The Church of England’s Vision for Education states a core desire that children will experience life in its fullness (John 10:10)

As a church school, and 'a place where everyone can flourish', we aim to create an environment that will nurture people’s minds, body and souls equally.

Spirituality relates to fundamental questions about the meaning and purpose of life which affect everyone and is not dependent on a religious belief. It is also based on the search for ways to answer questions about life and a search for identity.

As a church school, we are guided by the Christian faith and Christian values. However, we truly welcome all, and we openly encourage children to reflect in the way that suits them best, enabling them to flourish in a way that will help them find peace, comfort and strength throughout life's ever-changing journey. 

We believe that spirituality should influence all areas of education and life. Therefore, we plan our curriculum so that there are rich deep-thinking opportunities which contribute to pupils’ spiritual development whether they hold religious beliefs, or not.

At St Mark’s we acknowledge that spirituality will be a different experience for all individuals and that children will be at different stages of their own journey. The everyday experiences that our children encounter support asking the ‘big questions’ and allow them to explore the awe and wonder of the world around us.

Spiritual experiences will offer time and space to consider topics that are possibly unknown, or challenging as concepts, but central to the development of individual values and beliefs. The experiences will explicitly develop our children intellectually, emotionally and morally. 

What does spirituality look like at St Mark’s C of E Primary School?

Our pupils encounter a wide variety of opportunities to develop their spirituality over their time with us.

These include: daily collective worship; reflection tasks linked to worship; responses to worship; regular whole-school 'prayer spaces'; a thoughtful and broad curriculum including an open and non-judgemental introduction to different beliefs and their meaning and place in believers’ lives, topics linked to concepts such as injustice, equality, wellbeing, environmental justice, social action and economics; reflection spaces available inside the school and within the school grounds; garden; events such as leavers' service.

We want to ensure that our pupils think about their own place in the world.

What are our characteristics of spiritually?

As a school, we intend that pupils who are developing spiritually, and are engaging in spiritual opportunities, will also begin to reflect on the importance of these experiences. Pupils will be developing some or all of the following:

• The ability to share their own beliefs and values and know that they can take a stand to defend them
• Self-awareness and the ability to show empathy to the experience of others in and out of school
• To be loving towards themselves and believe in their own potential
• To be imaginative and creative
• To be comfortable with taking part in reflection, prayer and being still
• To be forgiving and able to say sorry
• The ability to respond creatively across a range of subjects
• Feel inspired to take action and often link actions to their beliefs or school values
• Understanding mistakes are a part of learning and growth
• To be able to share what difference reflection makes to them