We believe that all our children are uniquely created and it is our duty to nurture their talents so each child can grow in confidence, character and spiritual understanding. We provide experiences and opportunities for them to learn, explore, be inspired and discover their potential, knowing they are loved and valued. Our ambition is for every child to leave our school ready to walk boldly into their future, inspired to dream big and have high expectations of and aspirations for themselves and others so they can make a positive difference in the world. 

Helping Our Children to ‘Shine’: Achievement for All

Every child in our school is a ‘light’ and we want each and every one of them to shine brightly, to achieve their full potential and to reveal to others what they are capable of. Our curriculum is an ambitious one for all children at our school and one that is coherently planned and sequenced to ensure that every child is able to achieve. Reading takes high priority in our school; reading will allow our children to perform better in all areas of the curriculum, develop a broader vocabulary, increase their general knowledge and provide them with a better understanding of the world around them; all things that are essential for advancing our children’s Cultural Capital and therefore their chances of being successful during their school life and in the future.

A Curriculum to build Cultural Capital

All subjects are taught explicitly and all have equal importance, however, History, Geography and the Arts are at the heart of our Curriculum as we believe knowledge of our world as it once was, as it is now and what it will be like in the future will deepen our children’s Cultural Capital. We are passionate about the fact that we are responsible for the world God created for us and making it sustainable for future generations; our bespoke Geography curriculum, Eco Warriors, Get out and Grow Club, Forest School, our sustainability working party are just some of the ways that we work towards achieving this.

Learning for Life

Our Subject Leaders are highly skilled and knowledgeable about the subjects they lead; our progression documents are unique to our curriculum and are the foundation for planning carefully detailed and well-sequenced teaching and learning experiences. We recognise that progress means knowing more and remembering more and that children are more likely to understand new concepts, therefore gaining more knowledge, if they make connections between new learning and previous learning. More knowledge gives our children more options, more opportunities, more power, allowing every child to shine their light and live their life to the full, to the glory of God.

Beyond the Curriculum

Every child has their own interests and talents, and our extra-curricular provision aims to nurture every one of these through a planned programme of opportunities beyond the curriculum.  There are many aspects to this, from a carefully planned overview of out-of-school visits which ensure equality of experiences to a wide range of clubs developing skills as broad-ranging as athletics, poetry-writing, cookery, performing arts and Formula 1 engineering! 

Child leadership groups give pupils ownership of different aspects of school life and allow them to lead and serve others: Leading Lights plan, lead and evaluate worship and spiritual development; Eco Warriors map our progress on our sustainability journey, sharing and encouraging all members of the school community to be climate heroes; School Council investigate the issues which matter to us and how these can be acted upon.  We encourage every child to be a courageous advocate through our ‘Look outwards, look inwards, take action’ approach and through pupil involvement in courageous advocacy projects throughout the year. 

An Ethical Ethos

The Wise and Foolish Builders

²⁴ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matthew 7:24-27

Ethics are central to our school ethos, building on the foundation of our Christian values.  Our curriculum is structured in such a way that ethics are embedded across a wide range of subjects, examining issues such as racism, climate change, gender equality, migration, destruction of nature, conflict, propaganda and societal change.  Empathy skills, so key in creating a peaceful and equal world, are developed by studying and reading fiction about the experiences and views of people from different places, cultures and backgrounds, as well as through regular PSHE sessions. 

Spiritual Development

Our approach to spiritual development is based on the idea that everyone has their own worldview, be it religious or secular, humanist or atheist; everyone has a viewpoint and moral code based on their lived experiences and the views of those around us.  We aim to support children in discovering their own view of who they are and how they fit into the world by thinking about two key questions: “Who am I?” and “How am I connected?” 

This happens through learning about the ideas of others, both at an individual level and an organisational level – for example, hearing the views of individuals and the principles behind organised groups such as faiths, charities and activist movements.  Children are given a safe space to voice opinions, discuss different viewpoints and draw their own conclusions, learning to listen to others, justify their opinions and present their views respectfully.

Spirituality is also fuelled by experiences; we aim for all our children to experience ‘wow’ moments which help them to connect with nature and the arts, discover what is important to them and develop their own moral code.  To help us structure this, we use the idea of ‘windows, mirrors and doors’, encouraging children to “Look outward, look inward, take action.”  This can be seen clearly in all aspects of school life; within collective worship, courageous advocacy work, in RE lessons and throughout the curriculum.  We also hold termly ‘reflection experiences’ with activities designed to help our children develop spiritually; these are based around the Christian calendar but activities can be approached from the child’s own Worldview, whether this is religious or secular.

Church Connections

Our local church is a key partner in nurturing and developing our children, with involvement in governance, worship, religious education and school life.  Weekly ‘family worship’ is led by the Rector and Curate of All Saints with Christchurch, Snodland, and Rev. Danielle is also a school governor with particular involvement in RE and Worship monitoring.  Our Eco Warrior group has links with the Eco Church group in Snodland, who have arranged visits by the children to find out what they do, assist them with projects and discover their ‘Zero Waste on Wheels’ scheme.   We also have links to Rochester Cathedral through the local Diocese, with regular visits and experiences there enabling our children to enjoy the remarkable atmosphere of this ancient place of worship.

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“For the Benefit of All” – Shining lights for a brighter future

At the end of their time with us, our aim is for our children to go out into the world as responsible citizens who will make a positive difference in the world.  We hope that they will use their learning to have a positive impact, continue to live according to a high standard of ethics and morals, and use their talents to help others.  This is encouraged through charity work, community involvement, courageous advocacy projects and opportunities to perform, whether this is in terms of sporting competitions, drama productions, art galleries or publication of their writing.  Class-led worship, child leadership groups, peer support roles and performance opportunities give our pupils the chance to develop their communication skills, enabling them to raise their voices for the issues that matter to them.  We hope that some of the pupils of today will become the politicians, campaigners and activists of tomorrow, shining their light in order to make the world a better and brighter place.