Spirituality
Spirituality
At St Mark’s school, pupils and their families can expect a high-quality Religious Education curriculum that is rich and varied, where pupils are valued; where they feel happy and secure; where they learn and grow in their faith. Within our Christian environment, we enable all to flourish and grow as individuals, developing their personal skills and abilities, characters, talents, spirituality and faith.
A key part of that belief is to nurture children’s spiritual awareness and to develop each child’s character. We believe that spiritual development relates to fundamental questions about the meaning and purpose of life which affect everyone; it is not dependent on a religious affiliation.
Religious education should enable every child to flourish and to live life in all its fullness. (John 10:10).
What is Spirituality?
Spirituality is a person’s relationship with themselves, with others, with God (or the transcendent), and with nature and the environment. These four elements: self; others; transcendence and beauty form the basis of our work with children in developing a strong sense of spirituality.
The four elements - what these consist of:
Self
Awareness of feelings; ability to reflect and express
Awareness of uniqueness; happiness with who we are
Gratitude for all that we have and the person we are
Exploration of personal faith
Development of creativity and imagination
Others
Empathy and understanding; respect, tolerance
To love their neighbour (to love and be loved)
To make a difference
Transcendence
Encountering/experiencing God (a sense of what lies beyond the material/physical)
Ability to formulate and discuss the ‘Big Questions’ (e.g. about life, death, suffering and nature of God)
Opportunities for prayer, connecting with God
Making sense of the world around us
Beauty
Developing a sense of awe and wonder
Enjoying the miracles of everyday life
Taking time for what really matters
Appreciating beauty in art, music and nature
Spirituality is the heart beat of St Mark’s. It is how we understand ourselves and our place in the world: recognising strengths, weaknesses and having confidence to challenge ourselves. We care for the local and global community and our Christian values underpin our learning and encourage children to ask ‘big questions’. This approach enables pupils to consider the ‘ow’ and ‘wow’ factors of life and to celebrate achievements.
Why is Spiritual Development important?
At St Mark’s Church of England school, we believe children live up to their potential if they are happy, have fun, feel nurtured and grow from a foundation of strong Christian Values.
We value spirituality and the holistic development of the child. Our role of educators is to guide the children in our care along the path of life. As children grow in their understanding of spirituality and values, they become secure enough to make mistakes and therefore move on with their spiritual learning and academic growth.
How we aim to develop a strong sense of spirituality
Allocate a regular time in the day for quiet reflection. This may be listening to a story, lighting a candle in worship, sitting in our beautiful school grounds.
Provide many opportunities for creativity and using the imagination.
Valuing play opportunities.
Sing often, especially with others.
Ensuring regular time for prayer in our collective worship and in individual classes. This can take many forms, but should include being thankful, and saying sorry. Allow children the opportunity to open themselves to God.
Provide frequent opportunities for children to explore, express and share feelings. Constantly reaffirm the importance of relationships.
Provide opportunities to express awe and wonder ('wow' moments), appreciate beauty in all its forms, and appreciate the connections in the world.
Encourage each other to admit mistakes and to say sorry through restorative conversations. Recognising and owning up to faults is an important healing and redemptive process. Forgiveness is at the heart of our Behaviour Policy.
Encourage children to show kindness, care and compassion, and to express these in practical ways. (e.g. how we treat each other every day).
Explore the ‘Big Questions’ – particularly through our R.E. and Worship curriculum.
Read from the Bible and other texts often to children, and give them opportunities to discuss and reflect.