Resources to Support Collective Worship

Woman with a Dove ‘God sees and God hears the conflict in Ukraine’

Only you know, as teachers and parents, what is the right response to this awful situation for your children or the pupils in your school .
Things you might want to consider:

The age of your pupils
If you have any pupils from Eastern Europe, particularly Russia or Ukraine
Pupils who may have relatives in the areas directly involved
Pupils who may have left areas of tension and conflict for whom the events in Ukraine will trigger memories Afghanistan, Syria, Hong Kong,
Pupils who have parents in the armed forces who may be concerned about their parents being deployed to the front line
Pupils who have recently been bereaved

In the resource you will find three prayer stations that have the theme of war and peace. A suggestion is that rather than making them specifically about Ukraine you leave the label more general so that pupils can reflect on other areas of conflict if they wish to do so.

We are very grateful to Guildford Diocese for kindly sharing with us some high-quality resources to use in collective worship in response to the what is happening in Ukraine right now.

A few useful facts.

We should call the country Ukraine, not The Ukraine. The Ukraine is what is was called when part of the Soviet Union.
Kyiv is the Ukrainian spelling, Kiev is the Russian spelling
The blue and yellow flag represents the wide blue sky and the wheat fields below
Sunflowers are the national flower of Ukraine

Some useful places for child appropriate information

One of the best is BBC Newsround https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround the videos and features are constantly being updated. Their Advice If You Are Upset By The News is helpful https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/13865002
War in Ukraine – What Do The Words Mean? Is a useful resource explaining some of the key words used in News programmes. Find it here https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/60536983
This American website is useful https://newsforkids.net/category/all_news/world/europe/
Explaining the News to Children from FirstNews.co.uk. Gives 7 key tips on how to explain the news. Discover more here.

Books

- - Cooling, M: Assemblies for Primary Schools Autumn Term.
  - Cooling, M: More Assemblies for Primary Schools Spring Term.
  - Cooling, M: More Assemblies for Primary Schools Summer Term.
  - Cooling, M. & Walker, D: Cracking Assemblies
  - Cooling, M: Wisdom of Worship
  - Lings, H: Ready-to-read assemblies for collective worship
  - Sayers, S: Living Stones Year A: Rocks
  - Sayers, S: Living Stones Year B: Rocks

School collective worship calendar 2021 – 22 Autumn Term
School collective worship calendar 2020-21 Spring Term
School collective worship calendar 2020 – 2021 Autumn Term

Useful Websites

- - A reflection on Henry Moore’s Mother and Child from the St Paul’s Cathedral – Schools & Family Learning Team.
  - www.canterburydiocese.org/childrenandyoungpeople/our-schools/collective-worship/collective-worship-at-home.php
    A resource from Canterbury diocese that supports children in leading worship in their homes, accompanied by a book of Bible stories.
  - www.canterburydiocese.org/childrenandyoungpeople/our-schools/rebuilding-community/
    Rebuilding a School Community: An excellent resource both to use at leadership level but also for collective worship both in the home and at school.
  - www.cofesuffolk.org/schools/school-leaders/collective-worship/collective-worship-resources/#FP – Flippin’ Praise
  - Heartsmart Family
  - www.isingpop.org/ iSingPOP is a primary school music project that brings together school, church and community. A range of songs to support worship have been found here.
  - www.imaginor.co.uk/journey-into-pentecost-2/ Journey into Pentecost
  - www.imaginor.co.uk/roots-fruits/ Roots and Fruits
  - The Church of England’s #faithathome has worship materials created and led by children, young people and staff from schools across the Church of England network.
  - www.staplefordresources.co.uk
  - Wintershall Education has resources for use in school and at home.
  - worshipworkshop.org.uk

Exemplars to support delivering collective worship in the classroom

- - Approaches to class worship.
  - Collective worship exemplar for how to structure class worship.
  - Collective worship exemplar based on ‘take home’ questions.
  - Collective worship exemplar for how to lead a prayer circle.
  - Collective worship exemplar based on prayer reflection areas.
  - Appendix 1 prayer reflection areas.
  - https://www.isingpop.org/classroom-worship
    A resource to support collective worship in the classroom.

Themed collective worship

- - Advent

An Angel Just lIke Me

These Advent resources have kindly been shared by the Dioceses of Portsmouth and Winchester. In addition to supporting collective worship and RE, these resources also begin to address some of the issues stated in the ‘From Lament to Action’ report.

This mini project for Christmas has been developed from a now out-of-print but timely and significant book by well-known author Mary Hoffman ‘An angel just like me’. Attached is a project booklet with pages of activities, ideas and links to RE curricula, and an accompanying Worship PowerPoint presentation that links to Mary Hoffman reading the book which you can access at https://youtu.be/bgD2VkNDV0s

An Angel Just Like Me – Diocesan Christmas Project
An Angel Just Like Me Accompanying PowerPoint

- - Abundance
  - Don’t Worry
  - Forgiveness
  - Good News
  - Gratitude
  - Hospitality
  - I am the way
  - Inclusion
  - Journey Into Pentecost
  - Journeys and Moving on
  - Light in our darkness
  - Love one another
  - New life
  - Others first
  - Ready, steady, go
  - Remembering
  - Seeing
  - Thank you
  - The greatest commandment
  - Waiting