Spirituality is about our relationship with ourselves, our family, friends, God and all of creation.
We have lots of opportunities for spirituality to flourish but we need to remind ourselves of the common language to plan effectively.
“Spirituality is like a bird: If you hold it too closely, it chokes, And if you hold it too loosely, it escapes.”
Israel Salanter Lipkin
“the spirituality bird often flies away before we have a chance to acknowledge its presence.”
Spiritual Capacities include children’s ability to:
- be guided by their beliefs and values and be willing to take a stand to defend them
- be self-aware and empathise with the experience of others
- love themselves, care for themselves, believe in their potential to achieve, and find inner strength and resilience when facing challenges
- exercise imagination and creativity, appreciate beauty in the world and be alive to experiences of awe and wonder
- be intrigued by mystery and be open to an awareness of the transcendent in the whole of life
- be comfortable with stillness and silence and open to engage in reflection/meditation/prayer
- be ready to say sorry when mistakes are made, to forgive themselves and to forgive others
- be willing to take risks and to reflect, learn and grow following experiences of failure as well as success
- demonstrate curiosity and open mindedness when exploring life’s big questions
- appreciate and be thankful for what is good in life and show generosity towards others
These capacities have given us a common language.
Spiritual capacities are relevant to all pupils, of any religious tradition or none, and to all areas of the curriculum when developing Spirituality
Dewhurst St Mary offers a spiritual and moral basis for pupils development. As a Church school we reflect the nature of the Trinity. We discover who we are, why we are, and – perhaps most importantly – what we might be.
Using our personal day to day behaviour and our response to some of the big issues facing our planet We consider together the question: What would Jesus do?
If there is no such reflection, a feeling remains just a feeling.
reflection = facilitating learning and growth.
We use discussion, silence, meditation, listening to music, drawing and drama improvisation such as hot seating and freeze framing. We use these ‘ways of reflecting’ to support the development of different spiritual capacities.
We use the Windows, Mirrors, Doors model as a way to describe the journey rather than just an experience.