Spiritual Development

At Southborough Church of England Primary School we believe that spirituality is about an awareness that there is something other, something greater than the course of everyday life, often expressed through our own experiences, religious beliefs and practices. 

Spirituality should influence all areas of education and life.

All areas of the curriculum may contribute to pupils’ spiritual development.

Spiritual development relates to fundamental questions about the meaning and purpose of life which affect everyone, and is not dependant on a religious affiliation.

At Southborough we provide children with openings for spiritual development, using the analogy of a tree to help us understand and explore our own Spirituality.

Spirituality 

Spirituality can be thought of as a personal journey of feeling awe and curiosity, asking big questions about life, reflecting on experiences, and feeling a connection to something greater than ourselves, such as nature, other people, or the world at large. It’s not the same as a religion, but rather a deep, personal experience of awe, wonder, and connection to themselves, others, and the world around us.   

Roots - The trunk and roots: our sense of self, our own Spirituality, what makes me, me! 

Shoots - The growing leaves: our own faith or belief system, how we live our lives and show our true selves to others. 

Fruits - The flowers and fruit: How we share our beliefs and character with others.  

In Term 2 of 2025, we focused on Spirituality and trying to capture what it means… no easy feat! We asked the children for help and one of our Year 4 children described it by explaining ‘spirituality is like a special feeling inside you.’ Another Year 5 child commented ‘It’s when you feel amazed and curious about the world’. I think we can agree it is also about big questions like “Why are we here?” or “What makes life special?” It’s about noticing beautiful things, thinking about your experiences, and feeling connected.  The Leaf project described below, has helped children, staff and families think about this and we have been inspired by them, and you, sharing thoughts through the simple choosing and collection of a leaf. I’m sure you will enjoy reading their reflections below.  

Over the half term break, children were asked to look for a leaf that they really found interesting, beautiful or special. They were asked to consider three questions: 

Why did you choose it? 

What is unique about it? 

What was special about when or where you found it? 

 The children have been able to share their ‘wow’ moments with their peers and have proudly talked about the special reasons that they selected their leaves and the experiences they had in finding them. Thank you to all our school families for taking the time to explore awe and wonder in this way.  

Our Entrance display - What Makes You Come Alive?

The whole school have contributed their personal thoughts on leaves. Please add your own when you visit us!

Reception 

Reception welcomed a huge number of leaves of all types and sizes. It has been brilliant to create maps of our ‘leaf walks’, use our phonics knowledge to write about our leaves and also talk about why they’re special. We’ve also been able to have really interesting discussions about evergreen and deciduous leaves thanks to the varieties that have been provided. The leaves have been chosen because of the beautiful colours, the significance of the places they were found, because they were shaped like dinosaurs’ footprints or stars and even because of their size. It has been so special to hear all about the amazing memories which have been created by working with our families to find and talk about our leaves.

Year 1 

Berkshire returned from half-term with a wonderful selection of leaves. We enjoyed looking at them as a class and loved listening to the children share why they had chosen their and what it meant to them. It was fantastic listening to each child share their spiritual stories and share their excitement!  

‘I chose this because it is one of my favourite colours and I chose it with my Nana and Pops.’ – Joshua in Berkshire 

‘I like it because it has lots of different colours and it is special because it came from my Nana’s garden.’ – Lily in Berkshire 

We were eager to share where we had found them, what we were doing, and who we were with at the time. Many of us enjoyed writing about our discoveries, and everyone had the opportunity to stand up and share their own spiritual story. It was truly lovely to see everyone so excited as they spoke about their experiences.  

Year 2 

In Year 2, we were bursting with excitement about our WOW moment leaves. Our team had collected arms full of leaves in every shape, size, and colour imaginable! We turned the classroom into a mini leaf gallery, proudly displaying our leaves for everyone to admire. 

We loved talking about where we found our leaves and our autumn adventures. Some even got extra creative, using leaves to make wonderful pieces of leaf art!  

‘My leaf is tiny, so I had to be very gentle with it.’ – Evie in Durham 

‘My leaf is turning brown because it has fallen from a very tall tree.’ – Matthew in Durham 

Year 3 

Year 3 have had a fantastic time exploring different locations to collect and identify autumn leaves. We have been so proud of our creativity and dedication. Some of us even brought leaves back from our holidays to share with the class! We have really enjoyed sharing our thoughts and having wonderful discussions about our leaves, explaining why we chose them and what makes them special. It’s also been lovely to see so many families embracing the outdoors together. It was especially heart-warming to hear of a number of us in the class who took our families to the spot we have been visiting for Forest School to find their leaves, sharing experiences with their loved ones. 

Harry shared that he and his sister found their leaf in his Grandad’s garden – ‘It’s special because I found it with my sister.’ 

Amelie bought her leave all the way back from Morocco – ‘ It’s from a palm tree and there are lots of little spikey parts on the leaf.’ 

‘I found my leaf on a trip to London. It was a really special day so finding my leaf is a good memory.’  – Stanley-Ray in Leicestershire 

‘My holly leaf is from the bush in my front garden where a family of great tits have been nesting. I have loved watching them and now I think they have all fledged, but I hope another family is there now. The leaves remind me of how much I have enjoyed watching the birds.’ – Harris in Leicestershire 

Year 4 

It has been wonderful to see the variety of leaves we have shared. Hearing all about the thoughts, memories and questions that we have linked to them has been inspiring. The range of places the leaves have been collected is impressive and the comparison of colours and species has shown how unique our personalities can be.  

’I found my leaf on the waterfront in Eastbourne. I chose it because it was the smallest one and had colourful shades or red and yellow.’ – Nick in Surrey 

‘I found my leaf on a walk in Bedgebury. I explored different types of plant and picked this one because of it’s size and texture’ – Jaxon in Surrey 

‘I found my leaf in Folkestone at a late time in the day. I went with my Nanny and Grandpa and chose it because of it’s multiple colours.’ – Olive in Cumbria 

Year 5 

Marcia in Sussex wrote a poem about her maple leaf:    

A final breath of summer’s green  

A fiery blush a fading scene  

The sun-kissed veins of amber light  

A gentle farewell to the bright.  

A crimson edge, a golden hue  

A whispered story, fresh and new  

It rests in stillness, crisp and bold  

A final chapter to behold. 

Year 5 have been busy having fun exploring a variety of different locations to collect and identify an array of Autumnal leaves. It has been lovely sharing our reasons for choosing our particular leaves and how many families took this opportunity to embrace the outdoors together. We brought in a wonderful collection of leaves from native and non-native trees. We have written information texts, poetry, painted pictures and created leaf-lets about our leaves. 

‘I really loved doing this activity because it didn’t feel like homework at all. In fact it was great fun because I got to spend time with my parents.’ – Chloe in Cornwall 

Year 6

Year 6 collected a range of colourful leaves from a variety of locations, which we wrote about. For each of them, our leaves were significant in different ways: for some it was the pattern or shape of the leaf; for others it was the specific colour and for some people it was the location where they found their leaf, which was important. We all enjoyed sharing these experiences and talking about our memories as a class. 

‘I went to Sheffield Park with my family. We were taking pictures when I found a leaf that was unique so I decided to use it for my leaf project. I chose it because it was an evergreen leaf – which means it would stay green and not change colours during Autumn. It was important to me because it was different from the others and it reminded me that everyone is unique.’ – Amelia in Gloucestershire 

In Herefordshire, we enjoyed sharing our leaves and comparing the differences between them. Lots of discussions were had about where we found our leaves and the memorable days they spent collecting our leaves with loved ones.