The ultimate aim of Collective Worship in St Gregory’s Catholic school is to provide the space and tools for our young people, within the context of the Catholic faith and traditions:

• to contemplate the mystery of God;
• to develop an understanding of Salvation History through meaningful engagement with the Eucharist and the sacrament of Reconciliation;
• to reflect on spiritual and moral issues;
• to foster and nurture relationships;
• to respond to and to celebrate life;
• to experience a sense of belonging and to develop community;
• to nurture a common ethos and shared set of values;
• to enrich religious experience;
• to grow in liturgical understanding and development;
• to reinforce prayers which are part of the Catholic tradition;
• to seek appropriate responses to the love of God;
• to take time out ‘to wonder at’, ‘to come to terms with’ and ‘to give worth to.’

Practice:

Each day there is a rhythm of daily prayer:

1. We start every morning with our Morning Prayer
2. We give thanks for our for our food by saying Grace before meals
3. We conclude our days activity and prayer by glorifying God when we say the Glory Be

As a Catholic community we set aside some time each morning to pray. This is also a legal requirement. This prayer will occur three days per week in the Form Group at morning registration. On the other days it will occur during Assembly and “Collective Worship”.

Each year group, encounters a variety of daily prayer across the week which includes:

1. Chaplaincy-Planned Prayer Session

Each week the Chaplaincy Team prepare a morning prayer which includes:

• Scripture read by assigned students
• A group reflection which on the meaning of the scripture in their lives
• A formal prayer

At St Gregory’s we do not wish to have competition between important messaging about operational matters and meaningful, prayerful, reflection and worship.  As a result, we provide opportunities for both as follows:

2. Assembly

These are not based on liturgical themes, and instead focus on the school operational calendar and provide time for important messages and information and guidance.

Assembly always starts and ends in prayer.

3. Collective Worship

Collective Worship provides students with an important opportunity for spiritual development through prayer and for presenting Catholic values to the students. These are conducted in year groups and are usually taken by members of the Senior Leadership Team, the Chaplaincy Team, Heads of Year and some Subject Leaders.

Those who lead Collective Worship are encouraged to enable students to participate in the planning and delivery.

The programme for Collective Worship is linked to themes outlined in the School Calendar, which follow the cycle of the Liturgical Year of the Roman Catholic Church. That means that they come from the readings at the previous Sunday Mass.

Collective Worship is an essential element of the ‘spiritual and moral’ education programme within the school which offers the students the opportunity to reflect on how the liturgical themes relate to their lives, academically, spiritually and morally.

4. Pupil-led Prayer

Pupils are given the opportunity to work in small groups to lead a pupil-led prayer session in their form group.  They are tasked on rotation with planning, leading and evaluating a meaningful prayer session based on the weekly theme or topical news.

Readings and other materials do not necessarily have to be biblical and can include poems or even contemporary news stories which relate to the week’s theme or major current events, provided that they are related or discussed in a spiritual manner.

The Chaplaincy Team provide guidance and training, such as identifying suitable material for use by tutors.   Resources are available in the staff work room and in the Sacristy.  There is a collection of weekly updated resources available via SharePoint.

Some of the most familiar prayers, such as The Sign of the Cross, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be and Grace before meals are on posters in each classroom.

5. Examen

At the end of every week students perform an examen of the week.  After completing their examen, students spend a few minutes reflecting and evaluating the quality of prayer and liturgy for that week. 

Tutors systematically sample their Form Groups to capture this evaluation and feedback formally to improve the school’s work on prayer and liturgy.

Students are encouraged to volunteer their reflections as often as they choose outside of this more formalised feedback.

 6. Liturgies

Whole school Masses during the year include those marking the beginning and ending of the school year, special occasions and Holy Days of Obligation that occur during the school year.

The practical arrangements are distributed to staff in the week before the Mass. It is very important to note that all staff share in the responsibility for ensuring that the right tone is set.

Staff should sit among the students and lead by example.

Our current practice is for Whole School Mass to be celebrated at the end of the year outdoors to mark the Feast of St Gregory’s (Commuted).

All Masses are celebrated in the Chapel.

Non-Eucharistic liturgies are celebrated as appropriate throughout the year.   These include:

• Advent/Christmas celebration
• Distribution of Ashes and Reconciliation services during Advent and Lent
• Holy Week celebrations when we are in school at that time
• and prayer during retreat opportunities.

The planning of the liturgies is led by the Chaplaincy Team. Student participation is encouraged through helping the preparation, doing the readings, helping with music/singing, drama and leading some of the prayers.

We mark significant moments/events in the community (locally and wider) appropriately with non-eucharistic prayer/liturgy, e.g. the loss of a member of the school community, Remembrance Day, etc.

It is expected that all staff support the Mass and other liturgies, supporting good standards of behaviour, and, in the case of Form Tutors, leading their forms in and strategically seating pupils, so that they can all participate for the best.