Spiritual Development

At Keevil CofE Academy we understand spirituality as:

 Spirituality is reflecting and asking questions of ourselves, others, the world and beyond; this leads us on a journey of understanding and growth of who we are on the inside and how we behave on the outside.

Our school vision and ethos is based on the parable of the Good Samaritan.  In this story we come to understand how someone reached out and gave all he could to someone to whom he could have turned his back.  This is exemplified by the quote “Always treat others as you would like to be treated.” (Matthew 7:12).  Jesus told this story to illustrate what God’s love for us is like, and to encourage us to show and share God’s love with everyone around us.  To do this, we must start with ourselves.  We need to know and understand ourselves as an individual, and how this affects how we interact with everyone and everything around us.  This means looking within, at our spirit.  Spirituality is reflecting and asking questions of ourselves, others, the world and beyond; this leads us on a journey of understanding and growth of who we are on the inside and how we behave on the outside.

We have also created a visual representation of our definition of spirituality to aid understanding and reflection of this by all members of our community.

We have dedicated Spirituality Sessions each half term, where each class uses the same prompt as a stimulus for discussion and activity to help children on their journey of spiritual understanding and growth.  Outcomes are recorded in Class Reflection Books.

We also take opportunities to explore spirituality through all subjects across the curriculum and through other events that take place in school, to enable children to become deeply reflective.  We have created a Spirituality Progression (see below) to help guide these encounters.

Collective Worship and Class Reflection Times are other occasions during which children are encouraged to reflect and explore through the four aspects of our understanding of spirituality: ourselves, others, the world, and beyond.  Helping to ensure that empowering children to grow spiritually is part of every day life in our school.