At St. Francis Xavier our Christian values and heritage form the foundations of all that we do.

Our vision – that our young people leave school prepared and determined to make a positive change in the world – is realised through living out our school ethos of “Love of God and Love of Neighbour” and putting into practise our values of Compassion, Courage, Service and Stewardship. Coming together for Collective Worship plays a vital role in enabling this.

Collective Worship takes a number of different forms at St. Francis Xavier but is consistent in that it is always inclusive, invitational and inspiring. When we come together to worship, we want to give every member of our school community the opportunity to grow personally and spiritually, to deepen their relationship with God, or indeed to simply explore, reflect and contemplate from whichever point a person is at on their faith journey.

The joint faith nature of St. Francis Xavier is a feature of which we are very proud, and our community is supported by two denominational chaplains. In addition to daily liturgies provided during form time, each year group is given the opportunity to participate in two Eucharistic services a year, in the form of a Roman Catholic Mass and an Anglican Eucharist. The whole school come together to celebrate Christmas, Lent, Easter and the End of the School Year. Furthermore, form groups are invited for collective worship in the school Chapel, and voluntary liturgies delivered by our student Chaplaincy Team regularly take place over lunchtimes.

Our philosophy is that coming together in worship helps us to foster a sense of community and to express and explore our school’s Christian vision and values. Opportunities for collective worship in school allow our young people and adults to develop an appreciation of the relevance of faith in today’s world, by encountering the teachings of Jesus and the Bible. Young people from all faith backgrounds are very welcome within our school and we hope that the sharing of our common beliefs whilst recognising our differences cultivates an attitude of tolerance, understanding and respect for all, developing within us a deeper love of our neighbour, which can be taken from school into our homes and the wider community.