Spiritual Development here at Antrobus

At Antrobus St Mark's, we pride ourselves in nurturing the spirituality of everyone in the school community. All children have an inborn spirituality. However, if spirituality is not nurtured, it can wither. Spirituality is not the same as religious faith but it is the bedrock on which faith is founded.

Spirituality is about relationships: relationships with ourselves, others, the world and with God.  

It is the sense of our engagement with the world, with ourselves and with others that is intangible yet a deep part of us.

At Antrobus, we aim to provide learning opportunities that will enable pupils to:

• understand we live in a spiritual world;

• appreciate how unique they all are as we all have a spirit

• learn how understanding themselves strengthens their ability to develop character

• identify and praise other people’s gifts (such as kindness, thankfulness and patience, etc.)

• feel ‘belonging’ within a spiritually aware community that nurtures and loves every member for who they are

• sustain their self-esteem in their learning experience

• develop their capacity for critical and independent thought

• foster their emotional life and express their feelings

• experience moments of stillness and reflection

• discuss their beliefs, feelings, values and responses to personal experiences

• form and maintain worthwhile and satisfying relationshipsreflect on,

• consider and celebrate the wonders and mysteries of life.

Through stillness and reflection, as we embrace the present and are absorbed in the moment we connect with our emotions, our sense of who we are and begin to think about those deeper questions.

During these calm, quiet times we begin to challenge perceptions and allow ourselves time to view things from a different perspective……….to live it, to experience it with our sense and set an example to those around us.

Through our environment, our connections with others and our vison we create an atmosphere that brings the best out of everybody for everybody. An environment which nurtures, surrounds us with love, embraces our uniqueness and allows us to be fulfilled as we flourish each and every day.

We focus in our forest school sessions on spirituality giving all of our pupils time in nature to explore and reflect at their own pace. We have developed a quiet, reflection and reading garden where pupil and staff can sit amongst the flowers and herbs in a safe space and listen to the birds singing, read a book, colour, pray or have conversations with others.

As a church school, we are called to serve the community and to

"Nurture those of the faith, Encourage those of different faiths and to Challenge those of no faith."

(Archbishop Robert Runcie)

Spiritual flourishing is part of this.

What Is Spirituality?

Spirituality is about relationships: relationships with ourselves, others, the world and with God. It is like a bird – if held it too tightly it will choke, but if held too loosely it will fly away.  It is the sense of our engagement with the world, with ourselves and with others that is intangible but a deep part of us. We like this video which explains Spiritual Development.