Spiritual Development
What does Spirituality mean to us?
At SMATT, we encourage curiosity through opportunities to appreciate and reflect on the awes and wonders of the self, world and beyond through wow, now and ow moments, which are both planned and unplanned. We know, through our school experiences, that we are all loved, guided and never alone and this is how we flourish spiritually.
Click below to view our Developing Spirituality policy.
Developing Spirituality Policy
Our Wow, Now and Ow Moments
'Wow, Now and Ow' Moments!
To make conversations about spirituality more accessible to every member of our school community, St Margaret’s at Troy Town has chosen to help children understand these moments by considering them under the term' 'Wow, Now and Ow moments'.
- 'Wow moments' refer to planned opportunities for our children to flourish, for example in planned, memorable opportunities linked to curriculum learning.
- 'Now moments' refer to the opportunities we have to flourish that happen in a more unexpected or unpredictable way, for example random acts of kindness or good deeds.
- 'Ow moments' are spiritual moments which are as important but sometimes trickier to discuss; moments which may be considered tricky or painful, for example where our children have experienced bereavement and have been supported by their teachers and peers or when they have heard about a sad or troubling event in the news.
Kingsquad
We are lucky enough to run Kingsquad with support from Family Trust and some of our local wonderful church links, including Pastor Luciano from the Rochester Baptist Church. Kingsquad meet weekly after school exploring high-quality Christian teachings to help our "children grow in their religious literacy and spiritual understanding."
"During a typical Kingsquad, children will hear bible stories, learn more about Christian values and have the opportunity to ask questions and discuss their ideas and thoughts. The sessions are also packed full of games, crafts and other fun activities.
As well as learning more about Christianity, Kingsquad clubs build self-esteem and confidence and facilitate friendships as children learn and grow together. Our leaders are all excellent role models and promote positive attitudes. Children can feel safe knowing they will be listened to and respected."
Click here to visit the Family Trust website and find out more!
Here's what our children say:
- I love Kingsquad because it's fun and it helps me feel closer to God. There's prizes, games and fun stories!" Lily, Year 5
- "I love Kingsquad because it's really fun and I love staying with my friends. We get to learn stories about God, it makes me feel more Christian". Tiwa, Year 5
- "We play games and have fun. It makes me think about God and makes me want to go to church more". Bethany, Year 4
- "I enjoy doing Kingsquad because I learn more stories of the Bible and see the miracles that God did". Andre, Year 4
Working within the Community
Helping the Homeless
During the Christmas period, our Wonderful Leading Lights worked really hard to collect donations across the school and put together thirty shoeboxes filled with essential items and goodies to gift to homeless people in need this Christmas. We are so grateful to the children and families who donated items, which were all gratefully received by Darren at One Big Family!
Children in Need
children in need certificate.pdf
Black History Month
During October, we learnt all about some key figures in black history, held a whole school art competition all about black history and showed Racism the red card! Click the link below to read our newsletter and find out more!
Harvest 2024 - Medway Foodbank & Caring Hands in the Community
Click below to find out all about our Harvest Festival where we were able to shine our light on our local community by donating foods and other essentials to our two chosen local charities.
thank you certificate harvest 24 smatt.pdf
Restart a Heart Raffle
As a school, we decided to raise money for our local heroes, such as our Year 2 teacher Miss Hudson, who volunteer to help people in their local community.
Did you know that every year community first responders attend roughly 20,000 calls?
Miss Hudson organised a raffle and all of the money raised went towards buying new equipment for her team.
restart a heart raffle poster.pdf
NSPCC Kindness Challenge
Click the link below to find out all about our NSPCC Kindness challenge.
Holding On, Letting Go
Our school community have chosen, by voting, to support 'Holding On, Letting Go'; a local charity who support children and their families who have experienced bereavement. We hosted a 'Vision tea party' and all of the proceeds went to our chosen charity as one of our good deeds.
Click the link below to find out more:
Click below to see our Certificate of Appreciation from 'Holding On, Letting Go':
Picture news
How it is used?
At SMATT, we use Picture News once a week during our daily act of Collective Worship. This is a programme which "exists to help show our children the world around them in a child friendly way, exploring stories in the news they may be curious or confused about."
What is it all about?
As stated on their own website, "Picture News finds the positives in current affairs by turning world events into learning opportunities". It is an opportunity for our children to explore current affairs in the news both locally and across the globe. At SMATT, we use this as an opportunity for the children to develop an awareness of their own responsibilites as global citizens while also understanding their own rights and that their voices can be heard.
Each week, opportunities are given to the children to reflect on the week's topic, what it means to them, how it links to our school Christian values of Trust, Perseverance, Friendship and Respect in addition to the British Values shown below (taken from the Picture News website).
Children are reminded of protected characteristics such as age, disability and race during each weekly worship and asked to think about how the news story can relate to this. This reminds our children of the need for equality and how discrimination can occur. At SMATT, we believe that this exposure will help our children to become well-rounded members of society who are aware of their own rights and the rights of those around them.
Picture News supports us in encouraging our children to be role models not only in school but as they move into the wider world. Regular exposure to key figures and advocates in the news allows them to reflect on the difference they themselves can make in the world as courageous advocates.
We believe in giving the children a voice and encouraging them to use it to impact things they are inspired by or feel passionately about helping them to be ‘the light of the world.’
A link to the Picture News website is shown below:
Here's what our children think about it:
"I like when we get to reflect on the news story and share our ideas with the class." - Edward, Year 2
"I loved learning about when the volcano erupted. It helped me understand that not all people have the same lives. It helps me to be grateful and think about how I can help other people". - Oghoghosa, Year 2
"I think it's really good because it teaches you what's fair and what's not. Also, it teaches you how to live a good life" - Apphia, Year 5
"I think Picture News is fun because we learn about different issues. It changes my way of thinking and helps me think about how I can help others" - Auden, Year 5
Our Display
We have a wonderful display board in school where we are able to proudly display the topic and discussion question for the week and the children's own reflections. Take a look below at an example:
