Christian Distinctiveness
Kenn Church of England Primary School is a Voluntary Controlled Church School.
The school was inspected by the Diocese of Exeter on 17th June 2014 and was assessed as Outstanding. The inspector concluded that ‘The school has a strong Christian ethos. This has a wide-ranging impact on the whole school community. Pupils readily accept the Christian ethos as a natural part of school life. The integration of the Christian ethos into all parts of school life makes a strong contribution to pupils’ progress in their learning, which overall is above national expectations. They feel that the supportive, encouraging and secure atmosphere of the school is an important factor in their enjoyment of learning.’
The school’s Christian vision has been developed in line with the Church of England Vision of Education and the Exeter Diocese plan for Education. The Headteacher prepares a Church School Improvement Plan 2021 to 2023, which the Governing Body regularly monitors the progress of.
Initiatives for Christian Education (ICE):
Representatives from ICE visit our school every Tuesday to lead an act of worship. The children thoroughly enjoy this experience and are always very active and engaged in the varied presentations that are given. Prayer Spaces in Schools: Twice during the year 2016-17 the school took part in the ‘Prayer Space in schools’ initiative run by ICE. This enabled all of our children to explore faith and spirituality from a Christian perspective. Activities focused on allowing the children to interact with questions of meaning; and developing a sense of awe and wonder. Feedback from the children was very positive.
Collective Worship:Our school is distinctive in character as a Church of England Primary School. Collective Worship emphasises the Christian way of life. A daily act of worship is led by the Headteacher, Head of Teaching and Learning, teachers, our vicar and visitors, such as the ICE team. A daily prayer or reflection and teaching from the Bible is included in this time.
The ICE Team follow the Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning structure in their worship –
School staff follow the structure of assemblies from the ‘Roots and Fruits’ publication.
Our Christian Values RESPECT, COMPASSION, TRUTHFULNESS, FORGIVENESS and FRIENDSHIP and our Christian Vision ‘ASPIRE, BELIEVE AND FLOURISH WITHIN OUR NURTURING COMMUNITY are embedded into our school policies and practise.
Our focus within our worship allows us to explore our feelings, how they affect us and impact on our relationships with one another. We are taught as Christians to trust in God. When we feel unhappy or worried we can share this with Him, when we are happy and joyful we can thank God and share our feelings with Him.
We have adopted the Windows Mirrors Doors concept which we encourage as part of our daily collective worship:
Windows: Opportunities to look out on the world to gaze and wonder: The Wow and Ows moments. The things we find amazing and bring us up short. Encounter: The learning about life
Mirrors: Giving opportunities for children to reflect, to look inward to consider some of the big questions of life: To explore their own insights and those of others.
Reflection: The learning from.
Doors: Giving opportunities to children to respond, to do something to go through the door of a creative expression of their own thoughts and convictions.
Transformation: The learning to live by putting into action what they believe
Our Christian Values
Each year children, staff, governors and parents are asked to review the school’s Christian Values. Those below are seen as being the most important for our school.
- Compassion
- Forgiveness
- Friendship
- Respect
- Truthfulness
The children and staff work hard to ensure that these values are clearly evident in the day to day life of the school and are celebrated in our sharing assemblies through the ‘Christian Values awards’.
RE at Kenn: Religious Education (RE) lessons take place on a weekly basis at Kenn, although the Christian nature of the school means that the subject is also woven into other topic areas and is clearly evident in the life and ethos of each day. To find our more about RE at Kenn School please click on the links below
Further information on Church of England schools in the Exeter Diocese can be found at www.exeter.anglican.org The Junior Church, which is part of St Martins Church, Exminster, meet every 3rd Sunday of the month at Exminster Primary School from 9.45-11am. More information can be found at www.jnrchurch.org.uk
Our local Parish Church (St Andrews, Kenn) now has it own website. Details about local services and events can be found at www.churchofstandrew.org.uk
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