Developing Spirituality

Our Vision 

Following in the footsteps of our founder John Cross, we are committed to providing a loving, Christian family school built on mutual love, respect and co-operation. A safe and stimulating learning environment will enable our pupils to believe and achieve now and in the future.

Our Motto:

 ‘Believe and Achieve’

Our Christian Narrative:

Our Bible verse is ‘Life in all its fullness’ John 10:10

Our Bible story:

The Feeding of the Five Thousand.

Spiritual Development

Spiritual development is at the heart of our vision ‘Believe and Achieve’ rooted in the Bible as ‘life in all its fullness’ John 10:10 and is vital because in order for our children to achieve, consideration must be given to the ‘whole’ of the child.  ( The Doughnut and its Hole ( 1977). Therefore, throughout their education at John Cross, pupils undertake an ongoing, reflective journey through which their spirituality is developed which can be seen as an increasing awareness developed through questioning, understanding and connecting with ourselves, others, the world and the transcendent. It’s through these connections that spiritual development is enabled. At John Cross, we use the  ‘Windows, Mirror, Door ‘ model created by Liz Mills ( 1997) in order to  identify and create opportunities for spiritual development.

Windows :  A experience which could be ‘ow’ or a ‘wow’ is presented to the person

Mirror: A period of reflection takes place – perhaps with questioning as a stimulus

Door: The opportunity  for change and growth .

As a church school, inspirational daily worship offers plentiful opportunities for spiritual development through connection with God aided by listening to music and prayer and  also through the teaching of how the example of Jesus and the nature of the Trinity can impact on our lives. A time of silence for reflecting stimulated by questions based on the theme of the worship enable this process to be effective. The effectiveness of this is evident through pupil voice and attitudes towards each other.

Following worship, spiritual development occurs naturally in the everyday through the many interactions taking place between members of the community and through the curriculum delivered in lessons such as English, PSHE, PE, history, RE, art, DT etc where human relationships are often discussed as well as during subjects such as Forest School,  science and geography which present multiple opportunities for connecting with the world and developing an understanding of the transcendent. Teachers facilitate this within the lessons by skilfully weaving  specific opportunities for  discussion, listening to music, drama, silence, hot seating and freeze framing. Other opportunities present themselves naturally through unplanned events such as fallings out at lunch time where forgiveness is needed or a moment of spontaneous kindness which changes the course of another person’s day.

These daily opportunities can be recognised or purposefully created by using the  spiritual capacities listed below:

• • Following  beliefs and being willing to discuss and defend them.
  • Being confident to question and accept that there sometimes aren’t any answers.
  • Displaying  self love, inner resilience and strength and believe that they can achieve.
  • Be able to engage in reflection activities/prayer/meditation by being still or exposed to silence.
  • To offer forgiveness to others and receive it themselves.
  • Showing empathy and compassion when situations that they face require it.
  • Understanding when others are generous and demonstrate gratitude.
  • Being open to the transcendent in the whole of life.
  • Being able to appreciate God’s intricate  and awe inspiring world.
  • Taking  pleasure in using their imagination and creativity.

Adapted from Imaginor Ltd November 2018