:

Worship is an integral part of the life at Cooper and Jordan School. Children have the opportunity to experience a variety of expertise from staff and visitors alike. They thrive on the up-to-date and relevant Christian music currently available, and we aim as a school to ensure this is continually introduced and the children are exposed to the very best worship material.

Collective Worship offers the whole school community an opportunity to participate in a living expression of Christian Worship, valued and honoured through the school’s Anglican Foundation.

Collective Worship is distinct from assembly in that assembly is merely meeting together to exchange information, to give routine notices and to deal with organisational issues. We ensure a distinctive move from assembly to Worship by either lighting the candle, saying the peace or by communicating verbally that is now time for Worship.

We hold a daily act of Collective Worship. This takes different forms throughout the week: as classes participating in a 'Thought for the Day', Key Stage PEACE worship, wellbeing and spirituality worship within class and whole school celebrations. At the start of each term, the whole school attends church for a special service to start the academic term. We also welcome visitors from the churches to lead our worship regularly.

Major Christian festivals are also celebrated at church throughout the year such as Harvest, Christmas and Easter.

Most acts of worship will contain the singing of hymns or Christian songs, prayer, reflection and Christian teaching. Music is valued in our school and is seen to make a major contribution to an atmosphere of worship. How it is used can affect the way the children respond in a particular situation. Offering praise to God is an important aspect of worship and can often best be expressed through song and dance.

Pupils are encouraged to express their worship in ways appropriate to them as an individual. Our Ensemble group regularly contributes to the worship in Key Stage 2 Celebration Assemblies. As far as possible every child will be given the opportunity to take some part in actively leading worship during their time at our school.

The Worship leader and R.E. subject leader work closely together alongside Parish Church Workers and Clergy to ensure high quality worship takes place and strong links are made between school and the wider Parish Churches of Aldridge.

Please see the curriculum section of our website and go to 'RE' to find out more about our RE curriculum. 

Year 6 Worship team and Worship Ambassadors:

The Year 6 Worship Team work with me to support, develop and lead worship within school. The Year 6 Worship Team also develop and lead acts of worship during the school year.

We are also supported by Worship ambassadors from each class who support leading and developing worship, prayer and spirituality within their own classrooms.

In May 2022 we received Spiritual Ambassador Training from the Diocese which has supported the training and development of some of these pupils to help lead and develop worship, prayer and spirituality as being an integral part of Cooper and Jordan.

Prayer, reflection, and Spirituality:

On the playground we have a permanent Prayer Space in school called The Prayer Garden. This is registered with Prayer Spaces in Schools. This is a space for the pupils to come and take some time to reflect, pray and to explore life’s questions, spirituality, and faith in a safe, creative and interactive way. It is run by the amazing Children and families’ workers from the churches in our Parish (Aldridge Parish Church, St Thomas’s and Tynings Lane) who we are so thankful for. Members of the Year 6 Worship Team support the running of this by selecting reflective prayer activities each week.

Each classroom has a dedicated prayer and reflective space where children can take time to reflect and pray and explore their own spirituality.

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Spirituality Day:

Each year we hold a dedicated Spirituality Day where pupils and staff explore a theme.

In July 2021 our theme was: ‘Alive in Hope’.

Pupil Voice:

Hallie said "I liked learning about friendship and how to be a better friend."

Scarlett said "My favourite part of assemblies is singing the hymns because I love singing."

Mia said "I like hearing the stories of Jesus and I like going to Church because it is a really interesting building."

Finlay said "I like that we get to sing and that different teachers teach us about God."

Daisy said "I enjoy singing with the whole school and finding out about Jesus’ teachings through fun videos."

Jacob said "I like when people come in and we do exciting workshops."