What does it mean to be a church school?

We are proud to be a church aided junior school, affiliated to St Mary's Church in Old Basing and the Diocese of Winchester.

If you wish to contact the joint Portsmouth and Winchester Anglican Diocesan Education Team for further information, their details can be found here:

http://portsmouth.anglican.org/contact_us/education

Further details about what it means to be a church school can be found attached below (see PDF at bottom of page) as is our most recent church inspection report (completed in Summer 2014).

Collective Worship

It is a statutory requirement for all schools that an act of collective worship, broadly Christian in nature, is held each day. Worship is integral to the life and ethos of our church aided school and is led by staff with contributions from pupils and visitors to the school, including both Fr Alec Battey (vicar of St Mary’s) and clergy/youth workers from other local Christian congregations.

Our Collective Worship is carefully planned, with input from a variety of stakeholders, in order to ensure compliance with our trust deed and the SIAMS Evaluation Schedule. We also make explicit our links to St Mary's Church – our vicar visits every other week to lead worship as well as leading Eucharist services, end of term church visits, Pilgrimage day and the Leavers’ Service.

All parents have the right to withdraw their child from collective worship. The Headteacher will wish to discuss with parents, implications of accommodating the parent’s views on withdrawal. Our worship is inclusive, rooted in the Christian faith, but accessible to all members of the school community, whatever their religious background or stage of development.

Parents are welcome to attend termly year group Acts of Worship, end of term church visits and the Eucharist services.

For further information on what it means to be a church school, please visit the diocesan website by following the link below:

 https://www.portsmouth.anglican.org/education/parent-information/