Church & Community at Escrick Primary School
St Helen’s Church
Our school maintains a close and longstanding relationship with St Helen’s Church, which plays an important role in our community life. We hold our annual Year 6 leavers’ service there, attend special services throughout the year, and work in partnership with the church on a wide range of projects that support both the local community and the wider area. This strong connection enriches the spiritual and communal experiences of our pupils and families. In addition to regular clergy assemblies, each month volunteers visit school for ‘Open the Book’, when they present to the children a bible story linked to the Collective Worship theme.Collective Worship
We hold daily acts of Collective Worship which are distinctly Christian in nature, whilst also celebrating and embracing other major world faiths. Worship is led by clergy and school staff regularly lead worship and pupils also prepare and feed into ideas for celebration. Pupils regularly learn about how school and Christian values are put into action, through bible stories and global events.
We celebrate that Christianity is a global faith, and enjoy learning about the lived experiences of people all over the world.
Staff and children enjoy selecting music for the school to listen to on arrival for Collective Worship. Additionally, children enjoy singing action songs, learning Makaton to accompany some in the time together. We sing about values which are important to us, alongside using songs which are of a Christian nature.
Children’s Worship in School
Children are regularly encouraged to contribute to collective worship, with thoughts, ideas and prayers. Children will assist in different ways, such as setting up resources and opening collective worship time with a selected prayer or bible verse. In addition to this, children actively contribute practical ideas to how we can show our values in action.We have a pupil Collective Worship Group, made up of children in from Ks1 and Ks2. They contribute ideas for Collective Worship, gather feedback from pupils and deliver a session of Collective Worship each term.
Visitors for Collective Worship
We like to welcome visitors from many different faiths and Christian denominations. We love to hear about the way in which their faith helps them lead their lives. We are also interested in the many similarities there are between the values and principles of all religions. Each term YOYO, the York Schools and Youth Trust, comes in to deliver Collective Worship, based on a Christian theme, such as Easter, Harvest or Christmas.