Collective Worship Policy
Aims and purpose
The aims and purpose of collective worship are:
to provide an opportunity for the children to worship God;
to enable children to consider spiritual and moral issues;
to enable children to explore their own beliefs;
to encourage participation and response;
to develop in children a sense of community spirit;
to promote a common ethos with shared values and to reinforce positive attitudes;
to teach children how to worship.
Collective worship
We understand worship to be a special act or occasion whose purpose is to show reverence to God. Collective worship involves all members of the school coming together and participating in an assembly. We expect everyone to take an active part in the assembly.
In line with the 1988 Education Reform Act, which states that collective worship should be wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character, we normally base our assemblies on the teachings of Christ and traditions of the Christian Church. However, we conduct our assemblies in a manner that is sensitive to the individual faith and beliefs of all members of the school.
While the majority of acts of worship in our school are Christian, we also hold assemblies that reflect other religious traditions that are represented in the school and the wider community.
Organization of collective worship
We hold a daily act of collective worship in our school. Each year group has three full assemblies each week, on the other two days a quiet period of reflection is held in each class.
We conduct assemblies in a dignified and respectful way. We tell children that assembly time is a period of calm reflection. We regard it as a special time and expect children to behave in an appropriate way. We ask them to be quiet and thoughtful and to listen carefully to the teachings and participate fully in prayer and hymns. We create an appropriate atmosphere by using music and sometimes candles or other objects that act as a focal point for the attention of the children.
The headteacher or other members of staff normally conduct assemblies, but sometimes local clergy or other representatives of local religious or other groups conduct them instead.
We take the themes of our assemblies from the traditions of the Christian faith and we often reflect the festivals and events of the Christian calendar. Sometimes the themes of our assemblies reflect and build on topics that we teach as part of the school curriculum. We plan our assemblies as part of a series of themes well in advance of the day they take place. The RE co-ordinator provides a list of themes for each month that staff follow. A record is kept of each assembly.
Our assemblies reflect the achievements and learning of the children. We encourage the children to participate in assemblies by showing their work to the other children and raising issues that they have discussed in their classes. Assemblies offer an opportunity to acknowledge and reward children for their achievements both in and out of schools. They play an important part in promoting the ethos of the school, which is that all children are valued and all achievements are recognised. William Barcroft Junior School is a successful school and we shall celebrate the successes of all the children in assemblies.
We invite parents to assembly on a fortnightly basis to share in their childrens achievements. They are informed in writing if their child is to receive an award to encourage them to attend, as this promotes the community spirit of the school and is a practical demonstration of the way the home and the school work together to support the achievements of our children.
We welcome governors attendance at our assemblies at any time.
Right of withdrawal
We expect all children to attend assembly. However, any parent can request permission for their child to be excused from attending religious worship and the school will make alternative arrangements for the supervision of the child during the period concerned. Parents do not have to explain or give reasons for this. This complies with the 1944 Education Act and was restated in the 1988 Education Reform Act.
The headteacher keeps a record if any children are withdrawn from collective worship.
Monitoring and review
It is the role of a named school governor with responsibility for religious education and collective worship to monitor the policy and practice of collective worship. The governor concerned liaises with the headteacher before reporting to the governors on religious education and collective worship.  

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