Worship
Worship is central to our lives at St Joseph’s. We share our worship resources with parents via the Headteacher’s Blog each week, and encourage you to engage in the weekly themes with your child.
Each week focuses on the upcoming weekend’s Gospel theme, challenging the children to reflect on the values and virtues from that Gospel reading, as well as introducing our children to the principles of Catholic Social Teaching. We also incorporate into the weekly themes links to Fundamental British Values - helping to promote children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. We refer to these values and virtues as the "Tools of St Joseph" which children are challenged to use throughout the week to build God's Kingdom.
We are proud of our rich routine of weekly worship, providing the children with creative opportunities for prayer progression, whole school engagement in Celebration of the Word and more formal Church Liturgies throughout the year to encounter the sacraments.
| Mondays | Gospel Celebration of the Word |
Whole school worship, led by the Headteacher, exploring the upcoming weekend’s Gospel and challenging the children to respond to a value or virtue that can be perceived from the scripture. Children focus on this "Tool of St Joseph" throughout their week in school. |
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| Tuesdays | Class Prayer |
A class-based opportunity to gather together and begin exploring the value or virtue of the week, through a prayer tradition. Throughout the year, children are introduced and progress through a range of formal, traditional, creative and free prayer experiences. |
| Wednesdays | Class Celebrate |
A chance for children to reflect on their personal and spiritual growth, in response to everything they have heard and learnt about from scripture, offering praise to God for his influence in our hearts and minds. |
| Thursdays | Child-led Class Celebration of the Word |
Working with our school Chaplain, children prepare and lead a Celebration of the Word for their class. They follow the format: Gather, Listen, Respond & Mission to structure their time together. The outcome of the week's focus on a "Tool of St Joseph" is then recorded in the class worship book, showing how we have grown closer to Jesus through our weekly theme. |
| Fridays | Child-led Whole School Celebration of the Word |
A beautifully creative celebration to end the week! Each class leads one whole school Celebration of the Word every year, summarising everything we have learnt throughout the week and motivating us to meet with Christ in the Eucharist this weekend. |
We also celebrate Mass on multiple occasions throughout the year. Sometimes a priest comes to visit us and we gather as a whole community in our school hall. At other times, we take a number of year groups across to St Mary’s Church (adjacent to the school building). We have a very active relationship with our vibrant parish community, which you can learn more about here: Catholic Parish of Guildford
If you have any questions about our worship practices, you are always welcome to come and ask. It may even be possible for you to observe school worship in order to understand our approach more fully. We always welcome your thoughts and feedback. Come and speak to a member of the Headship Team (before or after school each day) or send us an email: info@stjosephsguildford.com
You can review our Worship Calendar and Collective Worship Policy here, as well as download and print a copy of our school prayer below.
We invest a significant amount of time and energy into developing engaging spaces for worship. We strive for all children to be captured by opportunities to encounter Christ. Here are some images of our garden chapel, our prayer grottos and our liturgy focal point. Even our stairwells are an opportunity to celebrate the greatness of God!
