Our Shared Understanding

In our school, spirituality creates a feeling of belonging to a community where we show love and kindness.

We build connections between ourselves, God, nature and the world around us, so that we can all flourish.

We make time for moments of quietness and stillness to reflect and think about our own thoughts and feelings and to make choices about how we want to live in this busy world.

We seek to build an understanding of our place in the world and be aware that there is something or someone greater than ourselves.

Children's Spirituality

In school, we link spirituality to 4 key areas. These are:

SELF: Being a unique person and understanding how we see ourselves.

OTHERS: How empathy, concern, compassion, and other values and principles affect our relationships.

NATURAL WIDER WORLD: Perceiving and relating to the physical and creative world through responses to nature and art.

BEYOND: Relating to the transcendental and understanding experiences and meaning outside of the 'everyday'.

They way we help the children to understand this  is using the Windows, Mirrors, Doors and Candle moments in school. 

Window Moments allow us to:

• Be aware of the world in new ways, looking out into the world.
• To wonder about life's 'WOWS. Things that are amazing.
• To think about life's 'OWS' that take us by surprise!
• Learn about life in all its fullness

Mirror Moments allow us to:

• Reflect on our experiences.
• Look inside ourselves.
• Consider life's big questions and reach for some possible answers.
• Learn from life by exploring our own insights and those of others.

Door Moments allow us to: 

• Respond
• Move onto a new path or situation.
• Do something creative and develop and apply our ideas.
• Learn to live out our beliefs and values.

Candle moments allow us to:

• Slow down and feel centred
• Reflect together
• Create a peaceful space for thought
• Feel a connection to each other and to God

In our school, we know that spirituality is essential to childhood. We have considered how we can ensure spiritual moments in our curriculum and throughout school life. Below are just some of the ways we do this:

Build capacity for spirituality	Give spirituality context	Give spiritual experiences
Understand beliefs and values Defend values Teach and demonstrate empathy Love and believe in themselves Give opportunities for using imagination and creativity Be intrigued by mystery Be comfortable in still and silent Say sorry Forgive Take risks Reflect and grow from mistakes Be curious Be thankful Charity – compassion and advocacy	Consider the Holy Trinity Think WWJD? Use Jesus as a role model Explore the wonder of nature Throughout the school curriculum Extra curricular clubs Charity support Agents of Change	Discussions Examen – prayerful reflection Silence Reflection Music Drawing Drama Awe and wonder – WOW moments Forest Schools Collective Worship Worship (in class) Stories Prayer space Peaceful patch Class worship areas. WINDOW< MIRROR<DOOR<CANDLE MOMENTS

Prayer Space in School

Our prayer space in school gives pupils a quiet space to be spiritual, thoughtful, reflective and to pray. 

Each half term it is themed and linked to the Christian calendar. Our prayer space has something for the children to engage with and to reflect on, but it can also be a spot to simply be quiet and calm. It is easily accessible for all pupils and develops their spirituality by giving them a designated space to enhance a sense of peace and purpose. 

Forest School

 

At Mountnessing we are passionate about Forest School and offer it as part of our spiritual curriculum for ALL pupils. Forest School is a child-centred, inspirational, learning process that offers opportunities for holistic growth through regular sessions. It is a long-term program that supports play, exploration and supported risk taking. It develops confidence and self-esteem through learner inspired, hands-on experiences in a natural setting.

The process helps and facilitates more than knowledge-gathering, it supports learners to develop socially, emotionally, spiritually, physically and intellectually. It creates a safe, non-judgemental nurturing environment for learners to experiment. Forest School inspires a deep and meaningful connection to the world and an understanding of how a learner fits within it.

Our approach to risk means that learners constantly expand on their abilities by solving real world issues, building self-belief and resilience. We believe that risk is more than just potential for physical harm. There are risks in everything we do, and we grow by overcoming them. Forest School helps children to become, healthy, resilient, creative, spiritual and independent learners.

We offer the children at Mountnessing Primary School the opportunity to develop a life-long love and understanding of the natural environment, inspiring them to be the future caretakers of the world.