Worship and Prayer
“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven."
Matthew 5:14-16
Our school motto, let your light shine, comes from the words spoken to us by Jesus at the sermon on the mount (Matthew's Gospel). Jesus explains that when we let our light shine, others will see and will give glory to our Father in heaven.
Worship at Parbold Douglas is all about giving glory to our Father in heaven:
- We explore scripture and learn so that we are better equipped to take action and let the light of Jesus shine through us.
- We praise God and give thanks.
- We listen to and talk to God through prayer, stillness and reflection.
Collective worship is the most important part of our day as a school family. Worship is inclusive, invitational and inspiring.
Inclusive: Worship is wide-ranging and varied in style. Our use of music and song includes a blend of traditional hymns, lively modern worship music and Taizé prayer chants. Many songs include actions, providing inclusivity for younger pupils. We discuss other faiths and world views as part of worship - for example, we learnt about Diwali and considered the importance of 'light' as a symbol to Hindus, as well as Christians.
Invitational: We use language carefully in collective worship to ensure it is both invitational and welcoming. We support children to engage with worship in their own way, ensuring it is suited to their spiritual development journey.
Inspiring: We want children to walk away from worship with fresh energy and a renewed motivation to do good (so that they may 'let their light shine'). Worship often feels like a celebration! We want everyone in our school family to feel the deep joy of communicating with God.
Our ethos group (Kingdom Builders) is led by pupils within Year 6. Every child in school is a member of the Kingdom Builders group.
Children and adults contribute to the ongoing evaluation and improvement of collective worship to ensure that it meets our goals.
In our delivery of Collective Worship, we adhere to guidance set out by the Church of England (2021) - see below.
Worship 2025-26
More information coming soon!
Weekly Worship
Picture News and Praise (Tuesdays)
Each week, the Picture News team choose a current news story, provide an image, a thought-provoking question and a variety of assembly resources. We use these as the basis for collective worship.
We also meet for a time of singing on a Tuesday - this is an expression of praise to God. We sing a mixture of traditional hymns and modern worship music.
Find out more about Picture News here: Picture News
iSingPop (Wednesdays)
On Wednesdays, we use the iSingPop Collective Worship resources as we worship together in our own classrooms.
These resources follow a theme each term. Our children love the animations, the dances moves, the songs and the energetic presenters!
Find out more about iSingPop here: iSingPop Classroom Worship
Celebration Worship (Fridays)
Friday worship is energetic, fun and celebratory! We reflect with thanks on the week as we celebrate each other and our collective successes.
We celebrate:
- Great moments (Photo of the week)
- Individual achievements in school (Stars of the week)
- Individual achievements outside school (Awards from home)
- The Golden Broom (cleanest classroom award)
- Birthdays
Worship Through the Years
Worship in 2024/25
In the 2024-25 year, children were led through JOY. We began looking at Jesus and how He was a joy-bringer. We looked at Others and how they have brought JOY into the lives of those around them. In the Summer term, we focused on You and how everyone can be a 'joy-bringer' and let God's love come to us and through us.
Worship in 2023/24
Throughout the 2023/24 academic year, our theme for collective worship was ‘Higher, Deeper, Wider’. Worship offered opportunities for pupils to grow and deepen their understanding of our school vision in three ways:
- Celebrating (through prayer and song) that God's love for us is Higher than anything we can imagine.
- Delving Deeper into scripture (The Holy Bible, God’s word).
- Striving to step Wider in our outreach (as Kingdom Builders).
Building on themes from the last two years (‘Kingdom Builders’ in 2021/22 and ‘Friends Forever’ in 2022/23), pupils developed their understanding of our school vision and the actions they can take to make this vision a reality. Pupils spent time recognising the importance of our friendship with God as we seek to be His hands and feet on Earth, shaping a society that reflects His vision for humanity. This allowed pupils to learn more about the role they can play in transforming society as a generation of ‘Kingdom Builders’ who shape society with the peace, love and forgiveness of God.
Further information can be found in the overview below.
Worship in 2022/23
Throughout the 2022/23 academic year, our theme for collective worship will be ‘Friends Forever!’. Each week, collective worship will offer opportunities for pupils to grow and deepen their friendship with God. They will learn to recognise their ‘closeness to God’ and this will enable them to draw on their faith in times of struggle and to praise God in times of joy.
We will explore the message that we are all children of God! Pupils will learn that God is always close to his children and we (his children) are always close to Him. In short, we are friends forever!
Building on last year’s theme (Kingdom Builders), pupils will recognise the importance of our friendship with God as we seek to be His hands and feet on Earth, shaping a society that reflects His vision for humanity. This will allow pupils to learn more about our school vision and the role they can play in transforming society as a generation of ‘Kingdom Builders’ who shape society with the peace, love and forgiveness of God.
Throughout the series, pupils will continue to deepen their understanding of our school motto: let your light shine (Matthew 5:16). They will see their own closeness to God as evidence of the light of God within them.
Further information can be found in the overview below.