It is very difficult to put into words what ‘spirituality’ actually is because it is a very personal experience. It differs from person to person, and often spirituality changes within people during their lifetime. Spirituality is not the same as having a religion or faith; a person can be spiritual without having a particular faith.

Schools approach Spiritual Development in many ways; we want to encourage variety and diversity in how staff at Holy Trinity help Spirituality to be a prominent part of our practice.

As a school, we have used the following example definition to guide us:

Spirituality is the act of being fully human by discovering and revealing ourselves through love.

Andrew Rickett.

At Holy Trinity, we believe Spiritual Development is:

• Found in many faiths and cultures.

• Something that should influence all areas of education as it does all areas of life.

• Important for human flourishing and the human soul.

• Part of the universal search for personal identity.

• To do with the search for meaning and purpose in life and the values by which to live.

• Not necessarily experienced through matters visible but also through matters invisible.

• To do with relationships with others: people plants and planet and for people of faith, relationships with God.

• Something that supports our responses to challenging experiences, such as death, suffering, beauty and encounters with good and bad.

• Identifiable when pupils flourish in their learning and understanding of life.

Please see more information on our approach in our policy below:

Our Approach:

Opportunities to explore spiritual development are planned, but they also occur naturally in everyday life.

We recognise that time within the school day can be set aside to help provide opportunities for members of our school community to reflect, be still, process and simply think, especially in the early stages of our journey with establishing Spirituality at our school.

Members of the school community make a conscious effort to stop and recognise / name moments of awe and wonder that we encounter, as well as our ‘ow’ and ‘wow’ moments.

This helps with the need to become aware of the world in all its wonder and troubles.

To realise that the world is both ‘awe-full’ but also sadly ‘awful’ at times too; to be aware of both its ‘wows’ but also its ‘ows,’ helps us to be spiritual.

To assist us with this, we use the Windows, mirrors and doors approach to spirituality.