Collective Worship and Assemblies at St Cecilias

At St Cecilia's Junior School, we always strive to provide quality experiences of prayer and liturgy that support pupils’ spiritual development. These communal acts of prayer and the liturgical celebrations of the Church form part of everyday life in our school. Every child is given the opportunity to pray by giving praise and thanks to God using traditional prayers of the Catholic Church and many other sources of prayer that enable this to take place. We encourage the children to nurture a relationship with God through words, symbols, song, gestures and silence. Prayer is such an integral part of school life.

Other opportunities for prayer take place within the classroom at the start of each day, before and after lunch and again at the end of each day. Prayer in the classrooms and in assemblies always includes use of symbols and a focal point for prayer which is appropriate to the liturgical season, for example, Lent, Advent or Easter. During all these times of prayer, both staff and pupils are involved in leading and participating. Each class prepare their own Collective Worship each week and as a school we meet each Wednesday for whole school Collective Worship.

Our children are fortunate to be able to experience the richness of the liturgical life of the church in many ways throughout the year such as the Stations of the Cross during Lent, the celebration of the sacrament of Reconciliation , and a joyful Nativity and Carol Service at Christmas.

In addition to this we have a celebration assembly every Tuesday during which key messages from that week's Gospels are relayed to the children. Our SMSC programme is also interwoven through themes and current issues each week.