Spirituality

Spiritual Development - opening our hearts, minds, and souls

Spiritual Development involves providing children with the opportunity to become deep thinkers, appreciating the non-materialistic aspects of human nature including awe and wonder as well as a nurturing a genuine heartfelt willingness to connect with self, others, nature and perhaps something bigger.

At this school, understand spirituality to mean the part inside us, that some call our soul, that thinks feels, reflects and appreciates the beauty in the world around us.  

This can be achieved through the curriculum, between lessons and specific activities.  Opportunities for our younger learners include recognising their own feelings, knowing what inspires them, noticing small details not easily seen in paintings, photographs, pictures and artefacts, experiencing and valuing the importance of silence and stillness observing carefully a flickering candle or clouds slowly changing shape in the sky. 

Spiritual development is not a separate standalone issue for church schools. It is intrinsic  in everything that we do and everywhere within the school. Spirituality enables our children to be happy, flourish, succeed and live life to its fullest. It enables humankind to be fascinated, creative, reflective and consider the bigger questions in life that make us curious and grow inside. 

Spirituality encourages the development of the whole person; mentally, emotionally, and morally. It fosters a sense of interconnectedness and purpose, promoting children's overall well-being. It also addresses existential questions about purpose and meaning in life and provides space for children to explore these questions contributing to their sense of fulfilment and direction, and connection with something beyond themselves. For those with faith, this can mean a connection and relationship with God.

Embracing a distinctively Christian identity involves embodying the teachings of Jesus, honoring the inherent value and uniqueness of every person, and fostering a community where all can live well and support one another in their spiritual journey. 

As children develop, we encourage them to understand how emotions are triggered including shades of emotion, mental health and well-being, the importance of valuing non-material dimensions such as an appreciation of listening to music, artwork, silence, meditative thought and nature.  Spiritual moments happen naturally and cannot be forced. 

Opportunities arise for our adults to seize upon to help our community become spiritually aware by nurturing self-awareness, curiosity, connection, empathy, reflection, optimism, a willingness to challenge injustice and all that constrains the human spirit through courageous advocacy.

Spirituality in the context of collective worship can mean creating a supportive environment that encourages personal growth, moral development, and a deeper understanding of oneself and others.

It may involve exploring questions of meaning, purpose, and interconnectedness, as well as fostering a sense of awe, wonder, and gratitude for life and the world around us. It can nourish those of faith, encourage those of other faiths and challenge those who have no faith. 

Collective Worship aims to provide a time and space for reflection, contemplation, and sometimes spiritual development within a school community. This might include incorporating stories, music, art, meditation, prayer, silence and reflection activities that resonate with children's lived experiences and cultural perspectives. Above all Collective Worship can provide children with a holy moment and safe space to connect with something greater.

Windows, Mirrors and Doors

If we look carefully enough, life is full of openings and opportunities for spiritual development and growth but not all children notice these opportunities. It is our role as teachers to create these opportunities for children to grow spiritually.

A useful framework is to think in terms of windows, mirrors and doors. 

Windows

Spirituality is about looking outward and then inward.

Think of windows as opportunities for looking out onto the world and becoming aware of its wonders, both the ‘wows’ and ‘ows’. The wows are the things that take our breath away and help us develop a sense of appreciation such as watching a butterfly emerge from its chrysalis, a spider spinning a web or catching a snowflake and watching it melt in our hands. 

It could be looking at an insect under a microscope in a far away galaxy through a telescope. Listening to your heartbeat or a piece of music that stirs the emotion. 

Or it could be the beauty of a photograph.

The ‘ows’ are things that ground us in reality and move or stir us emotionally because life is not always a bed of roses. This might be watching a video clip of the ‘awe-full’ floods that swept away people's homes, images of poverty or watching a lion capture its prey.

These experiences make us wonder and ask questions and reflect on the world we live in. The analogy of the window focuses our attention on noticing things that can lead to spiritual development. It is out role as teachers to provide these opportunities (windows) for children to look out of and experience.

Mirrors

Mirrors are for looking into and reflecting on the things we see through the window. Reflection allows us to see things differently more clearly, more deeply or from a different perspective.

For example when studying volcanoes and earthquakes in geography, they may seem awe inspiring and fascinating but if we take time to reflect and consider not just their fascination we learn they have human impact and cause suffering. These are the ‘ows’ and ‘wows’.

Doors

Finally, doors are for walking through. They take us to a new place. We experience a new opportunity through a window, we reflect through a mirror and these reflections allow new learnings taking us to a new place so that we grow spiritually and gain deeper insights and wisdom .

Doors are for looking through in order to then act or express this in some way in response; for moving on, making choices, and doing something creative, active and purposeful in response. This can simply be done through a change in attitude or behaviour or thinking. It can also be expressed powerfully through music or art or drama or dance and through some form of social action or specific acts of giving.