Our Christian Vision

A Church of England school’s Christian vision should be based on and reflect a Christian understanding of the nature of God and how it motivates, underpins and expresses the school’s service to its community.

Our Christian vision is…

To give every child an unforgettable high-quality education through our strong Christian ethos. This is centred on three core values: Courage, Care and Compassion, which are firmly embedded in the daily life of our school. We pride ourselves on our welcoming, family atmosphere where children feel supported, safe and valued. All children are encouraged to be independent thinkers and to have a genuine voice within the school. We want them to ‘belong’. We encourage our children to be confident learners with good reading, writing and maths skills who enjoy participating in a broad thematic curriculum that makes the most of our rural setting.

Our Vision is reflected through our ethos underpinned by our Christian core values:

Religious Education

The Diocesan Syllabus is also followed within school. This Religious Education (RE) syllabus offers support for Voluntary Aided schools in the Diocese of Chelmsford. Voluntary Controlled Schools are required to follow their Local Agreed Syllabus for RE but may find the diocesan syllabus offers some useful additional material, including Understanding Christianity.

Religious education provokes challenging questions about the ultimate meaning and purpose of life, beliefs about God, the self and the nature of reality, issues of right and wrong and what it means to be human. It develops pupils’ knowledge and understanding of Christianity, other principal religions, other religious traditions and other world views that offer answers to questions such as these. It offers opportunities for personal reflection and spiritual development. It enhances pupils’ awareness and understanding of religions and beliefs, teachings, practices and forms of expression, as well as of the influence of religion on individuals, families, communities and cultures.

Religious education encourages pupils to learn from different religions, beliefs, values and traditions while exploring their own beliefs and questions of meaning. It challenges pupils to reflect on, consider, analyse, interpret and evaluate issues of truth, belief, faith and ethics and to communicate their responses.

Religious education encourages pupils to develop their sense of identity and belonging. It enables them to flourish individually within their communities and as citizens in wider society and the global community. Religious education has an important role in preparing pupils for adult life, employment and lifelong learning. It enables pupils to develop respect for and sensitivity to others, in particular those
whose faiths and beliefs are different from their own. It promotes discernment and enables pupils to combat prejudice.

SIAMS

The Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS) focuses on the impact of the Church school’s Christian vision on pupils and adults. This involves looking at the school’s Christian vision, the provision the school makes because of this vision and how effective this provision is in enabling all pupils to flourish. Church schools will employ a variety of strategies and styles appropriate to, and reflective of, their particular context in order to be distinctively and effectively Christian in their character and ethos.

SIAMS inspectors therefore do not look for a set template of what a Church school should be like, but rather take the particular context of the school into account and base their evaluation on the outcomes rather than the process.

The Evaluation Schedule has one inspection question: how effective is the school’s distinctive Christian vision, established and promoted by leadership at all levels, in enabling pupils and adults to flourish? This is explored through seven strands:

• Vision and Leadership
• Wisdom, Knowledge and Skills
• Character Development: Hope, Aspiration and Courageous Advocacy
• Community and Living Well Together
• Dignity and Respect
• The impact of collective worship
• The effectiveness of religious education

One overall grade is awarded reflecting the contribution of these strands to the flourishing of pupils and adults in a Church school. In addition a standalone grade is awarded in all schools for collective worship.

Our last inspection in 2017 was under the previous inspection format.