Spirituality at Sexey’s School

As a community we provide a range of experiences and opportunities for spiritual development, many of which are within our curriculum and can be seen within the curriculum plans. Spiritual learning experiences and opportunities at Sexey’s school take the form of:

Encounters – where students learn about life. We provide openings for spiritual development through the exploration of identity and personal values. These may be planned or unplanned.

Reflective opportunities – supporting students in learning from life. Teaching students to understand inner meanings, critical reasoning and big questions. These may be planned or through an unplanned event or discussion.

Transformation – modelling and teaching students to live life to its fullest. Encouraging students to embrace encounters and use their reflections to develop their own identify, idea of self and personal set of beliefs. These may be planned or through an unplanned event or discussion.

The Diocese of Exeter describes this as windows, mirrors and doors;

Windows: giving children opportunities to become aware of the world in new ways; to wonder about life’s ‘WOWs’ (things that are amazing) and ‘OWs’ (things that bring us up short). In this children are learning about life in all its fullness.

Mirrors: giving children opportunities to reflect on their experiences; to meditate on life’s big questions and to consider some possible answers. In this they are learning from life by exploring their own insights and perspectives and those of others.

Doors: giving children opportunities to respond to all of this; to do something creative as a means of expressing, applying and further developing their thoughts and convictions. In this they are learning to live by putting into action what they are coming to believe and value.

Through experiences and reflective opportunities we support Spiritual development at Sexey’s School. Within experiences and reflective opportunities we consider the development of:

Selfstudents becoming increasingly aware of the concept of self. Including shaping their own identity, values and beliefs, showing courage, honesty and resilience.

Others – students become increasingly aware of others. Students show a growing awareness of and ability to show kindness, empathy, concern, forgiveness, and compassion for how to treat others in their actions and words. Students are able to reflect on how their values and principles affect their relationships with others and to show respect to others.

World and beauty –students can respond emotionally to experiences of the wonder of the natural world and the results of human creativity. Students are curious,  explore theirs and others understanding the world and beauty and how their role in life now and in the future develops this.

Beyond – students search for meaning in their very existence and their place in the greater scheme of things.

We cannot measure spirituality with descriptors, students need a wide range of experiences that provide them with the encounters that they can reflect of and then develop themselves through transformation. Spiritual development together with social and emotional development is part of a student’s holistic school experience and this is developed through a wide range of experience and opportunities including through the PSHRE curriculum. These encounters and experiences happen over the course of a year and across a series of years in a progressive and sequenced way so that over time students at Sexey’s School grow spiritually so they can flourish and “live life in all its fullness”.