St Martin-in-the-Fields High School For Girls - a Church of England School in South London

Collective worship forms a natural and important part of the life of St Martin's and every day we begin with a true sense of our spiritual dimension. Collective worship gives everyone involved the experience of participating in Christian worship and helps to foster their spiritual and moral development. Our worship is inclusive and enables those of other faiths or no faith to participate.

Format for whole school collective worship:

We use the four-part model for worship - gather, engage, respond and send. Students are active participants in collective worship. This format is used for all acts of Collective Worship.
We use calming, spiritual music at the beginning and end of worship.
We gather together in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and greet each other in a call and response so we are prepared to meet with God.
We include specific Anglican worship practices through our opening sentence and response and also by lighting a candle in prayer to remind us of God's Holy Spirit. This creates a distinctive atmosphere and a clearly visible focus point of readiness in Christ. This is often followed by the singing of a hymn or listening to the choir.

We engage with the Bible, Christian teaching and, most importantly, God in the main part of our act of worship. We encounter Jesus in the stories of the Bible and we listen for God's message to us. The message is shared through the reading of a Bible verse which we relate to our theme (linked to the liturgical calendar), our experience, current events and our values. This helps us think about how we can live more Christian lives in a loving and compassionate way.
Time is set aside for reflection: thinking and responding to what has been seen and heard, giving the opportunity to worship God. This is followed by a time of prayer. A liturgical ending (call and response) is used to conclude our worship.

A similar four-part model of worship is followed in Year and Tutor collective worship time.The liturgical year provides a structure for our school and church services. It is divided into following seasons:

advent

The season of Advent marks the start of the Christian year, and is a season of expectation and preparation as the Church looks forward to celebrating the birth of Christ.

CHRISTMAS

Christmas is much more than simply the celebration of Jesus' birth: it reminds us of the central truth of 'the word becoming flesh and dwelling among us' (John 1.14) We mark the Christmas season in our whole school collective worship and end of term church service.

EPIPHANY

We mark the beginning of the season of Epiphany in our whole school collective worship. The week of Prayer for Christian Unity falls appropriately in the Epiphany season.

LENT

Ash Wednesday marks the start of observation of Lent and we mark this with our Ash Wednesday service. We mark Holy week with a whole school collective worship and depending on the term dates, we also have a Maundy Thursday Service. As part of our Lent reflection, we take part in Stewardship's 40ACTS.

EASTER

The season of Easter is celebrated culminating in the feast of Pentecost.

The following services are held during the school year and on special occasions:

Beginning of school year church service
St Martin's Day Eucharist church service
Christingle Service (in school)
A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols church service
Ash Wednesday service held in school
Easter Eucharist church service
Founder's Day Eucharist Service at St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, Trafalgar Square, during the summer term or held at Holy Trinity
A church service is held at the end of each term

At Eucharist/Communion services, students are invited to receive communion if they usually do so in their own churches, alternatively students are invited to receive a blessing. Students may be withdrawn from Collective Worship and/or Religious Education with written parental request.