School Road, Charing, Ashford, Kent. TN27 0JN
01233 712277
office@charing.kent.sch.uk

Christian Character

Living and Learning with Faith, Friendship and Fun

At Charing Church of England Primary, we are proud to be a church school.  

Our school’s vision    

“Our school is an inclusive family, where each individual is respected and nurtured. Through our Christian values, we develop friendship within our school community and beyond, developing compassion, confidence and resilience in all. Our curriculum fosters aspiration, creativity, curiosity and determination, enabling all to flourish” 

Our school values are: 

Confidence Determination Faith Friendship Respect    

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 

Collective Worship strengthens and supports the Christian identify of our school, reaffirms our vision and associated values of Confidence, Determination, Faith, Friendship and Respect, and celebrates the central role that each person has to play in our community. Our worship reflects the variety of traditions found within the Church of England and will recognise and follow the Christian liturgical year. Reference will be made to the beliefs and practices of other faith communities so that the children can develop their respect and understanding of these faiths and cultures. The daily act of Christian worship is central to our ethos and is supported by all staff members and stakeholders. It makes an important contribution to the overall spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of the whole school community. Throughout the week the children will part take in whole school worship led by our worship leads, the local vicar or the worship leaders; celebration worship; class led worship and sung worship. Collective worship will take place either in the school hall, the class room or the church. 

“… Worship in schools will necessarily be of a different character from worship amongst a group with beliefs in common. The legislation reflects this difference in referring to ‘collective worship’ rather than ‘corporate worship’. (DfE Circular 1/94 para 57)  

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.

The new SIAMS Evaluation Schedule came into operation in September 2018.

SIAMS inspection focuses on the impact of the Church school’s Christian vision on pupils and adults. This involves looking at the school’s Christian vision, the provision the school makes because of this vision and how effective this provision is in enabling all pupils and adults to flourish.  

The Evaluation Schedule has one inspection question: how effective is the school’s distinctive Christian vision, established and promoted by leadership at all levels, in enabling pupils and adults to flourish?

This is explored through seven strands:

  • Vision and Leadership 
  • Wisdom, Knowledge and Skills 
  • Character Development: Hope, Aspiration and Courageous Advocacy
  • Community and Living Well Together 
  • Dignity and Respect 
  • The impact of Collective Worship
  • The effectiveness of Religious Education 

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.