Otterbourne CE Primary School – Y6 Leavers’ Wild Worship Project - The History

On the 13th June 2022, our Year 6 children launched Wild Worship for the first time at Otterbourne CE Primary School: this was their legacy. Over the years, this has become something which the UKS2 children look forward to: a chance to show spirituality in a way which is meaningful to them.

In 2022, the children’s first challenge was to create a Prayer Patch. We have a beautiful Willow Cross, which was first planted in 2014 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War. However, it had become overgrown, misshapen and surrounded by brambles and you could not even open the gate to get inside! The children were keen to rejuvenate this area to create a prayer space; they put on their gardening gloves and worked in small groups pulling up brambles and weeds so that the area became accessible again. They also helped to reshape the Willow so that it became the Christian symbol of the cross once again.

Wild worships must include a message for the younger children and this is delivered in a very child friendly way. Often there is a song, a short drama skit, a poem and we have even had raps! The message is an important part of the worship and the children enjoy creating interesting ways to get their ideas across.

Time for reflection is an important part of our learning and we were keen to make it part of our Wild Worship session. Each Wild Worship gives a time for quiet, thoughtful reflection. A time to take in the message and see how it applies to their every day lives. Reflection is an important tool for children to understand where they have come from, and where they are going. It gives them the time and space to think deeply about big concepts.

The 2022 cohort designed and created a beautiful Peace Pole. They generated ideas for the wording and chose, “When peace begins the world will flourish”. The Year 6 children signed their names on the pole and its message still sits beautifully in our prayer patch. Prayer is also an important part of our worships and each one features its own prayer co-written by the children.

Here are some photos from this year's Wild Worships: