Collective Worship

Collective Worship at Chiddingstone School

At Chiddingstone Church of England School we have a daily act of worship, grace is said before meals and children reflect on the Church School Values they have seen in action at the end of the school day. Worship in St Mary’s Church is an important part of the children's spiritual development. Our worship is Anglican and is led by members of staff, our priest in charge Rev'd Lisa Cornell, associate priest Lindsay Llewellyn-McDudff, High Hopes, as well as children themselves. A lively, creative approach includes drama, dance and art work alongside readings, prayers and music. We use a variety of well-known hymns and modern worship songs supported by the piano or a large number of instrumentalists.

There are four main church services each year namely Harvest, Christmas, Easter and the Leavers’ service in addition to a weekly Act of Worship (AOW) in St Mary’s every Friday. These, together with Class AOW’s, warmly welcome parents and family members.

Every classroom has a reflective area and there is a central worship board where the children can engage in interactive prayer activities and take time to think and ask questions. Every year we hold ‘prayer stations’ which help the children to understand Christian beliefs and festivals in a relevant and kinaesthetic way. Parents are also encouraged to attend these alongside their child. This year, we will be holding Pentecost Prayer stations on Wednesday 15th May, 2024.

We have a "Leading Lights" group of Year 6 children who help with various worship activities and with the creating and delivering of Prayer Stations and AOW. In addition, we try to meet with Leading Lights from other local schools to share ideas and opportunities.

We were assessed as outstanding in our most recent SIAMS Inspection.

Our Church School Values

OUR GLOBAL LINKS

We are delighted to have a partnership with Bondeni school, in Tanzania. They support us through their prayers and we have managed to support them through various donations. This includes raising money at our Harvest service, Christmas fair and Sponsored Music event in Term 4, 2024. We feel that this really helps us to live out our church school values and vision, to love your neighbour. The Good Samaritan story is our school vision and underpins to all that we do, to help others and support them so they can flourish and reach their full potential.

Latest updates from Bondeni:-

purchasing a desktop computer
photocopier
17 desks (which will seat 3-4)
A photocopier machince so that exam papers can be photocopied enabling children at the school to sit these exams. The impact of doing these exams gives them hope and opportunity for the future.
installing a grill metal door for security for where the tech will be stored.