As a Church school we believe that we are all part of God's family and that worship forms an integral part of our lives. We believe that Collective Worship should provide an opportunity for pupils and staff to come together to learn, reflect, pray, sing, share and communicate their feelings with one another and with God. 

We welcome visitors into school weekly to lead our collective worship.

At Heartwood we have daily Collective Worship at the end of the school day. For most of the time we come together as a whole school for Collective Worship, but there are times when we come together as a year group.

We follow GERS in our Collective Worship:

Gather
We are invited to prepare our hearts and minds to meet with God.
We gather together for this special time as a community.

Gather (in the Bible)
People came to gather around Jesus to hear his teachings.

Engage
We encounter Jesus and the stories of the Bible.
We listen to god’s message and consider how it might apply to our lives.

Engage (in the Bible)
Jesus told people stories to teach them that they should keep talking with God.

During our worship we look at the weekly picture from ‘picture news’, discuss the Christian value it relates to and Prayer Warriors take it in turns to read out loud what the Bible says about the value. In other worships we listen to a Bible story from a member of the clergy or an adult from Heartwood. The Bible story always relates to our half termly school Christian value.

Respond
We respond to what we have heard and seen through prayer, silence, stillness and reflection.

Respond (in the Bible)
Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

After we have looked at the weekly picture, or listened to a passage from the Bible, the Prayer Warriors ask the rest of the children a question. An adult helps the Prayer Warriors to think of the questions to ask. We always start with ‘I wonder’ because it helps the children to think more deeply about their answer. Sometimes we have a time of quiet thinking, when we reflect on the story and what it might mean to us.

We always end our worship with an invitation of prayer. Prayer is just talking to God to say thank you for all he has done for us, sorry for the things we have done wrong and ‘please’ prayers for situations that need God’s help and guidance.

If we want to pray, we have prayer hands and if we choose not to pray, we have sitting hands to show respect.

We pray in lots of different ways, sometimes we read out a prayer, say the Lord’s prayer, say our school prayer or people offer to read out their own prayer or say their own prayer from their heart.

At the end of the prayer we are invited to say Amen, which means ‘I agree’.

Send
We are sent out to love and serve one another and make a difference to the world.

Send (in the Bible)
The word of god spread.

Our School Prayer

May I love God more than anything else,
And do what is right and good.
May I love others as I love me,
And treat them the way I should.
Amen

"Live life in all its fullness." (John 10:10)

Our vision is based on Jesus' two greatest commandments, love God and love one another. The parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) guides our school family to extend love, compassion and respect to all God's people.