RE and Collective Worship Policy (Draft)
At St Peter and St Paul’s we have weekly liturgies which are held in St Peter and St Paul’s church or in the school chapel; these are either as a key stage of year group. These times of the week allow pupils to have an extended time of prayer and to grow in their relationship with God. Liturgies are almost always pupil led, thus ensuring that young people are able to make links between Scripture and their every day lives. We also have whole school liturgy at the end of each long term and this is an opportunity for us to come together as a school community and celebrate our shared understanding of what it means to be a part of a Catholic school.
As well as these moments of encountering Christ, we also have whole school, key stage and year group masses which take place across the course of the academic year and ensure that mass is celebrated at each point in the liturgical calendar. At the start of the year, for the Feast of St Peter and St Paul and also on Ask Wednesday, the whole celebrates mass together, where reading, bidding prayers, the offertory and altar serving are responsibilities which are undertaken by our pupils. We have a strong choir who help to lead us in our worship. During the season of Advent, the Key Stages celebrate mass together and during Lent, the school takes part in our ‘Lenten Mission’. This involves each year group celebrating mass with the parishioners. They take clear roles in mass and the parish community enjoy celebrating mass with our pupils.
The church and parish is very important to our school and we encourage our pupils to take part in parish. Most recently, on Education Sunday, our Headteacher has delivered a speech in all parishes about the work of the school community and how our pupils are growing in faith. The SSPP choir has been invited to sing at the Interfaith Holocaust Memorial event, the Celebration Mass for the Mayor of Lincoln and also the Lincoln Parishes Confirmation mass. Our pupils are actively engaged in parish work and serve their communities in a number of ways.
Pupils have taken part in a number of parish masses, leading reading, bidding prayers and taking part in the offertory. On Youth Sunday, some of our sixth form pupils spoke to all parishes about the important role that young people have in ensuring the church continues to grow. Pupil who are completing the Faith In Action award have also been involved in coffee mornings to raise money for charitable causes.
