Spirituality at Bramley
This language of spirituality begins from a Christian understanding that everyone and everything is a valued creation, individually and uniquely made by God. At Bramley, we seek opportunity to develop our sense and understanding of spirituality through exploration aspects of life, which are beyond tangible creation and provide a sense of awe and wonder.
At Bramley C of E Primary School, we believe that spiritual development is a fundamental aspect of children's personal progress that exists beyond faith or religious affiliation. We work to enable children to develop holistically in order that they become happy, fulfilled, spiritually aware, and socially and emotionally engaged.
We explore spirituality through Mirror, Door, Window and Candle moments throughout our school day. We actively seek opportunity to explore our spiritual experiences within collective worship as well as both planned and spontaneous ‘pause for thought’ moments. This enables them to think and reflect carefully about the world around them and to consider their role within it.
Our Definition of Spirituality
Spirituality is a way of seeing, connecting with and giving meaning to life beyond the day to day.
We view spirituality as a process, not a thing. It’s not something that you can hold, more something that you experience. Opportunities for spiritual development present themselves all around us. Our role. As adults, we see our role as shining a light on these opportunities in order to engage children in spiritual moments using the mirror, door, window or candle as vehicles to scaffold this. We identify 3 stages to the spiritual process:
Spirituality within the Curriculum
At Bramley, we believe that every aspect of a broad, balanced and engaging curriculum provides opportunities for spiritual development. In order to support the spiritual growth of our children, we use the ‘candle, window, mirror, door’ approach.
Spirituality in Collective Worship
Collective Worship is a valued and integral part of life at Bramley. It provides the opportunity for our school community to share experiences, ideas and understanding. Within Collective Worship, the language of spirituality is used regularly and explicitly shared.
Collective Worship provides the opportunity for pupils to become aware of the importance of stillness and reflection. It also provides a real sense of being present which can often be linked to invitations to pray.
Collective Worship provides opportunities to engage with inspirational figures, stories and events and reflect on the beauty and joy of the world around them. In addition, time to reflect and empathise, showing compassion in moments of disappointment or pain.
Pupils are given time to consider their role in God’s world and their responsibilities to others and to grow in love and service.
Through Collective Worship, pupils are offered time to be able to contemplate and develop spiritually. Collective Worship in Bramley is invitational, inspirational and inclusive.