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Our Values 

Giving
Using your Talents
Forgiveness
Love and Care
Everyone is Important

Through these values we promote the Church of England’s values linked to the Vision for Education:

Hope
Community
Dignity
Wisdom

All children, staff and governors were involved in developing our Christian Vision and Values.  It is these values that form the foundations of our Christian Vision at Kennington CE Academy and underpin everything we do.

Each value is explicitly Christian and linked to Jesus, His example and His teachings, in the form of the Parable of the Talents, to make it memorable. We celebrate them during our daily worship and explore them in all areas of our curriculum. Most importantly, we apply them to everything we do and they are embedded in all our policies.

Our Christian Values are overarched with the main value of Respect.


SIAMS Reports

The Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS) is the Church of England and Methodist Church’s outworking of the requirements of section 48 of the Education Act 2005. It is a key element of the life of all Church of England and Methodist schools in England.

SIAMS explores ways in which each school’s theologically rooted Christian vision drives its work and enables the school to live up to its foundation as a Church school. It does so by seeking to answer six or (in the case of Voluntary Aided schools) seven Inspection Questions (IQs).

•    IQ1: How does the theologically rooted Christian vision enable pupils and adults to flourish?

•    IQ2:How does the curriculum reflect the theologically rooted Christian vision?

•    IQ3:How is collective worship enabling pupils and adults to flourish spiritually?

•    IQ4: How does the theologically rooted Christian vision create a culture in which pupils and adults are treated well?

•    IQ5:How does the theologically rooted Christian vision create an active culture of justice and responsibility?

•    IQ6:Is the religious education curriculum effective (with reference to the expectations set out in the Church of England’s Statement of Entitlement for Religious Education)?

•    IQ7: What is the quality of religious education in voluntary aided and former voluntary aided schools, and in former voluntary controlled schools in which denominational religious education is taught?

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 to flourish. Church schools will employ a variety of strategies and styles appropriate to, and reflective of, their particular context in order to be distinctively and effectively Christian in their character and ethos. SIAMS inspectors therefore do not look for a set template of what a Church school should be like, but rather take the particular context of the school into account and base their evaluation on the outcomes rather than the process.

Inspectors make one of two judgements:

The inspection findings indicate that the school is living up to its foundation as a Church school, and is enabling pupils and adults to flourish.

Or

The inspection findings indicate that the school has strengths, but that there are also issues that leaders need to address as a matter of priority.

Kennington Church of England Academy had its last SIAMS Inspection in March 2020. We received an overall grading of EXCELLENT, this is the highest grading that could be given to a school. We have been given clear, small steps to continue to achieve, celebrate and succeed everything that we can as a community.

Vision Narrative

At Kennington Church of England Academy, our Vision underpins everything we do. Like the Parable of the Talents, we believe everyone receives talents from God and it is our duty as a Christian community to help all individuals to realise and build on those talents, using them to help others. Our goal is for all to achieve, celebrate and succeed in all aspects of their life both now and in the future. We strive to ensure they have the building blocks for life so they can achieve all that God intended them to. We do this using our five Christian Values with the overarching value of respect.

Our journey starts with the understanding that everyone is important, unique in the way that God created them. We accept all as part of our community and embrace the challenges they may bring, to ensure we support our well-being.

We believe that through God’s guidance within the Bible and Church scripture, all can become lifelong learners. This requires love and care which is to be given as well as received by all. To achieve, celebrate and succeed, we need to be able to give. Giving to others, our community and ourselves, follows the second golden rule to treat others as you would want to be treated. Giving enables us to consider the needs of all just as Jesus did, building a strong community whose members feel confident to ask and give support when needed. Once we feel we are part of the community where we feel valued and shown love and care, we then feel safe to try new challenges, to grow and flourish.

We support all in identifying their talents and the steps needed to build on them. In turn, we encourage each other to use our talents to support each other in all aspects of school life and within the community. Thus creating a community; showing love and care, giving to others and the ability to accept that everyone is important and valued, regardless of differences. We believe that in doing this we are praising God and helping to bring the Kingdom of God to Earth.

One main component of a strong community is forgiveness. As a community, we know that we make mistakes and that for us to move forward and succeed, we need to learn to ask for forgiveness and to forgive.

The Parable of the Talents clearly reflects our Vision and Values. The Master shows that everyone is important by giving each servant talents. He shows love and care by encouraging them to use the talents wisely. Although the Master is disappointed, Jesus taught that we should forgive others seventy-seven times and that within God there is endless forgiveness.

Sharing and living by these values as a successful community allows us to build and strengthen our relationships, encompassing all. It allows us all to feel part of the whole community, as well as be the unique individuals that we are.

Collective Worship

Collective Worship at Kennington CE Academy should be Inclusive, Invitational and Inspiring to those of faith and of none.

All within our school community are invited to join Collective Worship and it gives our school community the opportunity to:

Engage in an act of community.
Express praise and thanksgiving to God.
Be still and reflect.
Explore the big questions of life and respond to national events.
Foster respect and deepen spiritual awareness.
Reflect on the character of God and on the teachings of Christ.
Affirm Christian values and attitudes.
Share each other’s joys and challenges.
Celebrate special times in the Christian calendar.

It is a school expectation that all teachers lead whole school worship and worship in the classroom following our school guidelines.

Our planning for Collective Worship links closely to the Church of England calendar so important dates such as Harvest, Christmas and Easter celebrations are planned with members from St Mary’s Church. We use this time to deepen the school community’s understanding of our Christian Values and how these impact on their own and others’ lives. Aspects of British values and other faiths are also covered over the different themes, ensuring that we learn about others and live out our value of Everyone is Important.

We also welcome visitors from the community or St Mary’s Church to run Collective Worship.

‘Collective worship is ‘the heartbeat of our school’. It is recognised by pupils and staff as a very special time, ‘that sets the tone for the day’.’ page 3 of the 2020 SIAMS report.

Worship Warriors

Every year, new children are picked to be the Worship Warriors for their class and to help lead Collective Worship. Their in-class duties support in-class worship sessions, maintain the class prayer corner and display as well as collect pupil voice. The Worship Warriors also support the school in all areas linked to Collective Worship and supporting our Christian Vision and Values.

They have many roles including leading children in the gathering, prayer and sending in Collective Worship. They take an active part in many Collective Worship sessions run by staff members and visitors as well as lead the Celebration Worship on Fridays. Each year, the Worship Warriors are challenged to plan and lead their own Collective Worship around the termly theme. They also monitor the environment around the school and check that our reflection areas are up to their high standards. After Collective Worship, they collect pupil voice, analyse their findings and write a report to the Senior Leadership Team with suggestions for improvements. They take these responsibilities very seriously and are keen to ensure their suggestions are put in place. The children are also excellent role models at playtime and lunchtime, showing children how to follow the school’s Christian Vision and Values.

Prayer Days

Each year we plan in Prayer Days for the whole school to engage with. This year we planned a whole school rotation. We had twelve stations set up in different rooms across the school and children spent time in each. Some were of a religious nature, asking children to question their own spirituality, and all were designed to inspire the children and adults to think about deeper ideas and their own place within the world. The Worship Warriors helped plan the stations and collected pupil voice within their classes and presented this back.

Reflection areas

Each classroom has a Reflection area, which are changed and added to regularly following Worship. They are a place where the children can come and ponder, reflect and pray. The areas have one of our Christian Values as its focal point and will include Bible verses, big or reflective questions, other artefacts and pictures to engage the children in thought and prayer. They usually follow the same theme as Collective Worship to enable the children to deepen their understanding and thoughts behind each Christian message. The children and staff are welcome to leave notes that reflect answers to the questions on the display or leave prayers in the prayer box.

As a school we felt it was important to have different prayer points for the whole school community to engage with. Currently we have our Prayer and Reflection Area at the school entrance where both adults and children can contribute prayers over the term. It follows a theme for the term and is used to celebrate Christian festivals or special dates throughout the year such as Harvest, Remembrance Day and Advent. There is a Collective Worship board in the hall. Children are able to look at it and the reflective questions during Collective Worship or other times they are in the hall.

We have our reflective outside space, within our garden and quiet area. We have a seating area which has key reflective questions or images to stimulate our children into deepening their views. We have a prayer tree that members of staff have made for us and a newly painted mural wall that the children designed and painted themselves.

These areas have a huge impact on the children’s spiritual lives. We hope to develop the children’s relationship with God when they write their prayers and to deepen their understanding and reflective thinking through our reflective questions.

Godly Play Sessions

Godly Play is a reflective story session where stories from the Bible are shared using models. The children experience this each term in small groups or as a whole class and are then asked to reflect on the story and the learning they can take from it. How the children reflect is completely down to them and could take the form of writing their thoughts or drawing pictures, acting, making models etc. The stories we have told can link to our Christians Values or units of work in RE, such as The Prodigal Son, The Mustard Seed or The Creation Story. We also look at stories from other faiths, thinking about how they impact on other’s lives and are similar to Christianity.

Bible Club

Miss Newport runs an afterschool club where the children read stories from the Bible and then find creative ways to show their own understanding of the story. They make items that helps remind them of the lesson from the story and discuss how the story might help them in their own lives. The children really enjoy the afterschool club and have made some beautiful pieces.

The Church

As a Church School we aim to work extremely closely with our parish of St Mary’s and the clergy, who are involved in our worship and governance and are a resource for religious education and pastoral care.

Our classes at Kennington CE Academy visit St Mary’s Church as part of our special reflection days, such as Harvest, Christmas, Easter and Leaver’s Service,  and during our RE teaching about Christianity.

The church clergy are always happy to chat with any child, member of staff or parent should they find that helpful, offering spiritual, emotional or pastoral support. The church website is here: http://kennington.ashfordchurches.co.uk/