What are prayer spaces?

We are all innately curious about life and the world around us. At Ian Ramsey CE Academy, we want our young people to have the opportunity to explore the questions they may have about their experiences, both good and bad. We want then to consider the world and their place within it to support them to develop their sense of identify, self-worth, personal insight, meaning an purpose.

Creating inclusive environments for exploring prayer

Prayer spaces at Ian Ramsey CE Academy offer our young people, of all faiths and none, the freedom to explore life questions, spirituality and faith in a safe, creative and interactive way. With a broadly Christian persepective as a starting point, our praryer spaces allow children to develop personal reflection skills and explore prayer in an open, inclusive and safe environment. The use of prayer spaces does not proselytise and purposefully allows children and young people to discover their own meaning and draw their own conclusions.

Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development

Ian Ramsey CE Academy is committed to our responsibility to provide pupils with opportunities to develop spiritually, morally, soically and culturally. Our prayer spaces make a significant contribution to the SMSC provision. We know from experience that many pupils find these spaces helpful in providing them with a way to express themselves and they can derive a great sense of enjoyment and fascination in learning about themselves and the world around them.

We believe our prayer spaces give pupils a range of obvious and not so obvious ways to develop:

• spiritually – to reflect on their own beliefs and those of others.
• morally – to recognise the difference between right and wrong and to consider moral or ethical issues.
• socially – to participate together respectfully, offering space and acceptance for the views of others.
• culturally – developing their understanding and appreciation of the views and ways of others in the class, the school and the wider world.