Collective Worship

 At Eye C of E Primary School, Collective Worship takes place daily and is an important part of our school day.  We follow the church calendar and base the foci of our collective worships on these seasons. We display the appropriate coloured cloth in line with the time of year within the church calendar. We use a range of materials to support our collective worship. Whilst our local church, St Matthew's, is waiting for a new vicar to be appointed, we are fortunate to be joined by a range of visitors, who are ministers, pastors and leaders in local churches and Christian organisations, to lead one our Collective Worships each week. Our collective worships also focus on themes that allow us to engage with our GROW standards (Gratitude, Respect, Ownership and Wisdom) as well as our Christian Values (Community, Thankfulness, Peace, Compassion, Forgiveness, Service, Justice). We also learn about and celebrate events in the church calendar (e.g. Christmas, Easter, Pentecost etc.)

Each time of worship is rooted in biblical teaching and allows children to learn, reflect and respond. Our collective worship follow the structure of windows (learning), mirrors (reflecting) and doors (applying, sending and 'living it out').

We aim for collective worship to be creative and leaders plan to use story, drama, poetry, illustrations, music etc.  Each time of collective worship begins with the lighting of our three candles which represent the trinity and a time of prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is also said. We encourage a range of worship leaders including teachers, pupils and external visitors.

Daily collective worship offers a time of reflection and prayer where children and adults are able to respond as they wish and are prompted to consider how worship impacts their lives. This is facilitated through the ‘Doors’ element of worship. Whole school and class worship spaces provide quiet areas for children and staff to reflect and talk to God.

Our Collective Worship Timetable 2023-2024

Church Services

Throughout the year we are able to join in worship at St Matthew's church in our village of Eye. We join together with members of St Matthew's, parents, teachers and pupils to celebrate significant times of year such as Harvest, Christmas, Easter and Pentecost as well as celebrating the end of the school year. 

March 2024- Easter Service

Once again, the whole school visited St Matthew’s Church for our Easter services. We had been journeying through the Easter story in our collective worships over the weeks leading up to the end of term and it was wonderful to share the final part of the story and celebrate the good new of Jesus rising from the dead. The Year 3 classes shared a poem ‘The Story of Easter’ with excellent clarity and expression and some children in Year 1 shared some beautiful prayers that they had written. Reverend Ann challenged us to share the hope and the joy of the Easter story with others. We’re grateful for the parents and carers of year 3 children for joining us for the service. 

December 2023- Christmas Service

We were pleased to be able to enjoy our Christmas church services at St Matthew's. Year 4 shared the poem 'Twas the Night Before Jesus' Birth' and church ambassadors read lovely prayers that they had written. Reverend Ann spoke to us about the verse 'for God so loved the world’. She reminded us that the world means everyone and that even those who visited the infant Jesus were not Christians. She also spoke to us about our call as people to share God's love and grow his kingdom. We're grateful to the parents and carers of the year 4 children for joining us for the services.

October 2023 Harvest Service

Due to torrential rain, we were unable to make our journey down to St Matthew's for our Harvest service. However, we were grateful to be able to continue with our planned service and celebrate harvest together in our school hall to finish off our half term. Mrs Bright spoke with the children about the parable of the talents and we thought about all that God has given us and how we can be grateful for these things. Many Reception parents joined us to enjoy the Reception children's song contribution to the service and year 3 and 5 also did an excellent job of sharing poems and prayers. 

Church services from previous years

October 2022- Harvest Service

We thoroughly enjoyed our Harvest church services at St. Matthew's. It's been a long time since we were able to gather there and our school has grown so much that we needed three services to fit everyone in! We are grateful to all parents and family members of our Reception children who were able to join with us. Squirrels, Hedgehogs and Rabbits did a fabulous job singing the Bean Harvest song. We also enjoyed contributions from year 3 who had written prayers and year 5 and 6 who had written poems on Thankfulness. It was lovely to be able to worship together in this way.

December 2022- Christmas Service

We had a wonderful time as we visited St Matthew’s church for our Christmas service. We enjoyed singing Christmas songs, hearing that important Christmas story of the birth of Jesus- excellently told by the year 4 children and sharing in prayers from our Church Ambassadors. We shared a video from Major Gary Chaundy from The Salvation Army who thanked all within our school community for giving so generously to the Toy Appeal. We, as a school, would like to thank Mr Hurst and all at St Matthew's church for always making us so welcome.

March 2023- Easter Service

Once again, we had a wonderful time celebrating Easter at St Matthew's church . Our growing school made the trip down Eyebury Road for three services so that we could all fit in. The year 1 children contributed beautifully with some lovely prayers that they had written and year 3 children did a wonderful job of sharing a poem to tell the Easter story. Thank you to parents and family members of year 3 who joined us. We also said a very fond farewell to Mr Hurst who is retiring at the end of this month. We are so grateful for all he has done for Eye CE Primary School, as part of our governing body and in his ministry as our local vicar. We will miss his visits to Collective Worship on a Monday and would like to say a heartfelt thank you for his ministry and all that he has done to support the children and staff of Eye CE Primary School.

May 2023- Pentecost Service

We made our termly pilgrimage down Eyebury Road to St Matthew's church for our Pentecost Service. We were delighted to be joined by parents and carers of year 5 who were able to enjoy excellent reading of the Pentecost story from Acts 2 by the year 5 children. Children in EYFS had also written some prayers and shared them beautifully with the school. Reverend Ann Ballard spoke to us about the coming of the Holy Spirit and what that meant for the disciples.

July 2023- End of Year Church Service

We celebrated the end of our school year in our church services at St Matthew's. We celebrated all that we've been able to achieve this year whilst we have learnt and grown for Life in all its fullness. Reverend Ann shared a verse from Joshua 1:9 which reminded us to 'Be bold. be strong, for the Lord our God is with us.' We were reminded that, through all of the changes in life, God is with us wherever we go and whatever we do. Children from year 2 shared a poem of God's blessing for the new school year and children from Year 6 shared prayers.

October 2020- Harvest Service

Our Harvest Service took place virtually this year but we were still able to enjoy contributions from Mr Hurst, other members of St Matthew's church and children across the school.

December 2020- Christmas Service

Our Christmas service was also held virtually this year. Whilst there are lots of restrictions meaning there were things we couldn't do, we still enjoyed listening to carols, sharing in a small nativity and learning more about the birth of Jesus. Members of our Church School Group were able to take part along with many of our children. We grateful, as always, for the leadership of Reverend Hurst.

March 2020- Easter Service

Once again we held our Easter service virtually but despite this it was an uplifting time of worship as we thought about the resurrection of Jesus. Children in year 1, 2 and 5 were able to take part by sharing poems and prayers. 

To watch any of our previous virtual church services in full please click on the link below.