Christian Distinctiveness 

St Mary's Church of England Primary School is a Voluntary Aided Primary School within the Diocese of Chelmsford. We work hard to develop and sustain our school’s Christian Distinctiveness. Our Head teacher and Governing Body have a clear vision of a school with a distinctive Christian character. Our Governing Body is made up of a majority of Foundation (Church) Governors. We work in close partnership with St Mary's Church and its congregation.

We encourage our children with our vision: 'we aspire for our pupils to be the best they can be, in an inclusive, Christian learning environment' and we work hard to develop and sustain our school’s Christian distinctiveness which closely follows our school motto which is Let your light shine.... as you grow, (taken from Matthew 5: 15-16).

Our Head teacher, Chris Jarmain, and governing body, led by John Westnedge, have a clear vision of a school with a distinctive Christian character. Our Governing Body is made up of a majority of Foundation (Church) Governors. We work in close partnership with St. Mary’s Church, Saffron Walden, led by Reverend Jeremy Trew.

Our values:

Our School is founded upon the core values of perseverance, truthfulness, friendship, respect, trust and compassion and time is spent exploring what is distinctively Christian about these particular values. Many other values are explicitly taught throughout the school day such as, forgiveness, courage, gratitude and good manners. We strive for excellent relationships, making our school a happy place to work and learn.

Worship:

We have daily Collective Worship and we regard this as an important part of the child’s experience and development. We encourage all our children to learn about and respect other cultures and religions. The teachers, head teacher and a member of the church community (such as Reverend Jeremy Trew) lead most collective worships. Half termly, Collective worship is led by children at the school with the help of the Worship Council Lead (Lizzie Allin). St Mary's church also lead collective worship once a week, sharing a range of Bible stories and Christian values with the children. All collective worships include a greeting, reciting the school prayers, a range of hymns and modern worship songs and then a dismissal. A candle is always lit at the start and then extinguished at the end to mark the beginning and end of the worship time.

Celebrations and achievements:

Community Worship takes place both in school and at St Mary's church, Saffron Walden. The children regularly visit St Mary's church where local ministers lead our services (with the help of our pupils) to celebrate major Christian festivals. These include: Harvest Festival, Christmas Nativities, Christmas Carol Service. Easter Service, Ascension Service, Eucharist Service and the Year 6 Leavers' Service. Parents & carers, grandparents, siblings (and other family members), as well as school governors join us on these occasions. The children thoroughly enjoy going into church and see it as an extension of their school.

Children's achievements are celebrated within collective worship on a weekly basis. Certificates are awarded based on the school values and the children are celebrated as 'Shining Lights' - in line with the school vision (Let your light shine as you grow, Matthew 5: 15-16). Each class also presents a termly class assembly, where parents and carers are invited to celebrate in their children's learning and achievements.