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Prayer at Alderman Cogan’s C of E Primary Academy

 

At Alderman Cogan’s Church of England Primary Academy, we believe that prayer is a personal process of opening our hearts ready to experience the love of God and by praying to God we can bring everything from in our hearts to Him.  It is not compulsory or forced but rather invitational in order to allow any child the opportunity to seek a relationship with God.

 

The Worship Squad Leaders and School Council joined together to create a prayer for the whole school community. Everybody had the chance to share their thoughts and reflections in order to help create the prayer.

Here are just a few of the children’s designs:

 

Prayer Bags

When children start our school in EYFS they are given special Prayer bags to take home. These Prayer bags are prepared by our School Worship Squad Leaders and they contain our main school prayer, our lunch prayer and our end of day prayer.

 

Teaspoon Prayers

From a very young age, all of our children are taught to create Teaspoon Prayers (TSP) prayers. These prayers can be used for praise – to say thank you for God’s gifts, to repent – to say Sorry when we have made the wrong choice and to say – Please when need God’s help or guidance. The Worship Squad Leaders during our Collective Worship, model these prayers of Thanks by sharing them with the wider school community.

 

Reflective Prayer Spaces

Our school has reflective prayer spaces in corridors and within all the classrooms. They are used to provide children of all Faith’s with a spiritual place were they can explore life questions, spirituality & faith in a safe, create and interactive way. Our prayer spaces give children an opportunity to develop skills of personal reflection and to explore prayer in an open, inclusive and safe environment. Our communal reflection areas are changed frequently and reflect the needs and interests of the children alongside current and global events. These areas provide children with a stimulus for prayer and remind us that taking time to be still and reflect is important for our wellbeing and is highly valued in our school.

 

 

DIOCESE

 

The Diocese of York is a family of 607 churches and 127 schools in 470 parishes committed to the praise of God through Jesus Christ and services to others, led and guided in their faith and work by the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell.