Worship
Vision Statement:
As a Christian school, we strive for all to reach their full potential both academically and spiritually, making for a compassionate, forgiving, hardworking and trusting community. We aim to ‘not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth,’ (1 John 3:18), as we serve not only each other but the wider community through charitable causes.
Worship, in all its forms, is at the heart of life at Archbishop Blanch School. The visible sign of this is the centrally located worship space.
Each day begins with Collective Worship and each form nominates a Worship monitor who coordinates the shared production of a form Prayer Book; worship monitors themselves meet with and are guided by the 6th form worship coordinator, a central role of the 6th form leadership team.
In addition, each year group meets weekly for collective worship led by either staff, students or visiting speakers from a variety of faith and community groups.
We are blessed in having Mike Griffin as our school chaplain, who serves not only as a school governor but is an integral part of life at Archbishop Blanch, leading a weekly communion service for staff and students and offering reserved sacrament twice weekly. Mike also celebrates our various services throughout the year, both here at school and in the Anglican Cathedral.
We are also fortunate to work with the school Chaplaincy Team from St. James in the City, who enhance the worship life of the school by leading Alpha courses, Christian Union and various Bible studies clubs. St James in the City also help organise drop down days focussed on worship, offering Prayer Spaces or assisting with transition, for example.
As a Church of England school, we are proud of our distinctive Christian Character, but we also celebrate the wide variety of faiths within the school and community, and also acknowledge those with no faith.
Charity forms a central part of our school’s worship, and the sixth form leadership team create a charity strategy at the start of each year, to enable a focussed, coordinated yet responsive approach to the needs of the wider community.