Spiritual Development

Let us love… let us thrive…

Spiritual development is different to social, moral and cultural development.

At St James, we believe children need TIME and INVESTMENT to develop their spirituality. A lot of the opportunities to develop spirituality in children are not specifically planned for but occur naturally.

We believe:

  1. Children need to know, value and understand themselves and their uniqueness (self).

  2. Children need to be aware of others, have empathy and compassion, and be aware of how they, as unique people themselves, affect their relationships with other people (others)

  3. Children need to be aware of the world around them and their place in it (world)

  4. Children need to be aware of things they may not have the answers to and continue to ask questions in pursuit of answers (beyond)

How do we do this? How do we support children in being fully human?

SELF

  • Times for reflection about themselves and their values eg. what would they do? What would Jesus do? (collective worship, reflection areas, prayer areas).

  • Recovery – reflection on values and the choices they have made and how they can change.

  • Emotion Coaching – enabling children to understand how they feel, how to deal with their emotions, who they are.

  • Nurture/mentoring – enabling children to understand their worth as people and how they can be the best they can be.

  • Vision and values permeate school.

OTHERS

  • Behaviour policy – restorative conversations, reflection, impact of their choices on others.

  • Promoted through values in collective worship, throughout daily school life – show love, friendship, respect, endurance, honesty, peace surrounded by love.

  • Learning about others in the curriculum, including most disadvantaged.

  • Charity work eg Four Steps to a Smile, Birmingham Children's Hospital, Shelter.

WORLD

  • Forest school, Eco Bus – encourage a sense of awe and wonder about the natural world.

  • Junior PCSOs, Health Champions – encourage children to reflect on how their choices impact the world around them and the community they live in.

  • RE/Geography/History etc - learn about other parts of the world, religions, beliefs.

  • Art/music/dance/drama – develop a sense of spirituality and sense of significance. Why do we appreciate certain things?

BEYOND

  • Big questions – children are encouraged to never stop asking questions eg. Picture News, Newsround used as a resources. Issues such as deforestation, flooding etc in geography and their impact. Big questions asked in History, RE, Geography

  • Thinking time is key – time for thinking in the curriculum, reflection areas, collective worship.