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The Distinctiveness of being a Church of England School
The Distinctiveness of being a Church of England School
As a Church of England School, East Hanningfield CofE Primary Academy has a strong link with All Saints Church.
With All Saints Church being just across the road from our school, we are able to visit the church at least once every term for special services throughout the year. These include a Harvest Service, Christmas Service and an Easter Service. Our children and staff very much look forward to these special times when we can gather together to worship in the church; they are a highlight of the year for many. At our Leavers' service for our Year 6 children, the church give Bibles to all the pupils who are going onto secondary school.
The church is Norman in style and was dedicated in 1870, following being rebuilt after the fire in the previous church which was located off Old Church Road. Indeed it contains many parts from the old church.
The church are child friendly and are always happy to include children in any of their services. They recognise the importance of including the whole family and therefore on the second Sunday of each month the service is particularly child-centered.
Community
Community
At our school, we value the importance of engaging with and interacting with the people and organisations around us. Building strong community connections benefits not only the education of our children and the school’s reputation but also helps us operate more effectively as a whole.
We aim to help our children understand the significance of community engagement, both on a local and global scale. Through this, they learn to be courageous advocates and ambassadors for our school and its values.
Reverend Jaqui, who is the Priest-in-charge at All Saints Church, leads a collective worship once a fortnight with our children.
Prayer Spaces
This academic year, we have worked in partnership with Reverend Jacqui, at All Saints Church, to plan and deliver two Prayer Space events. The first of which was a Christmas Prayer Space morning, for Owl Class children. More recently, the whole school enjoyed an Easter themed Prayer Space morning, which culminated in an Easter Service at the Church.
There were four different Easter themed activities: Mrs Trigg-Hayes and Reverend Jacqui taught the children about friendship and the events of The Last Super. They each made a special person out of a pipe cleaner, shared bread and thought about the events of the Easter story. Mrs Woollard taught the children about Palm Sunday and being thankful. The children then wrote prayers on palm leaves for the things which they were thankful for. Mrs Cottey taught the children about carrying the cross and the children wrote any worries they had onto a paper cross to form part of a larger display. Mr Forster taught the children about Jesus’ trial being unfair. The children were encouraged to think of things that they thought were unfair and write these onto a strip of paper. These strips were then made into paper chains for part of our display.
These activities were followed by a special Easter Service in All Saints Church. Every class shared something special: Robins treated us to a spring song, Doves confidently retold the events of The Easter Story, Kingfishers wowed us with a performance of Lord of the Dance (accompanied by Mr Forster on the guitar!) and Owls encouraged us to reflect through the power of their poems and prayers.
It was a truly wonderful morning and we are very thankful to Reverend Jacqui for her time in working with us to plan and lead this special event for our community.
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