Worship Time 2023-24 - Weekly Summaries

Below you will find a summary of the Worship Time for that week.

Worship 1

We have introduced a new school value this year (Be Respectful). In our worship times this week we looked at the fact that being respectful means: -

• To have due regard for the thoughts, feelings and wishes of others.

• To admire someone (or something) hugely as a result of their ability, qualities or achievements.

Over the course of the next few weeks, we will continue to look into how we can show respect to those around us and also to ourselves as individuals. This new value aligns closely with our Golden Rule from Luke 6:31, “Treat others as you wish to be treated.”

Worship 2

This week we have continued to look at our new Be Respectful value. The children have created some ideas for the logo from which we will create the new design. We heard about the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus taught his followers about the Golden Rule of "Do unto others, as you wish that them to do to you". Within the same speech he also talked about looking at your own faults before openly pointing out those within other people. The verses from Matthew 7:3-5 explain this, "How can you say to your fellow people, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from the eye of another." We are all probably guilty at times of not taking the time to reflect upon how our own words and actions impact on those closest to us and perhaps forget that we need to be proactive in being positive amidst the challenges that day-to-day life brings.

Worship 3

This week we have been thinking about the importance of using people’s names when we talk to them as a sign of respect. From the Bible we looked at the story of Zacchaeus the Tax Collector. Zacchaeus means pure or innocent. Even though other members of the community ignored him, Jesus made a special effort to include Zacchaeus including calling him out of the tree by name to make him feel welcome and wanted. Some of the children researched what the meaning of their own name was. Do you know if your name has a meaning behind it?

Worship 4

This week we started to look at the story of Moses from the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament. During the part where God appeared to Moses via the burning bush, Moses was very unsure that he had the confidence or skills to lead the Israelites. However, God believed in him and Moses trusted God. There are periods in our lives where we have to take a leap of faith even if we might have our own inner doubts. As it says in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through He who strengthens me.”

Worship 5

We continued to look at the Story of Moses this week. We heard about his journey through the wilderness to the point he received the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai. These were given to Moses as a template for how his followers should lead their lives. One of the British Values (as defined by the government) is the Rule of Law which means we broadly live in a society that knows the difference between right and wrong. In school, we have our core values which we use as our guidance for the behaviours and attitudes we should show in school and, ideally, also increasingly out of school as the children gain a deeper understanding of them. Each individual child, depending upon their own circumstances, will be able to demonstrate our core values of kindness, respect, wisdom and resilience within their learning to different degrees. For some of the children in school, they might require further support than others to fully understand the expected behaviours that underpin each of our core values.

Worship 6

We held our Harvest worships this week. Two of the services were held at St Mary’s Longfleet church where the pupils led the service and sang hymns and songs as a thanksgiving for the people who are involved in our food production, delivery and retail. We collected an array of food items which some of the Worship Leaders will take to the Poole Foodbank. Our Reception pupils had a short service in the school hall and jumped around to the ‘Bean’ and ‘Big Red Combine Harvester’ songs.

Worship 7

We are focusing on our value of Kindness for this half-term. This week we looked at the story of the Good Samaritan and discussed how we should be kind to everyone especially those in need. At times in our lives, we all need someone to help us ‘get back on to our feet’ and by sharing kindness with others we can hopefully contribute in our own small way to making the world a better place. In our prayers, we thought about the children around the world who are currently caught up in the midst of a conflict.

Worship 8

This week’s focus was remembrance in light of the fact it is Remembrance Day on Saturday and a number of the pupils will be taking place in Remembrance Parades on Sunday. The Captains’ Council have been selling poppies all week to raise money for the Royal British Legion. On Friday, alongside the pupils who are from current Service families, the House Captains walked to the Poole Park War Memorial and held a short service to remember the former Longfleet pupils who died or were injured whilst serving as part of the Armed Forces.

Worship 9

As it is National Anti-Bullying Week we focused on aspects of this in our worships this week. Kindness and Respect are two of our school values and we discussed on Monday (Odd Sock Day) that we are all unique individuals and we should respect the rights of others to have their own thoughts and opinions. We also learnt about the power of ‘positive noticing’ – spotting and commenting when people have done something kind. Finally, we reminded ourselves of the importance the class Keep Safe boxes and the Zones of Regulation charts which are two ways of the pupils alerting a trusted adult that they have something they want to talk about. Kindness is a recurring theme in the Bible, as it says in Proverbs 3:3, “Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.”

Worship 10

The power of light was the focus of this week’s worship. Many religions use the symbolism of light overcoming darkness within their various festivals e.g.Diwali or Hanukkah. As the darkness begins to arrive earlier each day, the lights from our houses will give us a sense of comfort. In the next few weeks, some people will begin to decorate their houses ahead of the Christmas festivities and the twinkling lights will hopefully help to spread the feelings of joy and love that accompany this important Christian festival.

Worship 11

We are now in the period of Advent. Advent means the arrival of a notable person or thing. Christians around the world are busy preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus. At school, children have been reminding themselves of the Christmas Story during worship, in lessons and through singing together. In churches across the country, advent wreath candles will be being lit each Sunday. The candles represent hope, peace, joy and love. We appreciate that not everyone at the school is of the Christian faith but the meaning of the four advent candles is something we could all reflect upon over the festive period.

Worship 12

This week we have been treated to a number of uplifting Christmas services at SML church. The Carol of the Bells was sung beautifully and touchingly introduced by pupils who have joined us from the Ukraine during the last couple of years. It was a fitting reminder that we are part of a global community and at Christmas time our prayers go out to all of the children in the world who are currently living in areas troubled by conflict.

Worship Time Organisation

Organisation of Collective Worship at Longfleet (CE) Primary School:

KS2

Monday – KS2 Collective Worship

Tuesday – Class Worship

Wednesday – Hymn Worship

Thursday – Class Worship (Reflection)

Friday –Whole School Celebration Worship 
 
KS1/EYFS

Monday – KS1 Collective Worship

Tuesday – Hymn Worship

Wednesday – Class Worship

Thursday – Class Worship (Reflection)

Friday – Whole School Celebration Worship
 

Worship Themes

Within our worships we look at how we can use the plentiful supply of our school values (Respect, Kindness, Resilience and Wisdom) to make a difference to the communities we are part of.  So far this year our themes have been:-

AT1 = Respect

AT2 = Kindness

We also cover the traditional Christian festivals of Christmas and Easter including services at SML.  Harvest is celebrated at SML Church including a collection for the Poole Food Bank.  Times of national commemoration are also covered e.g. Remembrance Day as well as relevant 'national weeks' e.g. Anti-Bullying, Children's Mental Health.