At Brown Clee, our core Christian values underlie everything that we do. Our Christian character has a significant impact on academic achievement, personal development and well-being for all learners.
We really value the connection with the Church and aim to preserve and develop the religious character of the school. We encourage an understanding of the meaning of faith, and promote Christian values through the experiences we offer to our children.
We have close ties with our local Benefice (Brown Clee Benefice) and Reverend (Joe). The school often visits the most local church (St. John the Baptist Church) – where we regularly celebrate the Christian Festivals, including Harvest Festival, Christmas and Easter at church. As well as leading our services in church, Reverend Joe also leads some collective worships in school. For more information on Brown Clee Benefice, please see their website (www.browncleebenefice.org.uk).
We also have Open the Book Assemblies once a month, where a team of lay volunteers bring the Bible stories to life using drama and costume.
The distinctive nature of our approach to education can be found in our explicit Christian values such as collective worship, a grounded Christian ethos and in our Religious Education lessons.
Children and staff of all faiths – and none – are welcome at our school and our aims are to promote understanding and tolerance between those of different faith traditions.
Foundation of the School
Our school is a (Shropshire-based) Church of England School within the Diocese of Hereford.
The school was founded in 1994 – where three separate schools (Ditton Priors, Burwarton and The Down) in the local area merged together to create Brown Clee.
Our school logo signifies the importance of this foundation of collectively bringing communities together with reference to the three schools as the three ears of wheat.
The choice of wheat to represent each of these schools is due to the local area “The Wheatlands” – and the significance and value of farming within our collective communities.
School’s Vision, Ethos and Collective Worship
Our school’s central vision is about collectively working together for us all to be the best we can be.
Our school has two values that resonate within this vision and the core ethos of the school:
Although there are many other Christian Values, we have six – which we have placed a strong emphasis on to help create and sustain the Christian ethos of our school.
- Respect
- Thankfulness
- Perseverance
- Forgiveness
- Compassion
- Courage
We regularly celebrate children that have demonstrated the above values in our weekly special “Celebration Worship” – where parents/carers/grandparents are invited to celebrate various success throughout the week.
A map of how our school’s vision, ethos and values are connected can be found below
Spirituality
Spirituality is a concept that we, at Brown Clee, define as “the search to discover who we are, how we are connected and what our purpose is” and is summarised as…
- Self-awareness = “who we are”
- Connection = “how are connected”
- Purpose = “what our purpose is”
| Self-Awareness |
Connection |
Purpose |
This encapsulates…
- the values in which we hold dear, and what these values truly mean to each of us
- how these values can drive us to each contributing to a “better tomorrow” in what we do
|
This encapsulates…
- how we are connected to something bigger than ourselves
- how we are connected to the world around us
- how we are connected to the people around us
|
This encapsulates…
- what our role is within a bigger picture
- how we can, together, contribute to a “better tomorrow”
|
A summary of our school’s vision, ethos, values and spirituality can be found here: Vision, Ethos, Values, Spirituality Summary – including how these are theologically rooted through bible verse and specified stories.
Collective Worship
Our weekly Collective Worship schedule brings together the whole school at least once a day:
Monday: Values-focussed Collective Worship
Tuesday: Singing/Hymn-based Collective Worship
Wednesday: Pupil-led Collective Worship
Thursday: Weekly Celebration Collective Worship
Friday: Bible Story Collective Worship
Small class-based collective worship sessions take place throughout the school day – e.g. a daily prayer session before lunch / Ad-hoc reflection/spiritulaity sessions.
Further information can be found in our Collective Worship Policy, found in the policies section of our website.