Spiritual Development in Church of England schools
2019 Spiritual Development – Interpretations of spiritual developments in the classroom
The conviction at the heart of the Church of England Vision for Education is that children who are part of a school community formed around our vision will discover an education that embraces excellence and academic rigour within the wider framework of spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional, moral and social development and enables them to flourish.
An important question in our denominational inspection schedule is therefore:
How well does the school support all pupils in their spiritual development enabling, all pupils to flourish?
Schools approach spiritual development in many ways and we want to encourage that variety and diversity. This document is offered to stimulate further thinking, not to try and arrive at a
single view or definition.
Our hope is that the ideas developed and outlined in this document will stimulate schools in their thinking about spiritual development, encourage diocesan advisers as they support schools and enable SIAMS inspectors to understand and appreciate a range of different ideas and approaches. All of that work is for the purpose of enabling children to truly
flourish spiritually, as well as in every other aspect of their being.
Nigel Genders
Chief Education Officer
Supporting Spiritual Development Across School Life
Key questions for the schools are:
- How does the school’s Christian vision provide opportunities to meet the spiritual needs of learners?
- How does an awareness of spirituality permeate the whole of the school curriculum and extra curriculum activities?
- What is the impact of this for the learner (and staff and the wider community)?
- How are staff inducted and supported so that they have a shared understanding of spirituality and spiritual development?
- What examples of spiritual development do you see around the school?
- How do governors monitor the spiritual development of the school? What is the impact of this monitoring?
Spiritual Development Interpretations of spiritual development in the classroom
The ideas developed and outlined in this document will stimulate schools in their thinking about spiritual development, encourage diocesan advisers as they
support schools and enable SIAMS inspectors to understand and appreciate a range of different ideas and approaches. All of that work is for the purpose of enabling children to truly flourish spiritually, as well as in every other aspect of their being.
Lichfield Cathedral REsource – Learning Page
Lichfield Cathedral is the Mother Church of the Diocese of Lichfield and the seat of the Bishop of Lichfield. This site has been a place for worship and learning for around 1300 years, and it continues in that tradition to this day. For schools, the programme of visits on offer are designed and developed to support learning within several subject areas, including Religious Education, History, Mathematics, Science, Art and more. All our visits support the provision of effective Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Education (SMSC). We continually work with teachers and schools to ensure that our Educational Packages are clearly linked, where possible, to examination criteria so as to support ongoing study in lessons.
What if learning
Change your teaching one moment at a time This website is intentionally built around concrete examples of teachers connecting Christian faith with their teaching. Each tells a story of how teaching can be designed to be distinctively Christian in a particular topic or lesson. Each includes an explanation of how it connects with the wider approach and ways to dig deeper and create more examples.
The spiritual child network
Celebrating children’s spirituality, their insights, experiences, gifts and questions. Discovering ways we can travel alongside children on our shared Christian journey of faith. Providing support, ideas and resources for those involved in children’s ministry within a Christian context.
The Spirited Arts
The spirited Arts competition presents pupils with opportunities to reflect upon their own spirituality, through considering a range of challenging questions. Pupils are then asked to present their response to a thought provoking narrative through art, poetry, photography, dance, music, drama or sculpture.
Godly Play UK
A Christian movement centered on childhood spirituality – providing training to transform thinking and practice for the whole of life.
Spirituality grids
Salisbury Diocese has some excellent resources to help you think about the variety of opportunities you provide for children. In particular, the ‘Spirituality Ricketts Progress Grids’ are great auditing and planning tools.
Windows, Mirrors, and Doors
In Literacy…

Big questions across the curriculum
WMD – press here to download the window, mirror, and door document


