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The Spirituality Day started with collective worship where the children were encouraged to consider the day’s main theme of Wow, Ow and Now - ‘Wow’ meant allowing children to pause and observe some ‘awe and wonder’ moments around them. ‘Ow’ was about sharing that there will be uncomfortable situations to be faced in life, and providing children with the tools to know how to process these emotions. ‘Now’ led children to think about how they can turn negative things around us into positives.
The morning worship was led by the pupil run Ethos Council who shared with the school about how Oundle is being ruined by rubbish and what they can do to help. Some even created artwork made from litter to share as a personal ‘now’ moment.
Following the morning collective worship, each year group was given a specific theme to explore in greater detail. It was then intended that the children would spend time taking part in activities relating to their theme but also have time throughout the day where they could just be present and explore ‘wow’ moments around them in their own time.
Children in Year One went on an ‘awe and wonder walk’ where they stopped to notice the things around them and explore their surroundings. For some children this involved a lot of tree hugging! Independently from their teachers the children created a poster of the world and had other children write down how they could help people around them. This poster is now proudly displayed on the Wow Wall.
Years Two and Three focused on the plastic in our oceans and created posters to educate people about the problems plastics cause and ways in which people can help. These posters created a wonderful display and the children even created the school vision ‘Be the best you can be’ in waste plastic. Years Four and Five focused their work on the environment creating leaflets to inform others about the effects of global warming and how best to tackle it. When speaking with one Year Four child, they said, “I can tell people to stop taking away the trees. It makes me happy knowing I can help.”
Year Six looked at animal conservation, in particular saving the bees. They explored the importance of bees and created bee hotels to give bees a safe place to live. The children then went on a litter pick around the school to help keep the environment plastic free.
At the end of the day parents were invited into school to join in with a collective workshop where the children could share everything they had done that day. Overall the day proved to be a resounding success with both children and adults at the school saying how much they had enjoyed the day and how they would like to have more chances to experience spirituality in the future.