Spirituality
At Cold Aston C of E Primary School we give our children many opportunities to grow spiritually.
We use the Gloucester Diocese Education Department Language of Spirituality. The ‘Language of Spirituality’ is used throughout everyday school life and links to our curriculum and the Zones of Regulation we use to check in with the children and adults as part of our relational approach to wellbeing.
We use the concepts of ows, wows and nows during worship, reflection time, through links with curriculum topics to explore the world around us and relationships between ourselves and others. The inclusive nature of the ‘language of spirituality’ offers the invitation to relate to God but is open to all faiths so our school family can all access spiritual reflection.
The Diocese of Gloucester explains that ‘The language of spirituality begins from the Christian understanding that everyone is a valued creation, individually and uniquely made by God, like pots made by a potter (Isaiah 64:8). Yet in life things happen that impact on the physical ‘pot’ of life and create cracks that provide a glimpse of ‘something’ beyond the tangible. Christians would view this as an opportunity to relate to the Divine Creator God.
Cracks may happen when something challenging happens and threatens the comforts of everyday – the ‘ows’ of life.
Cracks may be caused when something so good and breath-taking happens that the pot expands causing cracks – the ‘wows’ of life.
Cracks can also occur in the stillness and ordinariness of everyday – the ‘nows’ of life, when a moment of stillness, a pause or prayer can create a crack in the normal, physical every day.
Kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending broken ceramics with golden joinery, makes something broken into something differently beautiful and even more valuable. Using this metaphor, the ows, wows and nows of life offer the possibility of becoming cracks that are filled with gold, adding significance and value to life.’