Christian Distinctiveness

Our School Vision and Values

Kennington CE Academy is a Church of England school. We are an inclusive community where Christian Vision and Values empower us. We work with pride and passion to create life-long learners who fulfil their potential as God intended. If we work together, we will be the very best that we can be; achieving, celebrating and succeeding whilst having fun.

‘Everyone who uses what he has will get more. He will have much more than he needs. But the one who does not use what he has will have everything taken away from him.’ 

Parable of the Talents. (Matthew 25:14- 30)

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. 

Our values are:

• 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

You can find out more from the National Society website.

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 

Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS)

Kennington Church of England Academy had its last SIAMS Inspection in March 2020. We received an overall grading of EXCELLENT. Under the new schedule, this is the highest grading that can 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.

Christian Distinctiveness and Collective Worship Policy

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.

Parable of the Talents

(Matthew 25:14- 30)

 “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who was going to another place for a visit. Before he left, he talked with his servants. The man told them to take care of his things while he was gone.   He decided how much each servant would be able to care for. He gave one servant five bags of money. He gave another servant two bags of money. And he gave a third servant one bag of money. Then the man left.  The servant who got five bags went quickly to invest the money. The five bags of money earned five more.  It was the same with the servant who had two bags of money. He invested the money and earned two more.   But the servant who got one bag of money went out and dug a hole in the ground. Then he hid his master’s money in the hole.

 “After a long time the master came home. He asked the servants what they did with his money. The servant who got five bags of money brought five more bags to the master. The servant said, ‘Master, you trusted me to care for five bags of money. So I used your five bags to earn five more.’  The master answered, ‘You did well. You are a good servant who can be trusted. You did well with small things. So I will let you care for much greater things. Come and share my happiness with me.’

 “Then the servant who got two bags of money came to the master. The servant said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of money to care for. So I used your two bags to earn two more.’  The master answered, ‘You did well. You are a good servant who can be trusted. You did well with small things. So I will let you care for much greater things. Come and share my happiness with me.’

 “Then the servant who got one bag of money came to the master. The servant said, ‘Master, I knew that you were a hard man. So I was afraid. I went and hid your money in the ground. Here is the bag of money you gave me.’  

The master answered, ‘You are a bad and lazy servant! You should have put my money in the bank. Then, when I came home, I would get my money back with interest.’“So the master told his other servants, ‘Take the bag of money from that servant and give it to the servant who has ten bags of money.  Everyone who uses what he has will get more. He will have much more than he needs. But the one who does not use what he has will have everything taken away from him.’ 

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.

Weekly Worship Timetable

Termly Theme Timetable

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.

Events

At Kennington we have many celebrations and events which reflect and embody our overt Christian character.

Many of them follow the Anglican calendar and others are key events where the children and adults reflect on aspects of their life and identity, their place in our community or society or ways in which they can affect others’ lives. Below are just a flavour of what we have done so far.

2022-2023 Charity Fayre

This year we have been able to return to our yearly Charity Fayre event. The children in Year 5 and 6 (as well as the School Council and Worship Warriors) were asked to create stalls for the children to visit to raise money. We had a wide range of stalls including painting nails, games, home baked goodies, guess the number and scoring goals. The weather was beautiful and the children all had an amazing afternoon. Once the money has been counted, it will be shared out amongst the chosen charities, one of which will be Compassion UK to continue our sponsorship of Heyssel. We are so proud that our children understand and value how important it is to show care and compassion to others in the world (and so grateful to their families to help them achieve that)!

Easter Service

This year we held our Easter Service in St Mary’s Church. Reverend Dawn and the Year 5 children led the service, telling the story of the events of Holy Week that led to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Year 3 and 4 shared Easter poems and Year 6 read the prayers. The choir had their own solo and the Signing Club shared the song using Makaton. The children sang their Easter songs beautifully.

Easter Competitions

We challenged the children to get very creative this Easter. We had 6 Easter competitions covering baking, Easter gardens, art, poetry, decorating eggs and creating their own games. We had a lot of entries and the winning children in each category won a Real Easter Egg. Below are just a few of our amazing entries.

Ash Wednesday

This year, Reverend Dawn came to school to lead our Collective Worship on Ash Wednesday. She offered both children and staff the chance to be ‘ashed’. It was the first time as a school community that we have had the chance to be ‘ashed’ and we loved it. Reverend Dawn was overwhelmed with the number of staff and children wanting to mark the celebration.

Christmas Church Service

We were so grateful that we were able to return to St Mary’s Church this year for our Christmas Church Service. The children went over in house groups and we were glad to be able to invite the parents this year. Reverend Dawn and the children led the service, telling the story of the first Christmas and reading prayers. Year 6 read the story of Christmas, and Year 3 lit the Christingles whilst the prayers were read by children from each year group and the Worship Warriors. It was lovely to hear the children proudly sing the Christmas Carols they had been practising for Christmas and a song in Makaton.

Remembrance Day

On Thursday 11th November, the whole school stopped to show their respect for those that had fought for our rights to be free. We placed a wreath at the memorial statue. On Sunday 14th November, five of our Worship Warriors took part in the Remembrance Service at St Mary’s Church alongside the other groups within the community. They read the prayers for the service and did so with great pride!

Tough Mudder

The children raised money for school and chosen charities by completing the Tough Mudder circuit as many times as possible. They were very muddy but they loved it!

Thousand Hours

Each September, we have a challenge sent from the Thousand Hours Team from Ashford Vineyard Church. They challenge the children to see how many hours of kindness they can collect over the month of October. Our school challenge this year is to beat last year’s total of 3153 hours raised. Each class collects hours of kindness through activities within school, at home and around the community. This year we wrote letters and cards to the NHS as well as letters to members in the wider community such as the congregation at St Mary’s Church. At the end of the month, the hours were added up and we managed to achieve 3400 hours as a whole school.

Harvest Festival 2022

Every Autumn we hold our annual Harvest Festival service. The children are all asked to bring in food items to support the local food bank. The parents and children are always incredibly generous. Reverend Dawn Stamper and children from across the school lead us in worship where the children spend time reflecting on all they have, praying for those who are less fortunate than themselves and thanking God for the gifts He gives us.

Gardening

Every year, children and adults help to clear and replant our calm area with seeds that were kindly donated to the school. As a community, it is important for us to have an area that helps us develop a range of skills but also helps boost our wellbeing. Our garden area certainly does that! As the spring turns into summer, we always look forward to having beautiful plants to look at as well as supporting our country’s insects and wildlife. Our Forest of Flowers certainly brings the wildlife (and humans) a lot of joy.

Reflection areas

Classrooms

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.

Whole school prayer areas

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. 
• 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.
• A World Prayer board in the hall. This is changed termly to reflect issues around the world that need our prayers and thoughts as a community. It helps stimulate conversations about global issues and how we as a community can support others and be God’s stewards.
• 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.

St Mary’s Church and the school have welcomed Reverend Dawn Stamper into our community. Reverend Dawn has joined us in school to lead worship each term as well as help celebrate the special events such as Harvest, Christmas and Easter. Reverend Dawn is keen to continue the strong bond we have with the church and joins us on the school gate as well as sharing best wishes and blessings with Year 6 before they started their SATS in term 5. She even stepped in to lessons in Year 4 and Year 6 to talk about the Holy Trinity and Creation versus Science. We also work alongside other members of the church to support worship, take part in the Church services and support each other with Christmas Fayres.

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/

Charities

Each term, we challenge the children (or indeed they challenge us) to find different ways to be courageous advocates, fundraising for worthy causes, helping others in need. This year we have had bake sales, basketball and football challenges, raffles, penny drops and many others to support so many worthwhile charities.

Pilgrims Hospice

We suppport events held by Pilgrims Hospice including the Night to Shine and the Snow Dogs competition. We designed and painted our own puppy that then went out on the trail at Ashford Outlet before returning home to us.

Compassion UK

As part of our Christmas Fayre in 2018, the Worship Warriors raised money by selling cakes and running their own stalls. We are now in our 4th year of sponsoring a little girl from El Salvador so that she can go to school and gain the education she deserves. We will raise money for her sponsorship each year so we can sponsor her until she finishes her education. We are so proud to know that as a school community, we can support another child’s right to learn and develop her talents so she can become all that God intended for her. Please contact the school if you would like to know more information about the little girl.

Collections

We collect donations on behalf of Hygiene Bank. We also help the environment by collecting batteries and recycling paper.