Spiritual Development
Aims
Provision for the spiritual development of pupils includes developing their:
• ability to be reflective about their own beliefs (religious or otherwise) and perspective on life
• knowledge of, and respect for, different people’s faiths, feelings and values
• sense of enjoyment and fascination in learning about themselves, others and the world around them
• use of imagination and creativity in their learning
• willingness to reflect on their experiences.
What does spirituality look like at St James?
Staff and pupils developed our own definition of spirituality:
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“Spirituality is not something we can see it is something we feel inside. It is
about awe and wonder, asking questions and connecting with life’s special
moments”
We feel this is inclusive to all children in school – those with faith and those that do not have a faith.
We use Liz Mills’ analogy of ‘The Doughnut and the Hole’ to support the spiritual development of pupils and staff. This helps us to recognise that spiritual development, even though we can’t always see it, is something that makes us whole because it is something we feel. We need the physical and the spiritual to be who we are.
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​It is important to look at what makes us human, looking at our imagination, expression, curiosity and how comfortable we are with ourselves as well as others. When exploring spiritual development, we allow children to ask questions, however big or small. No question is a silly question. We can grow and develop in our own spiritual development by trying to ‘walk a mile in someone else’s shoes’ to think how they might be feeling or experiencing things differently.
We encourage all children and adults to think about, explore, express and expand their thoughts and questions about life and things that are important to them. The four elements of our Christian vision allows children and adults to connect with life’s special moments, we talk about the ‘ow’ and ‘wow’ moments of life, as well as supporting children to think about the ‘now’ moments of life.
Children and adults are encouraged to tackle the ‘ow’ moments by knowing the size of your challenge doesn’t matter, to make use of what you have and be bigger than your fears. To celebrate the ‘wow’ moments we believe it’s possible, especially ‘Through Him’.
Our Christian vision also recognises the awe and wonder of knowing that ‘there is no limit to what you can do’. This sense of achievement and possibility that we instil through our Christian vision supports the spiritual definition of ‘it is something we feel inside’. We want our children and adults to feel a sense of pride in all that they do and achieve, so that they grow and flourish. We regularly ask children to reflecton our Christian vision and the ‘Goliath challenges’ that they have, or will, overcome.
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​Reflection, prayer and worship are vital tools to use in spiritual development. They provide a safe space, belonging and time to think through how we feel and how we respond to the world around us. We also use our Christian values in our daily life to support spiritual development.
