Attending a Church School

Every school is different as is every church school. We are a church school because we are linked very closely to St.Peter's Church and the community involved with St.Peter's Church. However, our school welcomes children from all walks of life.   

Church schools with their distinctiveness were primarily founded to provide education for children in local communities, regardless of personal faith. They continue to be inclusive schools and ‘the justification for church schools’ lies in offering children and young people an opportunity to experience the meaning of Christian faith (Dearing 3.9). 

• To provide an education of choice that allows learners to critically explore issues of faith, belief and God 
• To encourage those of Christian faith, of other faiths and of no faith to engage with what it is to be human 
• To provide an education of excellence rooted in Christian values 
• To give an understanding of the Christian faith and the customs and practice of the Anglican church 

At our school we have a very strong relationship with local clergy and the local worshipping community. We seek to promote shared values based on Christian teaching throughout the school life so that children come to make behavioural choices based on Christian values. We ensure the worship and prayer life in Church of England schools is deeply engaging and provides children the opportunity to be closer to God. We ensure Religious Education and spiritual, moral, social and cultural development are very strong features of the school as they help children understand the faith of others and the importance of listening and reflection as key parts of the faith journey 

At our school we experience faith through

Having a daily act of collective worship. (We call this Service)

During service we read stories. Sometimes these stories are from the bible and sometimes they are from other faiths or they are simply stories that help us explore a value or a moral. In Service we sing songs and hymns many of which are parents / carers sang when they were little and some of which are new or written more recently. During Service we also have the opportunity for reflection and quiet thought.  

See our Collective Worship Policy here 

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. Psalm 28:7 

Having a school prayer

Our prayer is very important to us and we all enjoy saying our prayer together. Some of us hope that with lots of voices saying the prayer together it will travel far and be heard by many. Some children choose not to say all of our prayer or change the words slightly so that it fits in with they're own faith or thoughts. In some ways this makes it more special as it is meaningful to everyone!  

Being part of our church

We are linked very closely with St Peter's Church. We go to the church for lots of visits, events and services such as Harvest, Christingle, Carol Concerts, Easter, Leavers’ Services, St Peter’s Day Celebrations and as part of our RE work. This year the grownups in the church re-created key events from Holy Week and we 'Experienced Easter' in a new and wonderful way through the eyes of St Peter! Have a look at the pictures at the bottom of this page, and be as amazed as we were! We are very used to seeing grownups from the Church in school for acts of collective worship, some of them are governors who come on school trips with us and some volunteer as readers in our classes. Many of our families also spend time at the Church outside of school hours; attending Services like Café Church, Messy Church, Sparclers Sunday School and some of our siblings go to Coffee Pot, the Church toddler group. The Church also has a soft play centre which we love to visit as a reward for good attendance and punctuality or as part of our Health Week activities. 

Having a well designed RE (Religious Education) Curriculum

Our RE Curriculum has been carefully designed to teach about a range of faiths including Christianity. RE is taught in every year group and we have special RE books that travel from year to year. This summer our school's best work books have been based on RE.  

Spending time with Tim and Katie

Tim and Katie work at the church. Tim is our vicar and Katie is the outreach coordinator working with children and families in the parish. We love their Thursday acts of collective worship and once a year each year group visits the Church for a special visit. On these year group visits we do lots of fun learning about the life of St Peter, who our school is named after, and there are exciting and interactive prayer spaces we can take part in on the theme of the school value for the term. Sometimes Tim and Katie come into school to help us with our RE lessons and bring us really exciting projects to get involved in like Easter in a Box: the Movie! Mrs Hearn has arranged for Tim and Katie to come into school to meet with our Reflection Leaders to work together to plan services as well as collective and classroom worship. Lots and lots of us go to Café Church and Messy Church with our families.

Having a school prayer book

that has been contributed to by children, staff, families and community members. Each class has a copy of our prayer book and there is one in each hall and one at St.Peter's Church. Sometimes we give a prayer book to a special visitor or we take our prayer book to visit a special place. We are also sending one to our partner school in The Gambia.  

Celebrating as often as possible

Come and see our values awards which hang in the main entrance! We love celebrating and find every possible reason to do so. Every Friday we have a celebration service and we have a very special end of term award service.  

Having values that are linked closely to Christian Values.

Each term we focus closely on one value. Please read more about Our School Values.  

Helping parents / carers understand what choosing a church school means for them and their family

We have a special booklet we share with new families when they join the school outside of the normal admission times. For families joining us in Reception we talk about being part of a church school at the first meeting.