Highgate strives to be an inclusive school, welcoming our multi-faith community, and offering contemplative spaces for every pupil to explore personal identity and spiritual growth, wherever they may be on that journey.
The Senior School provides an active programme of Chapel services throughout the year, alongside pupil-led Muslim and Jewish circles and the Tabernacle gathering, which is another reflective space for pupils of all faiths and none. To mark Inter Faith week, we chat to staff leaders to find out how these open and welcoming spaces contribute to Highgate’s shared sense of community, where every person is valued for who they are.
Father Robert, Chaplain
As a Christian foundation school, the job of the Chaplain is to offer the notion that there is something beyond the secular – that spirituality genuinely matters, and is not just available for those who are part of a religiously-based community. Spirituality is for everybody. Young people today are bombarded with material, particularly online, that is skewering their worldview and is overtly meaningless. Spirituality can offer solace, as well as comfort, intrigue, curiosity, joy, enthusiasm and meaning. Community and belonging are essential to the Highgate ethos, and pupils are encouraged to come as they are.
The Chapel sits at the heart of Highgate School, offering an oasis of calm from the hurly-burly of school life – a place for contemplation, regeneration, and spiritual refreshment. It also provides a vital link to the variety of secular and sacred connections within the wider Highgate village community. Our weekly chapel services invite pupils to pause and consider how they might develop greater meaning and purpose in their busy lives. It’s not confessional, and despite our heritage, there is no expectation to adhere to the Christian faith. It is a chance to get to know the values and leave feeling that the spiritual matters.
Pupils are encouraged to attend the various services of Holy Communion and evensongs that are on offer throughout the year, often featuring performances from the School’s exceptional choirs. We hold several events around Remembrance, including a civic ceremony where members of the whole Highgate community – including Rabbi Nicky from Highgate Synagogue – are represented. Other whole-school services, including Lessons and Carols at Christmas, are held at St Michael’s Church down the road or St Mark’s Church in Dalston, offering an important moment for our community to come together. We offer confirmation classes for those pupils who wish to know more about the works of God and the Christian Church, and if they choose to confirm these vows, the Bishop of Edmonton joins us for a service in Michaelmas term to confirm the children.
Much of the work of the Chaplain takes place in the day-to-day life of school, whether that’s joining pupils on the Sponsored Walk, attending concerts and sports fixtures, or just offering a listening ear. I have an open-door policy and am always on hand to support every pupil, pastorally and spiritually throughout the year.
Simon and Naomi, Jewish Circle
Jewish Circle has been running since 1939, when most of the school was evacuated to Westward Ho! in Devon. It offers a place for pupils to get together as a community and explore what it means to be Jewish to them.
Depending on the time of year, we’ll incorporate what’s going on in the religious calendar. At other times, there might be presentations exploring medical ethics, LGBT rights, cultural recommendations or Jewish food around the world, for example. We also look at how the religiousness drives how people think and act and feel towards each other, and how this influences their everyday lives – the decisions and choices we make. In the typical ‘Highgate way’ pupils get a lot out of these discussions, hearing other peoples’ thoughts and views, taking them on board, and using that to question and reevaluate their own thoughts.
There is a huge spectrum of religious observance within the members of Jewish Circle, and there’s no right or wrong way to be part of it. We actively make it clear that you don’t have to choose, you don’t have to define who you are to participate. Everything you bring is valued and accepted. Not everybody that comes to JC is Jewish. It’s a very open group that welcomes you if you want to be here and learn. We’ve had some great debates from people who like the ethics and want to discuss them further, because that’s the bedrock of their life as well.
Since October the 7th, JC has taken on an even greater importance because there’s a sense of being together and if anybody is feeling unsafe, we can talk about it. This generation of young Jewish people are having to deal with things that their parents never had to, and JC offers a place where other people will understand without even really having to say very much. In 2023, we had the biggest number of sixth formers stepping forward to help lead. There was a sense of wanting to be there for their community.
As a pupil-led group, the discussions are very much guided by how the sixth form Committee are feeling. Most of them have been attending since Year 9, and they have formed an opinion of what they want to talk about and how they want to run it. A sixth former who delivered an assembly recently, on Simchas Torah, spent three or four days writing and updating his very moving presentation. Jewish Circle is very much about making people feel welcome, and whatever you bring, we will appreciate that.
Simon, Muslim Circle
Muslim Circle was founded a few years ago by sixth formers who proposed the idea to staff. The group is run by Year 13 pupils who take it in turns to give presentations on a variety of subjects, and it aims to promote inclusivity, belonging and an interest in Islamic Heritage.
Pupils meet every Monday to discuss identity and different aspects of the Muslim world. Pupils set the agenda and deliver presentations, which span all sorts of topics, including the principles of Islam, Gratitude, Justice, Forgiveness, Charity, world celebrations, Islamic Art and inspirational Muslim people. Pupils are fantastic at distinguishing politics and religion, and the focus is on compassion – it is such a kind and mature group of pupils. Jummah takes place at 1pm on Friday, where sixth formers lead the call to prayer, followed by a sermon and verses of the Qur’an read in Arabic. Pupils, teachers and support staff come along. At the end of term assembly, pupils hear from invited guests, such as a recent visit from Zac Hussain, Director of Fundraising at Street Child, who talked about the charity’s life-changing work in Muslim-majority countries.
Muslim Circle provides an important space for pupils to unite in their shared identity and be represented in the school. Many have different cultural backgrounds and there is a range of how much they practice, including non-Muslim pupils, but the group is focused on compassion and celebrating the values that we have in common.
I’m from a mixed Muslim-Christian family and the group couldn’t have been kinder or more welcoming; they are an extraordinary bunch. The multi-faith groups at Highgate are kind and considerate to each other, the aim is to come together rather than divide. Father Robert, who is responsible for the spiritual lives of all the pupils, is incredibly supportive. He opens his office at any time to Muslim pupils and staff as a space to pray, and during Ramadan, rooms are made available at breaktime and lunch, when pupils are fasting.
Keith and Louise, Tabernacle
Tabernacle provides a reflective space for pupils of all faiths and none, offering a dedicated place for spiritual meditation and deeper thought.
Pupils help to lead the wide-ranging sessions which could include discussing moral, philosophical or topical issues, exploring whether you can be spiritual without being religious – and what that might mean for different people – or completing mindful activities. We’ve reflected on the power of nature, poetry and music, and the importance of creating space for contemplation; pupils have also run meditation sessions and given presentations on people and places that inspire them. Although the sessions aren’t specifically religious, there is always space for pupils to share details of their own beliefs, cultures, religions, spirituality and traditions should they wish to do so.
One of the strengths of Tabernacle is the flexibility in the sessions: whilst some pupil leaders prefer to create moments of calm in a busy week, others encourage participants to reflect on their own values and identities through posing more challenging questions.
Pupils’ spiritual development complements our pastoral work, which you can find more information about here.
