Christian Character

‘Let your light shine.’    Matthew 5:16 

How are we a distinctive Church of England Primary School?

At Hawkhurst CE Primary School we aim to be distinctive in our Christian character by living out our school values daily. Collective Worship is a key part of our school day, setting the tone for the behaviour and ethos of our school family.

We have good links with St Laurence's Church and our Vicar, Fr Rodney. The school visits St Laurence's Church for different Services throughout the year and Fr Rodney leads some Collective Worship in school.

Our pupils, staff and governors have all been involved in developing our three core Christian values, each with an associate Bible story.

 

  • Compassion: The Good Samaritan

  • Hope: The Lost Sheep

  • Community: Feeding of the Five Thousand

 

These values form the foundations at Hawkhurst and underpin everything we do. We celebrate them in Collective Worship, explore them through our R.E lessons and use them in our everyday language. More importantly, we live them out in everything that we do.

As a school, we support various charities and raise money in many different ways. The whole school are involved because we are aware of how fortunate we are in comparison to so many other people in Britain and around the world. We know how important it is to care about others and do our best to help where we can.

Raising money for charity unleashes children’s creativity and encourages them to be kind, responsible citizens. Our pupils are encouraged to organise their own fundraising events as well as take part in whole school events.

The School Council have been busy organising their priorities for this year. They have chosen to support The Charlie Waller Memorial Trust and Ellenor as well as aiming to raise money for the purchase of new equipment for the playground.

 

Here are some examples of their fundraising:

Austen’s Charity Haircut

Austen in Year 6 had his hair cut off to raise money for the National Autistic Trust. He raised over £550 and donated 8 inches of hair to a charity that makes wigs for children with cancer.

 

Beat the Goalie

Susie Arthur and some Year 6 children organised a ‘Beat the Goalie’ competition to raise money to buy new goal posts for the school field. The total raised was £84

 

Red Nose Day

Children came dressed in something red in exchange for £1. The total money raised was £126.30, which went to Comic Relief.

 

Food 4 Families

During the pandemic, the school set up a foodbank in school to support families who were struggling. This has now grown into a community bank and is linked to Hastings Foodbank. It is run from the village Baptist Church by two of our Foundation Governors. The school is proactive in supporting this as one of our chosen charities.

At Hawkhurst 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, their community and ways in which they can affect others’ lives. Below are just a flavour of what we have done recently.

 

  • End of School Year Service

  • Bread of Fellowship

  • Easter Service

  • Remembrance Service

  • Harvest Festival

  • Choir visiting Bowles Lodge to sing and talk to residents

  • Christmas Service

 

Year 6 Pupils attending their End of School Year Service

At Hawkhurst Church of England Primary School we strive to extend horizons by providing all pupils with the opportunity to extend and explore the spiritual, moral, intellectual, creative and personal possibilities within God’s World.

Religious Education enables pupils to acquire knowledge and understanding about Christianity as a living faith that influences the lives of people in the UK and worldwide. It also aims to educate them about other major world religions represented in Britain. They are also encouraged to develop their own beliefs and values.

 

R.E plays an important part in our broad and balanced curriculum to which all pupils are entitled at Hawkhurst. Through using a variety of teaching techniques such as: drama, art, discussion, reading texts, pictures, use of artefacts and time for reflection, the pupils will experience opportunities to learn about religions and become religiously literate.

 

Christianity plays a central role in the school and Hawkhurst follows the Kent Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education and the Understanding Christianity Syllabus, which focuses on the ‘big story’ of the Bible.

 

More information can be found here:

Religious Education Policy

RE Long Term Overview

Assessment in RE - This document is an example of how pupil progress in the RE curriculum is measured

RE Statement of Entitlement for Church Schools

RE Intent

An act of Collective Worship takes place each day at Hawkhurst Church of England Primary School. In keeping with our links with the church, these are Christian in content and reflect the traditions of the Church of England.

Collective Worship is a highly valued time in school where the whole community gathers together. This provides an opportunity for the school community to engage with our own spirituality and Biblical teachings and leave feeling refreshed and inspired.

Our Collective Worship is wholly Christian and based on the Church of England. Our selected values – Compassion, Hope, Community – are central to our collective worship. We Use Roots and Fruits as our values-based collective worship resource to support worship and spiritual and moral development. As part of our worship we use:

 

  • Quotes and questions to encourage deeper thinking about the values

  • Photographs to root the teaching in everyday experiences

  • Stories, poems and art

  • Prayers and guided reflections

  • Fruits from the Roots - ideas to develop the theme of worship

 

Children listen to music and are encouraged to reflect on both the issues and the wonders of our world. We sing songs of worship enthusiastically and always include time together with a prayer or a quiet thought.

Once a week, Rev Judy Rodney leads our worship and we hold different services in St Laurence’s Church. 

All parents have the right to withdraw their child from Collective Worship and Religious Education and any parent wishing to do so should contact the Head Teacher. Pupils who are withdrawn are provided with appropriate alternative activities, according to individual needs.

Each term we follow a new theme for Worship. For the academic year 2023-24 our themes are: Generosity, Compassion, Courage, Forgiveness, Friendship, Respect. Please see our Home School Values sheets for ideas on how you can support these themes at home.

 

Home School Values

Term 1: Generosity

Term 2: Compassion

Term 3: Courage

Term 4: Forgiveness

Term 5: Friendship

Term 6: Respect

Each classroom has a dedicated Reflection Area where pupils can spend some time contemplating or saying a prayer.

In addition to the areas inside the classrooms, we have a Prayer and Reflection corner in the main corridor, which can be accessed by all children. (Pictured - right)

Pupils may come to this area if they want to sit quietly and look at the books, if they would like to pray, or if they would just like some quiet reflection time.

Report Details

Previous SIAS grade: Good

Diocese: Canterbury

Local authority: Kent

Dates of inspection: 9 May 2024

Date of last inspection: 13 July 2016

School’s unique reference number: 118602

Headteacher: Mrs Jodi Hacker

Inspector’s name and number: Sarah Alexander No. 2108

SIAMS Inspection Report 2024

 

What is Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools  (SIAMS) 

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 school’s theologically rooted Christian vision enable pupils and adults to flourish? 

IQ2: How does the curriculum reflect the school’s theologically rooted Christian vision? 

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

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

IQ5: How does the school’s 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.  

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. 

As a Church School we work with our local Anglican church of St. Laurence, Hawkhurst.

The Vicar, Father Rodney Dreyer joins us in school to lead worship monthly and Reverend Judy, also from St Laurence's Church leads our Collective Worship once a week. Father Rodney also leads Year 6 in the Bread of Fellowship termly.

The school celebrates Harvest, Christmas and Easter each year – many of these services take place at St. Laurence’s church which parents are welcome to attend.

Father Rodney is always happy to chat with any pupil or parent should they find this useful, offering spiritual, emotional or pastoral support.
Fr. Rodney Dreyer

 

 

The church website can be found here: http://www.stlaurencechurch-hawkhurst.org
Rev'd Judy Darkins

 

The school premises are used by the community for a variety of functions, e.g. the horticultural society and local music groups.

http://www.cranbrooktownband.org.uk

Cranbrook Town Band provide free brass lessons for our KS2 pupils, with free loan of instruments. This has provided an opportunity for 30 pupils to learn a brass instrument. They have a small group lesson on a Monday afternoon and are also invited to join Cranbrook Town Band on a Thursday evening in school.

 

Our links with Hawkhurst Pre-School are very strong and contribute to a smooth transition to school.

https://www.hawkhurst-preschool.co.uk/

 

Each year we put on an Art Exhibition in school and members of the local community are invited to come in and see the children's work. We regularly work with Tesco and Waitrose, helping to fundraise and providing art work for them to display in the shops.

 

We have established strong links with the village library. This year we participated in the Summer Reading Challenged and were awarded the trophy for the school with the biggest pupil participation in the whole district. 

 

The Kino Cinema in Hawkhurst is very supportive of the school and will provide opportunities for us to take groups of children free of charge to watch a film. For some of our children this is the only opportunity they will have to visit a cinema. 

 

Food 4 Families. This is a community foodbank, originally set up by the school which has since grown and now supports the whole community. It is run by two of our Foundation Governors and the school are able to access and provide vouchers each week for those in need.