Spiritual Development

Spiritual development at High Hesket CE School

As our vision highlights, we believe that preparing children spiritually enables them to be thoughtful and active citizens in today's world. Spirituality is the idea of connecting with something bigger than ourselves and is something that all individuals have the capacity to experience, regardless of faith, religion or belief. At High Hesket CE School we balance planned opportunities for spiritual development alongside spontaneous opportunities that may present themselves as we encounter moments of wonder, topical issues or events that unfold in our daily lives. 

Windows, mirrors, doors

To help the children explore spiritual development, we utilise a shared language in school based around the 'windows, mirrors, doors' concept. 'Windows' relates to opportunities to look at the world around us and what we can learn from all that we see around us. 'Mirrors' links to the opportunities that we take to reflect on all that experience and how we can relate to the thoughts and experiences of others. 'Doors' centres around the idea that the children can then consider ways to respond and how they can use what they have explored to take action and contribute actively to the world in which they live. We use three focus questions to assist with this:

• Windows: what can we learn?
• Mirrors: how can we reflect?
• Doors: how can we respond?

Collective Worship

Collective Worship is an opportunity for us to come together as a community and to explore opportunities for spiritual development. We follow the 'Roots and Fruits' scheme which allows us look in depth at a range of Christian values and we also discuss our own school values of community, wisdom and kindness within this. Our Collective Worship sessions are flexible, adapting to world wide events and exploring the 'wows' and also the 'ows' of life. Within our worship, we also ensure there is time to reflect as individuals and the language of 'windows, mirrors, doors' is threaded through our worship sessions. 

Reflection areas

Within our classes, we have a range of reflection areas that the children can utilise to take time to pause, ponder and reflect. These are planned using a common school theme and each class has ownership over how their reflection area is developed. 

Whole school project days 

Each term, we hold a 'Whole School Project Day' where the children work together in their house teams (red, yellow, green and blue) across the school. This creates a wonderfully supportive atmosphere as the older children encourage and assist their younger peers through a selection of activities. The activities chosen centre around opportunities for the children to develop their collaborative skills along with perseverance and resilience. At least one activity is always linked to spiritual development and gives the children time to reflect and respond to questions that require deep thinking. 

Spirituality across the curriculum 

Spiritual development is woven throughout our wider curriculum and our subject leaders have taken time to consider how we can embed opportunities for 'windows, mirrors and doors' moments into our daily teaching. Outdoor learning is also used to complement this approach and enables children to connect with nature in a thoughtful and meaningful way. 

Useful documents 

What does spiritual development look like at High Hesket CE School?