School Children Inspired at Conference on Collective Worship

On Tuesday 5th November, children from sixteen Church of England schools across the diocese gathered for the Pupil Leaders of Collective Worship Conference at Southwell Minster, led by our diocesan Education Team. The children and their teachers took part in four workshops to inspire them and develop their skills for leading worship in school.

Among the activities they participated in was exploring practical ideas for creatively opening and closing worship times, including using songs and actions when entering and leaving the worship space. The children were encouraged to consider new ways of bringing the Bible to life through storytelling, and in a way which ensures that everyone feels included by creating different gestures for prayer and reflection times. The children also spent time thinking about and being given ideas to enhance a physical worship space.

The day concluded with an opportunity to reflect with their school group on all they had learned and to start putting together an action plan for their school’s collective worship.

One teacher commented on the day: “Thank you for a fantastic Worship Leaders conference yesterday – the children loved it and have some brilliant ideas to lead us.”

We’re grateful to the staff, governors and local church leaders who helped facilitate the day, and pray that all the young leaders learnt will help to inspire worship in schools across our diocese.