Spirituality

WHAT IS SPIRITUALITY AT HOLY TRINITY?

Spirituality isn’t something we can see; it is something we feel inside ourselves. It is about awe and wonder, our relationships with ourselves and others, asking questions, being inspired, and being aware of something bigger outside ourselves. At Holy Trinity, there is no spirituality curriculum, or spirituality goals to achieve. Pupils and adults are given frequent and varied opportunities throughout their time at Holy Trinity to develop spiritually, and flourish in their own ways, with no right or wrong answers. Spirituality isn’t the same as being religious; a person can develop and flourish spiritually as part of any faith group or none. A person’s spirituality is a very personal thing and differs from person-to-person and throughout our lives. This isn’t just something that is developed through Collective Worship, but in all areas of school life.

At Holy Trinity, we think of spirituality as being split into four parts:

	MYSELF My understanding of myself, my identity, my purpose and my relationship with this. Understanding we are unique and special. Being grateful for who we are and what we have. Understanding and exploring our emotions. Developing an imagination and being creative.
	OTHERS My understanding of, connection to and relationship with other people, whether close, distant or humanity in general. To have empathy and understanding of those around us. To love and be loved. To serve other people in acts of selflessness or charity. To stride towards living by the Golden Rule - treat other people like you would like to be treated.
	BEAUTY My connection with and relationship to the natural world and the man-made world, including art, music etc. Feeling awe and wonder Finding small things in the everyday world special Experiencing and appreciating places of natural beauty in the world. Finding beauty in art, music, theatre and other arts.
	BEYOND My connection to and relationship with something/someone beyond the physical world, fundamental to the universe. Thinking about and grappling with big questions about life and the world Opportunities for times of prayer and reflection in our own ways Opportunity to experience God's presence.

The four elements of spirituality listed above can be seen throughout our school vision. Our vision is who we are as a school, and it is clear how spirituality runs through this.

COLLECTIVE WORSHIP:

Collective Worship at Holy Trinity is a central part of life in our school and is shared together daily, in addition to the celebration of festivals. In every act of Collective Worship, children and adults have time for reflection, often with a specific focus or sometimes without. There is time of invitational prayer, time for song, time for listening and time for participating. Nothing else happens in school while we join together in Collective Worship. This time and space gives every child and adult their own opportunity to be inspired, to be reflective, to be empathetic, to learn, to wonder and to worship.

RELIGION & WORLDVIEWS AND WIDER CURRICULUM:

In our curriculum at Holy Trinity, there are many and varied opportunities, both planned for and ad-hoc, for spiritual development. In our Religion & Worldviews curriculum in particular, children engage in learning about the worldviews and faiths of people near and far. They engage in understanding their own beliefs or non-beliefs, engaging with our local community and with the ideas of the transcendent, the beyond and of God.

But looking at our curriculum as a whole, there are many more opportunities for spiritual development, and as there are far too many to list in their entirety, here are some notable examples:

• Year 5 experiencing awe and wonder when visiting Malham in the Yorkshire Dales as part of their geography fieldwork, exemplifying the stunning beauty of the natural world.
• Year 4 taking part in a courageous advocacy as part of their Religion & Worldviews learning interrogating what kind of world Jesus wanted.
• KS2 undertaking weekly instrumental lessons for a half-year, understanding fully how doing something individually contributes to the whole, as well as the joy of making music.
• EYFS exploring Trinity Woods weekly, seeing the changes the seasons bring throughout the year and how our natural world can be beautiful all year round.
• Year 3 going into the local community to see how our neighbours live, where they shop and what our local community has to offer each other.

MAKING MEMORIES & SCHOOL EVENTS

A key focus coming from our vision, is to enable pupils and adults to have memorable, worthwhile and enriching experiences during their time at our school. Making memories is a vital part of spiritual school life; a memory in years to come definitionally needs to have impacted a person in at least one of the four main areas of spiritual development. Here are some examples:

• Our termly LIGHT Awards, where we celebrate children who consistently live out our school values and shine out.
• Our annual school trip to the pantomime, experiencing a joyous and wonderful experience, enriched in traditional British culture and appreciating the art of theatre.
• In-school sleepover events
• Residential educational visits
• National events such as VE Day 80