Collective Worship

At Ripley St Thomas Church of England Academy, we have a daily act of Collective Worship. Collective Worship is fundamental to the Christian foundation of our Church of England school. In our worship the school community shares a quality experience, central to the life of the school and to its religious character. All acts of worship at Ripley St Thomas give staff and pupils the opportunity to take a step back from the stresses of daily life, creating space for an encounter with faith in God and personal beliefs. Whether in times of crisis or celebration, this time set aside in the school day provides staff and pupils with the opportunity to gather, reflect, pray and support one another as a community. It is an integral part of who we are and an important part of the day.

Our pattern of worship at Ripley is varied, depending on the day of the week/year group in question. The pattern of weekly worship will include:

• Chapel Worship
• A prayer & reflection in year assembly
• Form Worship
• Form Worship Reflection x2

We end every day in prayer.

Form reflections take place twice a week and these contribute to the opportunities for spiritual growth for all, with pupils and staff having the time to reflect and interpret the content in their own way.

Each week, we focus on a different theme during worship and each act of collective worship gives the opportunity for us to develop our thoughts and reflections on this theme in a different way. Chapel worship, year group worship and form worship will include a link to scripture, an opportunity for reflection and an invitation to prayer. The reflection stimulus within form worship reflection might be an image, a piece of music or some scripture. All our acts of collective worship enable us to reflect and invite us to pray.

This year, as well as focusing on our four core values of faith, hope, love and service,  some other key themes which will be exploring are:

Courage, Remembrance, Holocaust, compassion and stewardship of the planet. You can find more details of our worship plan for the year here.

We also enjoy half-termly singing worships and we have the opportunity to visit various local churches at our end of term services.

Our vision lived out

This term, we are collecting for The Olive Branch Food Bank, for Harvest and one of our recent worship themes has focused on Harvest Preparations.

Charities that we support in school in more detail (PDF format)

Worship described in one positive word

WordCloud made up from answers from the pupil survey – March 2023

The majority of pupils see worship as an important element of the school day at Ripley

Pupils appreciate that as a faith school worship is what sets us apart from other schools

Pupils enjoy the variety of different forms that worship can take and this gives them the opportunity to appreciate Christian worship in different ways

Worship is inclusive and pupils are given time for personal reflection

All pupils have the opportunity to develop and flourish spiritually

30% of pupils said that they would like to have the opportunity to plan and lead worship

Pupil quotes:

“Thank you for a lovely chapel worship this morning. It is the highlight of my week”

“Thanks for your worship, it was the best bit of my day”

Staff quote:

“When you are teaching a 5 lesson day, with meetings after school and before school, being able to spend 20 minutes in our beautiful chapel and having time to reflect and step back from the stresses of daily life, is magical”

The Grace

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen

Ripley School Prayer

Almighty God,

We thank you for the examples of Thomas and Julia Ripley who established the foundation of this school. We pray that all who teach and all who learn in this place, together with all those who support its work and ethos, may always have within them the mind of Christ our Saviour to inspire and uphold, from day to day and forever.

Amen