Christian Distinctiveness at St Mary’s Church of England Infant School

Love one another as I have loved

you

Mission Statement

DO BE KIND, DO BE GENTLE, WORK HARDLOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU

In an ethos of close support, encouragement and challenge, at St Mary's School we aim to:

•Embed Christian values of love, respect, courage, truthfulness, perseverance and friendship

•Deliver a challenging, stimulating curriculum in which children develop a sense of awe and wonder.

•Develop skills for life and a love of learning to help everyone to be the best they can.

•Empower children to appreciate others and to express themselves freely knowing they are valued and part of a wider community.

•Provide a calm and caring environment where everyone is happy and secure.

...we show our love by being

gentle.

...you can say a

prayer to show that you love

everyone.

...if you have no one to play with

you can always find

a friend.

...you can

work togethe

r. ...we show our love by caring for one

another.

At St Mary’s …

DO BE KIND, DO BE GENTLE, WORK HARD

Mission Statement Child friendly version

St Mary’s

A community

that sees th

e

face of God in

every child

The Christian Ethos comes through very strongly in pupil’ day-to-day life in school, and pupils from all backgrounds work and play happily together.Ofsted 2009

Welcome to St Mary’s

Interactive displays in the Entrance Hall

Car Park

Entrance

Teaching and Learning

RE in the Classroom Re-enacting the Easter Story

The Good Shepherd

Jack said to Mummy:

“I love the pause and reflect area because I can sit quietly and think about God”Reception Class April 2013

Topic links

In addition to discreet RE teaching we try whenever possible to link RE teaching to our whole school topics e.g. •Jesus as a hero in our topic on Super heroes•Looking after God’s beautiful world on our topics on Rainforests and Out of Africa•Belonging, community and our local church in our topic on Marlborough and Beyond

A performance of ‘Joseph’ in the topic ‘The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat’

Worship

The school has a schedule for collective worship suggesting themes for the week linked to the church’s year and the School’s six values.

Worship is planned to be interactive and engage the children.

Revd. Heather leads collective worship

The ‘Open the Book’ team

Christian symbolism

One of our wonderful TAs made altar cloths to use in line with the Church’s year and an elderly friend from St Mary’s parish made the candle holder and crucifix.

Display showing Christian symbols and the church’s colours

Inclusion

Children from the Complex Needs Resource Base (Starbase) are linked to mainstream classes and are included in all the school’s activities.

The way in which the school promotes equality of opportunity and eliminates discrimination is outstanding. Ofsted 2009

All children receive the very best education regardless of

race, background or socio economic status

Display

Displays in the hall, entrance hall and classrooms reflect the Christian character of the school.

Celebrations

Easter Pilgrimage Day at St Mary’s Church

The annual Nativity Play at St Mary’s Church

Links with the Church

St Mary’s School and Church work closely together to support the children:•Clergy from several local churches visit on a weekly basis to lead worship•Key events such as Harvest and Christmas are celebrated in St Mary’s Church•Bob Toogood, one of the School governors is also a retired vicar. He is a regular visitor to the school, supporting worship, presenting bibles at the leavers assembly and palm crosses at Easter time•The ‘Open the Book’ group from St Mary’s church visit regularly to share bible stories with the children •Children visit the church where Bob will give guided tours

Towards the end of YR all the children are given a Bible or Quran to keep in school. These are presented by Bob at the leaver’s assembly for the children to take home.

Other Partnerships

The Marlborough Area Education Partnership (MAEP). Joint school Council Meeting

Working with art students from Marlborough College

St Mary’s under 5’s visit

Teaching and learning at St Mary’s is enhanced through work with our key partners:•Parents•Friends of the School•St Mary’s Church•St Peter’s•MAEP•Other local schools•Under 5’s

Strong partnerships enable all stakeholders to work together for the greater good of the children

Community Links

Planting crocuses for polio relief Grandparent’s Day

Tree planting with the Marlborough

Community Orchard group

A visit from the residents of Marlborough

Lodge

Learning about other cultures

All children grow in the love of God to see

the best in themselves and

others.Action Through Enterprise is our School charity and

we have regular visits from Sarah Gardner who is organising free school meals for the children of Karbo Primary School in

Ghana

St Mary’s Church of England Infant School

Love one another as I have loved

you.