What is a Church of England school?

Church of England schools are free - pupils do not need to pay to attend. Church of England schools are diverse: they are open to children from all backgrounds. Children of any faith and any ethnicity can apply for a place.

Church schools have Christian beliefs and values at their heart. This means that every child and adult associated with the school is not just important because they are members of the school but because they are seen as unique individuals within God's creation. Church schools recognise that as well as academic and emotional intelligence, human beings also have spiritual intelligence. The spiritual aspects of life will be recognised, and nurtured alongside the academic and emotional needs of all pupils. Church schools are places where challenge through questioning is encouraged, as through this we can make sense of the world, the gift of life and the purpose of our own personal lives

Church of England schools must hold daily acts of Christian worship, observe major Christian festivals, teach religious instruction (at least 50% of which must be about Christianity) for 5% of curriculum time (a weekly lesson) and they are supported by local diocesan boards of education and have governors who are affiliated with the church. 

Church of England schools are popular because those who choose them share a common set of beliefs, they have an inclusive ethos and  they encourage those who attend them to have faith, flourish and draw strength from others who attend within. 

Collective worship

Inspired by our school vision, our whole St John's family meet each morning to participate in a daily act of worshipping God and developing faith, hope and resilience together. For us collective worship is the heartbeat of the school. We worship in the mornings so that what is learnt in these sessions can be taken outside of the school hall and applied practically by all later that day into 21^st century life. We design our collective worship sessions to develop our school family, spiritually, morally, socially and culturally. To do this our worship takes on a variety of forms: Mondays starts with a wows and ows stimulus, Tuesdays is worship through song, Wednesdays in-class worship begins with a culture vulture task, Thursdays is windows, mirrors and doors based and Fridays is Celebration/Vision in Action days.

Our worship is invitational; nobody is told they must participate and those of different faiths are free to pray in their own way when prayer takes place. Our daily acts of worship also contain a ‘same but different’ slot where similar messages from different faiths are identified.

Daily class prayers

In addition to our morning collective worship session, all classes participate in a prayer reading before lunchtime to thank God for the food they are about to eat and a prayer reading at hometime to thank God for keeping them safe and being by their side throughout the day.

During class prayer times, children of different faiths often demonstrate how they offer thanks in their own religion and children like to devise their own personalised prayers which are read out during this time.

Community services

Five times a year the whole school, including parents, join the children to worship as a community. Usually we  walk together to the church to do this. We hold a Harvest service to give thanks to God for our food, a Christingle service to give thanks for God's world, a Christmas service to celebrate the birth of Jesus, an Easter service to celebrate the resurrection of Christ and an end of year service to pray for successful transitions to new classes new schools and new futures.

Spirituality

Steered by the underpinnings of our church school, spiritual development is woven into all aspects of our daily lives. 

No two explanations of spirituality are the same. Spirituality is unique to each individual, however for us, we describe it as; an awakened moment or feeling in which we consider things around us in a deeper, questioning manner and reflect on our own association to it. Therefore, through intent and implementation, our whole school curriculum extends children’s thinking, reflection and speaking skills. It gives them the chance to think about many aspects of life, to reflect on their place in the world and to share their views about it.

Some of the ways we develop spirituality are listed below:

• Every lesson delivered offers opportunities for children to reflect on themselves, on others, on behaviours and attitudes. 
• Every unit of work planned in all subjects starts with a ‘big question’ for children to discuss and debate.
• P4C sessions offer philosophical questions to stimulate dialogue in which children are taught how to agree and disagree well.
• Daily breather sessions are timetabled so that the whole school family can stop, be still and practice mindfulness and meditative techniques to develop positive mental well-being and self-regulation skills.
• Windows, mirrors and doors are used age appropriately across the curriculum to reflect on new knowledge gained, think about how this knowledge currently fits into their existence and to consider how this new knowledge could/will impact on pupils’ own lives further into the future.