Worship at St. John’s
Our school vision, ‘Together, Fly High Like an Eagle’ is the bedrock of all that we do at St. John’s and is at the heart of our Collective Worship.
At St. John’s ‘flying high together’ means enabling everyone to be the best person they can possibly be, in all areas of their life. The school Christian values (Respect, Collaboration, Equality, Determination, Friendship and Positivity) are brought alive through associated Bible stories and enable the vision to happen and underpin all that we do. For example, the story of Zacchaeus is used to illustrate friendship and equality.
Services
Services (assemblies) are held every day, giving our children valuable time to think, reflect and develop spiritually.
We consider this fundamental to our well-being, as we believe spiritual development is key in helping all children grow academically, but more importantly personally, so they become well-rounded young people, ready to soar high like an eagle and take their place in today’s society.
Daily acts of worship are central to life at St. John’s. The themes of our services are linked to our school vision and school values. The themes are also linked closely to the Calendar of the Church of England, and take in major festivals and Saints’ Days. Such as, Harvest, Christmas, Easter and Candlemas.
We recognise many of our children and their families come from a wide range of faiths and worldviews.
As a result, we incorporate important times and other festivals in our services such as Remembrance Sunday, Ramadan, Diwali and Hanukkah.
Big questions are central to our services and are shared at the beginning of each week in whole school service.
For example, why should we always try and forgive others? What are you thankful for? During our main services, children are also involved in leading worship, often acting, performing, reading stories and poems. The Worship Team (Y2 & Y6 children) are involved with planning, leading and evaluating services. In our weekly Class Service, the children are given time and space to think about the key questions in more detail. For example, they might listen to music whilst they simply have time to think.
Class Services are led by the children and provide a wonderful opportunity for children to shine and share things that are important to them.
Music is a fundamental part of services and a key part of how we worship at St. John’s.
Each term we come together as a whole school, sometimes to focus on our vision or sometimes for special celebrations.
School Church Links
We have a very close connection to our foundation church, All Saints Clifton and Father Charles and the rest of his team are highly supportive of all that we do at St. John’s.
For important festivals and events we come together with the Church to celebrate. Such as Christmas, Candlemas, Easter and the end of the school year.
We are extremely fortunate to have excellent links with many other local churches. Lower Redland Road is in the Parish of Cotham Parish Church and we are very kindly supported by Father David Stephenson, who often leads worship at Lower Redland Road. Reverend Dougie Burnett, from Redland Park United Reform Church, has generously supported our school for over ten years, regularly leading worship, initiating Godly Play and welcoming us to the church for many other school events.
Helping Others
A fundamental part of worship is teaching children about the problems in the world and how everyone can make a difference.
We want our children to grow up and become responsible and caring citizens and to become the best person they can possibly be.
As a result, a key part of services is about helping others. For example, at harvest time the children learn about caring for others, especially those in need.
We are fortunate to also have links with other organisations and global communities, such as Fingerprints in Uganda.
This is one of our school charities, which supports children in our partner school in Uganda. Susannah Hills, who runs this charity, often comes to talk to the children in service.
