Christian Ethos
We are an 'Excellent' Church School - 2023
'The school is a haven of Christian love extended to all and the school’s vision is a lifechanging reality' - SIAMS 2023
Strand 3: Character Development: Hope, Aspiration and Courageous Advocacy
Strand 4: Community and Living Well Together
Strand 5: Dignity and Respect
Our Vision
Grow and learn together with God by our side.
At Christ Church we expect you to be...
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Ready!
I can do all things though Him who strengthens me.
Phililippians 4:13
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Respectful!
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
Matthew 7:12
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Responsible!
For each will have to bear his own load.
Galatians 6:5
Statement of Intent
Our distinctively Christian ethos contributes to Christ Church as a centre of learning excellence inclusive to all. Through living out our core Christian values – respect, kindness, honesty, love, friendship and perseverance – we are a community in which all our members are respected and valued, and can flourish as human beings equally created in the image of God. As a school we provide an engaging, well balanced and inspirational curriculum through which every child’s potential may be fulfilled. Through positive encouragement and nurturing, each child has the opportunity to develop to the full – socially, emotionally, spiritually and academically – so as to be equipped with the life skills needed to live as a valued and valuable member of society.
Mission Statement
Working together to build a strong foundation through faith and learning.
'Start children off on the way they should go and even when they are old they will not turn from it.'
Proverbs 22:6
How is Collective Worship Organised in School?
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Worship at Christ Church CE Junior School is a daily act involving thought and reflection. Weekly themes focus on Christian Values through Bible stories, prayers and hymns.
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Worship begins with the lighting of a candle and an introit and closes with prayer and the Grace.
Prayers are also shared at the end of each day along with a moment of reflection.
Each Class leads worship at least once during the year. This is an opportunity to share learning with parents and family members who are invited to join us in prayer.
Each Thursday we have singing praise which focuses on traditional hymns and their meaning.
Who Leads Our Worship?
​In addition to school staff and children leading worship we have a weekly visitor to our school who leads worship each Tuesday.
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Rev. P Wootton
Rev'd Philip Wootton is the Team Rector for Christ Church, The Good Shepherd and the Church at Perton. He is also a Foundation Governor of our school.
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Rev. D Wright
​Rev'd David Wright has been the Rector at St Peter's Collegiate Church since 2009.
Mrs L Percival Link Governor
​Mrs Lynne Percival is a Link Governor at our school and a retired Head Teacher.
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Rev. Lin Vawer Curate
Rev'd Lin Vawer is a curate at Christ Church.
A Weekly Overview
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Monday
Staff led Worship. The teachers from across the school lead Worship in order to reinforce the importance of Worship across our setting.
Tuesday
A member of the Parish team leads Collective Worship.
Wednesday
Worship is led by a member of the Leadership Team.
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Thursday
Class based reflection based on the week’s theme.
Friday
Celebration Praise: We celebrate our achievements during the week and give thanks for our education.
Our pupils proudly help to lead our Worship
Would you like to know more about our Christian Ethos?
All our Collective Worship opens with the liturgy and the lighting of a candle. This is always led by one of the children. In addition to this, the Worship is always closed with the Grace- which is also led by one of our children.
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Our vision is embedded within our school life
“…I was also very impressed by the way the children listened to each other and were respectful of the different ways the group expressed their opinions. I would also like to highlight the explanation one child gave of the differing needs children may have. His comment that ‘some children work in a smaller group because they just need a little more support’ showed a remarkable sensitivity."
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Literacy & Language Teacher Advisor
“...I also wanted to say that the pupils at Christ Church were an absolute delight throughout the entire review. During the pupil discussions, the pupils were extremely articulate but more importantly they were very respectful and supportive of each other, particularly with pupils who offered their views in a different way. I was also very impressed by the way they enabled all pupils to contribute and feel valued, which in turn enabled an SEND child to be able to talk openly about her experience of having additional interventions to support her reading difficulties, within a safe. caring and non-judgemental environment.
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Please pass on our thanks to the pupils involved – they were a real credit to the school and the school values. Thanks again"
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School Improvement Advisor
Environmental Week
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During the last week of term, the children took part in an environmental week. As part of the week, every child in the school contributed to making an igloo out of bottles. This highlighted to the children how much plastic waste we produce just from bottles. Ava in year 3 suggested that the igloo could be our next prayer space. Ava quite rightly pointed out the messages are traditionally put in a bottle and thrown into the sea. As an alternative, she suggested we could post our prayers into our Igloo bottles - what an amazing idea Ava! Here is your idea in action!
Pupil Voice Mind Map
Holy Post
This is the Holy Post! The children at Christ Church write prayers, post them here and the staff use the prayers to close our Worship. The children look forward to sharing their own prayers.
Prayer
This prayer was posted by one of our year 6 pupils.
Hymn Suggestion Box
If you have a favourite hymn, post it in the ‘Hymn Suggestion Box’- Mrs Douglas will be happy to plan your hymn into her singing praise on a Friday.
Worship Area
Every classroom has a Worship Area. If the children would like to say a prayer at the table, there are prayer pebbles to be held. There is also a box containing the children’s own prayers. The Worship Areas have a cloth displayed, which reflects the current colour of the church calendar.
RE Days
Here are the outcomes of one of our RE Days in School. By planning an RE day the children have the opportunity to explore an important Christian festival in depth. Here, the Easter story has been told. The pictures were created by classes throughout school.
Banners
The children have made banners for Harvest, Christmas and Easter. These banners are used in church. The children walk down the aisle with the banner raised in order to open our services.
Prayer Spaces
Keep your eyes open! Our prayer spaces move around school and are displayed in a different format each term. The children tie a ribbon to the string to represent a prayer being said. The speech bubbles are possible thoughts for prayer. This would also include any local/global current issues.
Lent Challenge
Our Lent challenge was based on the teachings in the Parable of the Talents. Pupils started with an amount of £2.00. They then thought of ways to make their money grow. For example, they may use the money to buy ingredients to make cakes or buy crayons and create pictures to sell to friends and family.
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Our Lent challenge raised money for our link school St John Buko RC Primary School in Kenya. We raised money for improvements to their ICT suite. The children thoroughly enjoyed the experience and valued the Biblical teaching and charitable outcome.
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St John’s Buko ICT suite. The photos below show the sockets which have been added to the ICT room. The cupboards at the back of the ICT suite will be made into locking cupboards, which will securely house IPads. The donation from our Lent Challenge is supporting this development.
Core Christian Values
We are committed to our core Christian Values. Honesty, friendship, perseverance, respect, love and kindness. Everybody in our school community contributed to the decision on what these values should be. Children, parents, staff and governors discussed which values they felt were the most important for our setting. A core values award is given in our weekly achievement assembly.
Creative Church Family Sessions
This year children and families have enjoyed our ‘Creative Church’ sessions. Parents, carers, grandparents- whoever the children wanted to accompany them- were invited to share a worshipful craft session. Our first session was enjoyed by Year 4 children and grown-ups. The Worship was led by Rev. P. Wootton and the Harvest themed craft activities were displayed in Church for the Harvest festival. Other Creative Church sessions are held at Christmas, Easter and Pentecost.
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Our second Creative Church of the year was enjoyed by Year 3 pupils and families. Rev. Wootton was kind enough to open our ‘Creative Church session’ with an address. The children and parents then created a stunning piece of art, which is now displayed with pride in Christ Church for the duration of Christmas.
Junior Chaplaincy
We are lucky enough to have our own Junior Chaplaincy group running within school. The group meet once a week. They share a reflective and Worshipful time. The group meets the specific needs of those who attend. Developing spirituality and giving the children the opportunity to flourish. Junior Chaplaincy is thoroughly enjoyed by the children.
Sharing Joy with our Local Community
The children at Christ Church have many opportunities to share their talents and spread joy within our community. We send three groups of children to ‘James Beattie House’ in the lead up the Christmas- Carol singers, wind instruments and string instruments. The residents thoroughly enjoy watching the children perform and socialising with them before they return to school. A group of children also sing at our local Church Christmas Fayre.
Kenya Partnership
Christ Church Junior School are linked to St John Buko RC Primary School in Kimilili Western Kenya. Please view the images below.
