“Spirituality is the act of being fully human by discovering and revealing ourselves through love. We realise this through the personal stories that hold meaning for us and help us to become who we are.”
Andrew Ricketts, Spiritual Development Interpretations of spiritual development in the classroom May 2019.
What is Spirituality?
Spirituality can often mean different things to different people. To some people it is about understanding yourself, to others it is about understanding and experiencing awe and wonder.
For us here at Coaley, developing spirituality is about the developing a person as a whole. It is concerned with the growth and development of each person as a unique, individual child of God; developing their sense of worth and helping them to understand their place place in God's world. Spirituality is also concerned with how our faith, beliefs and values inspire us to act. Finally, spirituality is about how we experience God and how he meets with us.
We develop Children's spirituality in many different ways:
A daily act of Collective Worship: Collective Worship is important to us as a school community. It is a great way to come together to listen to God's word, sing songs and pray together.
Time for reflection: During our Collective Worship, time is given for children to sit quietly and reflect on the message that they hear and think about ways in which they might live out what they have heard.
Time for prayer: Prayer is an important aspect of the school day. We have school prayers which we say at the end of the day and before lunch. Praying together helps us to worship together as a family.
This language of spirituality begins from a Christian understanding that everyone is a valued creation, individually and uniquely made by God, like pots made by a potter (Isaiah 64:8). Yet, in life, things happen that impact on the physical ‘pot’ of life and create cracks that provide a glimpse of something ‘beyond’ the tangible. Christians would view this as an opportunity to relate to the Divine Creator God.
Cracks may be caused when something so good and breath-taking happens that the pot expands and cracks – the wows of life.
Cracks may happen when something challenging happens and threatens the comfort of everyday – the ows of life.
Cracks can also happen in the stillness and ordinariness of everyday – the nows of life, when a moment of stillness, a pause or prayer creates a crack in the normal, physical every day.
In these special moments there is a spiritual opportunity. Kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending broken ceramics with golden joinery or glue, creates something that has been broken into something even more beautiful. Using this metaphor, the wows, ows and nows of life offer the possibility of cracks that are filled with gold and make the pot even more beautiful. The gold in the cracks reflect a little of the wonder of spirituality.
This school uses this language and the concepts of wows, ows and nows. These are used to explore relationships with:
- ourselves
- others
- the wider natural world and beyond
- an invitation to relate to God.