Our Christian Distinctiveness
As a church school, alongside the Chelmsford Diocese of Education, we aim to be deeply Christian, with Jesus’ promise of ‘life in all its fullness’ at its heart. Our school is a place where children are educated for: wisdom, knowledge and skills; hope and aspiration; community and living well together; dignity and respect. This means that every child and adult associated with the school is important, respected and valued, not only because they are members of the school, but because they are seen as unique individuals within God’s creation. We recognise that, as well as academic and emotional intelligence, human beings also have spiritual intelligence; we ensure that all spiritual aspects of life will be recognised and nurtured alongside the academic and emotional needs of all.
Through our vision:
‘Anything is possible to those who believe.’
Mark 9:23
we aim to enable our children to believe that anything is possible, learning is limitless and that they all have an important future in this world. Alongside this, our values enable our children to experience the world of education through courageous optimism, boundless creativity and heartfelt compassion. Our Christian foundation enables us to encourage and inspire one another. Our vision, and values, enables us all to live and work well together in an inclusive, dignifying, and equitable culture.
At Roxwell School, we warmly welcome pupils from all faith backgrounds as well as those who do not consider themselves to be of faith.
More information on The Church of England’s vision for education and the work of Church of England Schools, can be found at https://www.churchofengland.org/about/education-and-schools/vision-education.
Collective Worship
Roxwell School is committed to offering high quality, daily, collective worship. We recognise and value collective worship as central to fostering a sense of community and to expressing the school’s Christian vision. In practice this means that structure, planning, evaluation, and participation of worship are all taken seriously by all. Our Collective Worship sessions are inclusive, invitational and inspiring.
In our school, collective worship is seen as more than a daily ‘moment of spirituality’. It is the unique heartbeat of the school and is offered as part of a wider opportunity for pupils and adults to encounter faith by engaging in conversations about God, both as individuals and together. It is central to our school community. We want pupils to leave school with a rich experience and understanding of Christianity and their own spirituality. As a Church of England school, we are committed to offering them an encounter with Jesus Christ and with Christian faith and practice in a way that enhances their lives.
Within worship sessions children will experience; prayer, reading and reflecting on the Bible, liturgy, sacrament and experience of the musical and other imaginative riches of Christianity, provide a vital opportunity for this. This form of encounter through worship is truly welcoming, inclusive and exemplifies the principles of Christian hospitality. This is an approach that seeks to meet the needs of all, wherever they may be on their journey of faith and belief.
Alongside the gospel values, we interweave various branches from our key values. These include: Forgiveness, Respect, Trust, Service, Courage, Justice, Perseverance, Truthfulness, Generosity, Friendship, Compassion and Thankfulness.
SIAMS
The Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS) 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.
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
One overall grade is awarded reflecting the contribution of these strands to the flourishing of pupils and adults in a Church school. In addition, a standalone grade is awarded in all schools for collective worship.
We are delighted to share that Roxwell School has been given a J1 in our most recent inspection and have therefore met and exceeds all required standards of a Church of England School.
To see our latest SIAMS report, please click here
Religious Education at Roxwell School
The LIFE Primary School Religious Education Curriculum is set within the broader intent of the whole school curriculum. It is designed to support pupils in learning about the potential impact of RE on their lives so that they can flourish in an ever-changing world.
As a Church school, parents and pupils are entitled to expect that Christianity will be the majority religion studied in each year group, at least 50% across the curriculum. Parents and pupils should also expect to study a broad range of other religions and world views. Over the course of their time in Roxwell School, in addition to the study of Christianity, pupils will study many other world religions/faiths including Abrahamic religions, Dharmic traditions and non-religious world views. The children will follow a 2-year rolling programme, except for EYFS who are on a 1-year programme. In order to ensure that our children achieve the highest quality of RE education, we draw on information from various other sources to ensure our teaching and learning remains broad and balanced alongside focusing on the intent, implementation and impact of the curriculum.
We believe it paramount that our children understand the communities that they live within in order to understand the British Value of Mutual Respect, and to fulfil our aim that our children will become Religiously Literate. Therefore, the decision to study these religions is based upon information and data gathered from the census, current information and future predictions of the religions in our local areas. Across the Rural Primaries communities, both Christianity and Islam showed as the highest current percentage of all the populations; although Sikhism may currently have larger numbers of followers in some of the local areas, the global spread and influence of Islam and Buddhism, along with frequent reference to them in news and current affairs, mean that they are integral to preparing our pupils for life in modern Britain. In addition, there are many links between Buddhism and the growth of interest in mental wellbeing, meditation and spirituality within the media and current affairs; our curriculum provides our children with a greater understanding and acceptance of these areas and the wider world.
Our curriculum was written for our school community, by our school community. Through years of research about the make-up of our local community (the faiths, people and backgrounds of those who live amongst us), we have created a curriculum which reflects the world in which our children live. Using the Essex Agreed Syllabus as a template, we are
proud to say that our curriculum is challenging, accurate, well-sequenced, well balanced,
relevant, and diverse.
Teaching and learning in RE will be rooted in three key disciplines: theology, philosophy and the human/ social sciences; adapted for the school context in the following ways:
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Theology |
Philosophy |
Human/Social Sciences |
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We call this thinking through believing. It is about asking questions that believers would ask. It requires pupils to think like theologians, or to look at concepts through a theological lens. Pupils will explore questions and answers that arise from inside religions and worldviews. |
We call this thinking through thinking. It is about asking questions that thinkers would ask. It requires pupils to think like philosophers, or to look at concepts through a philosophical lens. Pupils will explore questions and answers raised through considering the nature of knowledge, existence and morality. |
We call this thinking through living. It is about asking questions that people who study lived reality or phenomena would ask. It requires pupils to think like human and social scientists, or to look at concepts through a human/social science lens. Pupils will explore questions and answers raised in relation to the impact of religions and worldviews on people and their lives. |
The Church of England Statement of Entitlement outlines the expectations of the Church of England Education Office in relation to Religious Education. For more information, please visit:
Our Church Links
We are very lucky to have strong links with St Michael and All Angels Church, Roxwell, Rev Hugh, Rev Tony, Rev Jonathan, Rev John and the church community. We aim to ensure our pupils get to know the church well, both as part of their studies and through whole school services throughout the year. Our church-based Collective Worship team come in to school to deliver collective worship sessions on a weekly basis. Over the years we have built great relationships with the team and consider them to be a vital pillar to our school and our community.
To find out more about our church please visit their web page:
LIFE is supporting the Trussell Trust.
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