At Charing Church of England Primary, we are proud to be a church school.
Our school’s vision
“Our inclusive school is a place of creative learning where all talents are developed, celebrated and enjoyed. We nurture all to be curious, passionate and resilient lifelong learners. As a community, we listen to, forgive and love one another so all can be confident in who they are. Inspired by Jesus we walk beside each individual in our family by understanding and responding to their unique needs. We have hope in all our children that they grow to be open, compassionate people of the world who stand up for what is right.”
Our school values are:
Compassion, Friendship, Forgiveness, Resilience and Hope
Christian Character
As part of our school’s Christian Character, we aim to –
- Reflect on the teachings of Jesus Christ in our daily lives
- See all children as individuals, helping them to reach their potential whilst developing their self-esteem, confidence and independence as God intended
- Help children to become caring and responsible citizens
- Foster a lasting love of learning through creative teaching
- Continue to strengthen a close partnership with parents, church, governors and the local community
- Live by our school’s vision
- Model the school’s Christian values
- Develop an understanding of the Church of England’s Vision for Education values of: Hope, Dignity, Community and Wisdom and how they link to our own school values.
We will develop this through a number of ways –
- Teach the Christian Values through Collective Worship themes and across our school curriculum, particularly in RE and PSHE lessons. This includes teaching about the value of prayer for different situations
- Develop a range of displays, prayer corners and reflection areas around the school. These areas are all developed each term to link to the termly theme and church celebrations. Children are asked to help develop these boards and are encouraged to add their own prayers or leave their own comments
- Reflection time which will allow individuals to reflect on their behaviour throughout the school day, supported by a member of staff. During this session, our Christian values are discussed and used to support the child to make the right choices in the future.
- Encourage children to take an active role in worship sessions and we are developing a team of children to lead worship in their classes. We believe in doing this, we give the children a greater responsibility over developing their own faith and the chance to become young church leaders within the school and their community.
- Encourage children to support others in a number of ways across the school year. Our children are keen to be part of events that work together as a community or support those in need such as the MacMillan’s and Red Nose Day.
Spirituality
As a school, we have defined spirituality as:
“Spirituality is not something we can see; it is something we feel inside ourselves. It is about awe and wonder, asking questions, inspiration and being aware of something ‘bigger’ outside of ourselves.”
Our children engage in many planned and unplanned development opportunities of spirituality throughout their time in school. The approach towards spirituality development at Charing looks to educate the whole child in fullness across broad, rich curriculum opportunities. Spiritual development is not specific to one curriculum area or activity.
In line with our school vision, we define spiritual development as:
- An ongoing, reflective journey. It teaches us about questioning, understanding and relationships: relationships with ourselves, others, the world and beyond.
- Spirituality enables our children to be happy; flourish and succeed and live life in all its fullness.
Collective worship
Daily collective worship is a focal point of school life, here at Charing (Church of England School) it is central to our ethos and Christian values which under pin our relationships and the empathy we show each other. We experience opportunities of awe and wonder helping the children and adults reflect spiritually on the world around us.
Our Christian values of compassion, hope, friendship, forgiveness and resilience play an important role in our worship enabling the children to truly embrace God’s message of love as they interact with each other in our school. It helps us bond as a community as we share the beliefs and experiences of Jesus teaching that we have gathered along our journey.
Pupil voice – “Worship helps us wonder at our world God created”
Theological Narrative
The school’s bible story is Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish, which comes from John 21 V1-14. Our Theological Narrative can be found here:
SIAMS REPORTS
SIAMS Inspection: The SIAMS process has been devised by the National Society to standardise inspection practices and judgements in all Church of England and Methodist Schools and to meet the requirements of Section 48 of the Education Act 2005
SIAMS/S48 judges the distinctiveness and effectiveness of the school as a Church of England school and aims to help schools improve as church schools.
SIAMS inspectors will explore with school and trust leaders how they understand the specific context of the school, and whether they know how to respond to it theologically. Local, diocesan, and national expertise will help school and trust leaders to explore this, so that they can be confident in answering three key questions:
1. Who are we as a school?
2. What are we doing here?
3. How, then, shall we live and learn together?
Importantly, the 2023 SIAMS Framework highlights and seeks understanding of the theology that underpins a school’s Christian vision. It also provides a structure for inspectors and school and trust leaders to, collaboratively, gather evidence of how this vision enables people to flourish. Using this evidence, inspectors then make judgements, holding school and trust leaders to account.
https://www.canterburydiocese.org/childrenandschools/siams/
Charing Church of England Primary School’s last SIAMS inspection report can be found below.
Useful information to support the school’s Christian Character
St. Peter and St Paul’s Church, Charing
Charing Church and school have had a close and fruitful connection since the foundation of Charing Church of England School in 1873.
The history of Charing Church goes back a lot further, with the building of the present structure having started at the end of the 11th century.
Charing Church has been added to over the years and unbroken Christian worship has continued to this present day.
Links between Church and School in Charing are as strong today as ever. The Rector leads weekly worship, which parents are welcome to attend and serves on the Governing Body. The school regularly visit the Church for services including Christmas, Easter and the School Leavers’ Service, as well as other major festivals.
The Rector and members of the congregation participate in and support curricular activities in school which are exploring areas of Church life, for example marriage or baptism, and the school use the Church building as a resource both in their direct learning and in their spiritual, social and cultural development. Children from the school attend Diocesan School Days in the Cathedral.
Joys and concerns in both school and church are shared and held in common and mutual support is given to each other’s events.
