Our Worship Life
Our worship life begins in Foundation Stage, when our youngest children are visited in their classrooms by Father Adam and when they have the opportunity to visit the church. They are welcomed into the church community by a special Welcome Service and presentation of their first Bible. Some of our oldest children often take part in this by sharing their memories from Foundation Stage too! It is such a memorable start for our Ascension children and their families.
Throughout each year, there are many opportunities to continue our spiritual journey as we visit Church of the Ascension for our Christmas and Easter services in our key stages. We also visit for a special service on our school special day, Ascension Day. These services are led by our strong group of Worship Leaders in partnership with leaders from the church.
As our children reach the end of their primary school journey in Year 6, they are involved in planning and taking part in their own act of worship, their Leavers’ Service. This is a special way to celebrate all they have achieved, reminisce over their many memories and look forward to the future, talking with them their values, and always remembering they are, and always will be Ascension children. The children are finally presented with their Bible, signed by all staff, and Leaver’s yearbooks, which they also help to compile. This service is another truly memorable milestone for our children and their families (and staff!)
Collective Worship
Collective Worship is a central part of every day at Church of the Ascension Primary School. It’s a special time when we come together to sing, listen and learn, share and reflect, give praise and thanks, pray and grow spiritually. Worship is led by either staff or children as well as the “Open The Book” team from Church of the Ascension or New Life Church each half term. We base our worship on the Christian faith and the teachings of Jesus, underpinned by our values and vision. However, we also use this time to learn about and reflect on special days, celebrations, other faiths and influential people and events. Once each week, children and adults take the opportunity to enrich this worship experience in smaller groups, using our individual reflective journals and floor books, which the children say, “allows us to question in a way that is personal to us”. Each class has its own worship area for further opportunities for private prayer and reflection.
Open The Book
We are blessed to be visited by the ‘Open The Book’ each half term. We love the way they present stories from the Bible in such an engaging way. The children are always thrilled when they are chosen to play their part too, dressing up as various characters from the Bible!
Our thanks go to Sheila and her team for their commitment and dedication to the children in our school. We appreciate your acting talents and creativity. After each visit, they leave us with the story, a prayer and some reflections to help us develop our spiritual response.
Whole School Communion
Once each term, Father Adam leads a whole school communion service, which all staff, governors and parents, who wish to participate, are invited to. These are always special times for reflection within our school community.
Worship Leaders
Our enthusiastic and confident Worship Leaders meet weekly and take an active role in the worship life of our school. Each term, they research, design and implement a new invitational and inclusive reflection area, where children across the school can reflect, pray privately or write their prayers to be shared in school and at church.
Leaders also plan, lead and evaluate acts of worship throughout the year, supported by leaders from the church. They also have the opportunity to develop their own personal spirituality and develop their skills as a worship leader achieving bronze, silver and gold awards. Worship Leaders also help to look after our peace garden, working towards a peaceful space for reflection.
Our Church and School Partnership
We are blessed by the strong links that our Church and school have and are pleased to say they have never been stronger, enabling our school and church community to flourish. Termly governors’ meetings focussing on our Christian Distinctiveness involving key leaders from both school and church continue to drive our partnership further.
Father Adam and Father Chris not only lead our collective worship regularly but also enrich our RE curriculum by sharing their knowledge and experience and by enabling us to visit church to learn about special places and about Christian worship.
Christian worship.
Sian, the Youth and Families minister at Church of the Ascension, and her team of willing volunteers also provide various Church Experiences for each year group throughout the school, including Easter, Advent, Pentecost and ‘Moving On’ for Year 6. These creative activities further enrich our spiritual understanding of these key events. Activities such as Mainly Music for Foundation Stage and Godly Play throughout the school, both led by Sian, enrich the creativity of our school curriculum and enable children to think deeply about their learning.
Confirmation lessons are offered to our oldest children and are hosted by Sian and her team at church, enabling our children to further develop their own spiritual journey should they wish to.
Members of the church play an active role in the life of the school, either as foundation governors, planning and leading worship, facilitating experience days, supporting events and our extra-curricular offer after school. Likewise, members of the school community support the life of the church: our school choir have sung at the crib service; some of our families are part of the congregation; we have participated in the St Mary’s Church Christmas Tree Festival with decorations made by Church Club and Worship Leaders.
The church hall itself also supports the wellbeing of our school and community as it plays host and offers a welcoming space for Reflexions. They are a mental health and wellbeing service, who lead wellbeing workshops in the holidays for children and half-termly tea and talk sessions with a wellbeing focus for parents.
Church Club
Church Club, which is led by Sheila, Father Chris, Sian and their team, runs fortnightly after school for children from Foundation Stage to Year 6. These are creative and interactive sessions involving craft, story, drama, prayer, song and usually food! Children from church club are also invited to participate in some church services at church such as the Mothering Sunday service and Harvest. These are special family services welcoming all.