Church Schools Survey

Question asked

Parent  responses

What do you think makes All Saints a distinctly Christian school?

• A strong sense of community
• All children and staff respect each other no matter what religion you are.
• Prayers in class, wonderful display boards around school and love
• School encourages understanding of the meaning of faith and Christian values in wider life

What Christian signs and symbols are around to show this?

• The school has scriptures on the school walls that the students see daily and that will be part of their daily life
• The names of classes are from the bible
• There are lots of Christian signs around the school most notably in the vision at the front of the school and in every classroom
• Crosses.
• That most beautiful picture of the vision sunset with the school vision wording
• Prayer corners in all of the classrooms
• School logo, Christian messages and the cross symbol on the display boards

What do you think of our new School Vision, the words and picture? “Our All Saints family shall ARISE and shine for the light of the Lord is upon us”

• It’s really profound, it’s a summary of what Christ wants; standing together in one accord and looking unto the cross.
• I like the picture and the words apply to all religions and races
• I think they are beautiful and the children understand them
• The words mean so much and the picture is truly wonderful

• My child loves them and he even built a shrine in his bedroom to look like the school vision

Do you agree that our ARISE values (achieve, respect, include, support, enjoy) give children and staff an understanding of how to act in a Christian way towards each other?

• Yes
• I think they give a good foundation.
• Absolutely.
• Absolutely!
• Yes they are values that apply to all religions and join all faiths together

The children tell us that they value gathering together for a daily act of worship and going to the church for special services. Do you agree and why?

• I agree. It is lovely to see the children leading worship. They look so proud
• I agree its nice to all come together and celebrate special occasions and our shared love of God
• Yes I do agree, it’s lovely to celebrate Easter, Xmas etc and the kids love it. They really enjoy telling me about stores that they have heard in worship
• I absolutely agree, fellowship is so important in spiritual learning  and growth.
• The songs and prayers experienced at school worship time are wonderful and the children send a golden promise up to God.

In RE lessons the children learn about our Christian faith and also the faiths and beliefs of others. How do you think this helps them?

• It helps them to relate with other beliefs and deal with them better.
• It helps them grow a better understanding of others and helps to encourage tolerance.
• It teaches them respect everyone and their opinions
• I believe it is vital for my two children to learn about other faiths. I want my children to have a knowledge and understanding of all religions so they can make informed decision in their own spiritual life.
• They understand different faiths and religions and they respect them all.

Is there something you child has learnt about in RE that they have told you about?

• My daughter says the prayers that she learns in school during our home devotion time which gladdens my heart whenever I hear them.
• My child remembers the bible stories and enjoys telling me all about them.
• My children spoke at length about baptism one year. And both made the decision to be baptised themselves two years later.
• Yes the children like learning about religious festivals
• My child amazed me by speaking about concepts to me that seem really hard : whoever though of the holy trnity as a triple layered chocolate bar – genius!

The Bible tells us we must care for others at home and abroad. What do you think of the opportunities there are during the year at school to support charitable good causes?

• Am so happy about it, my daughter knows the importance of charity.
• I think it is a good thing as it raises awareness of others around the world less fortunate than ourselves. There is a global neighbours club who run worship time and educate the rest of the school. I think this is brilliant.
• I think All Saints raise money for lots of the charitable causes.
• At Christmas the older children did such a wonderful thing buying animals.
• The school is very prolific in charitable causes.
• I think the school’s work on charities helps the children to realise how lucky they are.

In your view, is there anything that could improve All Saints as a Christian school?

• For now am happy that the school teaches Christianity well, but am I sure that as my daughter moves to higher classes I will be able offer better suggestions.
• Sharing more of the great work the school does with the wider community. The children in school could educate some of the adults outside of it.
• I think it would be great to schedule tours of the school on. All Saints day so that people could witness the family relationships that go on it the school for themselves
• Nothing could improve the school..nothing at all, the school is wonderful as it is.
• I can’t think of anything to improve the school. It is fine just as it is. I wish I had come to a school like this when I was younger.

We welcome your views on All Saints as a church school. Please give any opinions you have about the school if you want to

• I love All Saints, the school has really helped my children grow, the teachers are all amazing. I would highly recommend this school to anybody.
• The school really does what the vision says. It helps children to shine whether they are rich or poor clever or not, everyone here can succeed.

I enjoy school

95%

Teachers help me to do my best

98%

My teachers give me work that challenges me

97%

Teachers make sure everyone understands things

98%

I enjoy learning at this school

95%

Teachers listen to what I have to say in lessons

95%

There is an adult at school I can talk to if something is worrying me

95%

The behaviour of other pupils in my lessons is good

90%

The behaviour of other pupils around school is good

92%

My teachers encourage me to be friendly towards other pupils

98%

I feel safe when I am at school

95%

My school encourages me to look after my physical health (for example, healthy eating and fitness)

95%

My school encourages me to look after my emotional and mental health

95%

I take part in school activities outside of lessons, like clubs, sports, music and art

88%

My school encourages me to be independent and to take on responsibilities

97%

My school encourages me to respect people from other backgrounds and to treat everyone equally

98%

My school provides me with information about my next steps (for example: moving year group or class, teacher marking informing me of how I can make my work better).

99%

I would recommend this school to a friend moving to the area

95%

Question asked

Pupil responses

What do you think makes our school a Christian school?

• There is a clue we are a Christian school in the school name
• We have a church to go to for special services
• We sing Christian songs 
• We pray every day to Jesus and God and learn about Christianity

Can you tell me about our School Vision and what it means?

All of the group could recite the Vision and stated that they liked both the words and the picture that represented the vision. All of the children knew that the vision is based on a Bible verse.

• Saying The light of the Lord is upon us makes me think that God shines on us when we are achieving good things
• The light shining around the cross is in the image for the vision is important
• Everybody holding hands in the image for the vision gives the vision a family feeling of love with little ones included
• I like joining in when we say the vision each day because it has ARISE in it and these are our school values

What are our ARISE values and do you think they help staff and children act in a Christian way?

Achieve

• To achieve means to shine and you must work hard if you want to get to your goal
•  It feels good to achieve and be mentioned in Praise Assembly 

Respect.

• You must treat everyone as you would like to be treated yourself and that means showing them respect
•  You must show teachers respect by not confronting them or back chatting them
• I think we are treated with respect, we have rules to help us
•  We all respect each other like being in a big family

Include

• It is important to include people even if they are new and you don’t know them
•  You must make everyone feel included when you are doing group work so no-one feels left out
•  People feel sad when they are not included

Support

• I think support keeps me and others safe in school 
• We support others when they are trying hard with their work
• You can rely on friends at this school to support you
•  You can rely on grown ups at school to support you too

Enjoy

• I enjoy coming in to school to see my teachers and learning new things
•  I enjoy everything about school, my friends and understanding new things that we learn every day
•  I enjoy the church services and the singing
•  I enjoy saying our daily prayers, especially the morning one that starts our day
• My favourite thing that I enjoy is the going home prayer that we all say together

The group of children then happily shared the prayers that they say in class each day.

Do you think that our Vision and Values help you to think about spiritual things like God and Jesus?

• Looking at the Vision makes me think of God who made everything. It makes me feel thankful
•  We start to learn the ARISE values when we are in Reception so they are always with us reminding us how to behave

What symbols do we have around school that show we are a Christian school?

• The logos on our tops and the sign outside school are Christian symbols
• The big image of the Vision in the foyer and the cross on the glass above the door show we are Christians
• The crosses on our classroom windows you can see from the street share with the world outside that we believe in God
• The big fabric hanging pictures on the walls, on the stairs and  in the hall show that we are Christians
• We have saint names on every classroom door

Can you tell me about the special Reflection/ Prayer station area in your classroom?

• Everybody has a cross in their special classroom area
• The cross makes me think of Jesus
•  We call it our Prayer Station and we go there to lead the class in prayers
• We have a spiritual area where we can go to be alone and take  5 minutes time out and leave a worry in the box if we want to. This is a place where we can go if we are in darkness and need to arise.

What do you like about gathering together for worship? ( which we call ‘Spiritual Development’)

• Everyone all being together to hear the theme for the week
•  I like us praying together as the school family
•  Singing in spiritual development is like saying prayers
• I like it because we show respect for Jesus when we pray
• In collective worship time we give thanks to God and we remember others who are not as lucky as us and we pray for them and hope that they will arise.

Why do we light a candle at the start of worship/ Spiritual Development?

• We invite God to be with us when we light a candle
• To show respect to God and that we are  ready to worship Him
• To remind us that Jesus is the Light of the World

Can you think of an act of worship that was about issues that are important to you?  Which one was it?

• I liked a recent one where Jesus is called ‘the Bread of Life’ and ‘the Water of Life’. This one really made me think of the meanings and about how Jesus keeps us alive like bread and water.
• I liked the one about the earthquake where we all learned how we can help others who were victims of earthquakes

Does worship give you a chance to think about things in your own life?  What do you find helpful?

• I like to think about what I have heard in worship and see whether that story or event has happened to me
• The peaceful music is helpful during worship makes me think of mindfulness and I plan how I can shine
•  When it’s calm and quiet in the hall it helps me because I can think of my own life and how I can be a better person before we go back to class
•  I like to be a role model to the little ones in worship so that they can learn from me

What do you think about RE lessons? What have you enjoyed most?

• I enjoy hearing parables and learning what they mean
• I enjoy doing painting and drawing as well as writing in RE
•  I like the discussions about BIG QUESTIONS and hearing everybody else’s viewpoints

How do RE lessons help you learn about our Christian faith and beliefs and those of other religions.

• We learn about Christianity from the Bible in RE lessons
•  It is interesting to find out about other religions in RE lessons because we have different people from other backgrounds in school
•  Learning about Christianity is important to me. I have found out lots of things that link to other religions in RE lessons.

As a Christian school does the school provide opportunities to do as the bible tells us that we should eg help others.

• The Bible tells us to treat others how we would like to be treated ourselves so in school we have raised money for Poppy Day and Red Nose day
• The Bible teaches us to share and at Church we gave food at harvest to people who needed it
• We provide others who have less than us with what they need to live just like Jesus is the bread and water of life

Do RE lessons make you think and if so what do you think about?

• RE lessons make me think how I could change my life for the better
• RE lessons make me realise how lucky we are in Britain
• RE makes me think about how would not be here if it wasn’t for Jesus because he died on the cross for us.

How do you think we could improve on being a Christian school?

• I would like to visit other Christian places of worship like the Cathedral to see what they are like
•  Teachers could wear tops with the Vision on
• I think we could be taken out more so that we can shine and be good role models for others

Question asked

Pupil responses

What do you think makes our school a Christian school?

• Regularly going to church; I like being linked with the church.
• Spiritual Development  - helps make the younger children stronger
• The School Vision is based on a Christian Bible story
• Saying a prayer in Spiritual Development and in the morning, lunch time and going home time.
• Prayer Stations with the Cross and Christian symbols in the classroom.
• R.E .lessons  -  focusing on Christianity but also sometimes other religions (important because everyone should be treated with respect). The school teaches you about religion but doesn’t force it on you. Teachers respect our opinions.

Can you tell me about our School Vision and what it means?

• The Light of the Lord is upon us  -  reminds us that God is with us
• The shine part means that the whole school shall do their best. You should shine and try your best.
• The school treats you like a family; forgiveness means that you can still be part of the family (when you’ve done something wrong).
•  The Vision pushes you through the school year to do good things; it inspires us and helps us to arise in difficult moments
• The image for the vision of the family holding hands goes well with what the vision says; I like that the people are silhouettes and different shapes and sizes - whatever your gender or race you’re part of the family, working together.
• The Vision mentions our ARISE values.

What are our ARISE values and do you think they help staff and children act in a Christian way?

The pupils were all able to articulate the ARISE values. Here are some of their comments:

• ACHIEVE -  makes me think about stepping forward. Achieve is like a staircase, going from enjoying learning as little ones to achievement in Year 6.
• RESPECT  -  means things like holding the door for someone; don’t just ignore someone, but respect everyone. The adults in school show a lot of respect. It’s important to respect teachers – if it wasn’t for the staff we wouldn’t be at the level we’re at.
• INCLUDE  - everyone is a family here at school and is included; at lunch time if we did not include someone they’d be sad.
• SUPPORT- everyone at the school is supportive. We all help each other to arise when we are worried.
• ENJOY - is important; the school wants you to be happy and enjoy your time here - it’s not just about doing school work at this school and that is good because some people are not good at doing school work but the school makes sure we can all get to shine at something.

Do you think that our Vision and Values help you to think about spiritual things like God and Jesus?

• The Vision helps you remember about God, and being a family.
• The vision is a way to bring people together.
• Light -  God / Jesus. God is always with you.
• ARISE  -  reminds us of our school values
•  The Vision focuses our thoughts and helps us understand ourselves and the school.
• The vision reminds us that following God is the best way.

• The vision gives us the strength to pick ourselves up and try again when things don’t go right the first time.

What symbols do we have around school that show we are a Christian school?

• The School badge with the cross.
•  The cross over the entrance door.
• The School vision image is very big on the board when you come in to school.
• Seeing “God” on boards around the school.
•  The Christian bible on the tables in class.
• The name of the School!

Can you tell me about the special Reflection/ Prayer station area in your classroom?

• In our classroom, the reflection area says “You are God’s masterpiece”. It has a candle, bible and a smaller version of the School Vision picture.
• There’s a prayer box with prayers we say at lunchtime. We all write prayers for the Prayer box. We say Thank you prayers at the end of the day.
•  The Worry box is in the reflection area. This helps because it’s private  -  no one else knows or hears.
• Non believers don’t feel out of place or excluded going to the reflection area.
• If we have a problem we can always talk to our teacher or TA and they will listen and help they will help us to arise.

What do you like about gathering together for worship? ( which we call ‘Spiritual Development’)

• The whole school being together
• The little ones looking up to us and seeing there’s more to the school than just their classroom.
• Teachers talking to us all at the same time – like a big R.E. lesson.
• All singing together in a nice way
• Being one family  -  like our School Vision says. Sharing our thoughts and prayers with everyone, as one big family.

Why do we light a candle at the start of worship/ Spiritual Development?

• To show God / Jesus is with us.
• Jesus is the light of the world; the candle represents Jesus

• When the candle is light the teacher says we invite in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit so God in all forms is with us

Can you think of an act of worship that was about issues that are important to you?  Which one was it?

• Anti-bullying / Respect -  this was a good spiritual development session - you don’t get anything out of bullying except making someone sad.
• I liked the one about The Parable of the Good Samaritan  -  it’s message for us on how to live our lives was to be nice to everyone no matter who they are.
• I liked Daniel in the Lion’s Den and hearing about how he won through in the end. It teaches us to be courageous

• I liked hearing about the sick children at Demelza House and trying to think of ways to help them.

Does worship give you a chance to think about things in your own life?  What do you find helpful?

• At the end of Spiritual Development we are given the chance to think about how it can help us in our normal lives.
• Spiritual development gives us time to think and understand religions better.
• Spiritual development gives us the chance to think about how we can improve ourselves and we send our improvement promise up to God in Heaven
• Spiritual development has helped me to become more religious (Sikh pupil).

All of the group were able to speak very positively about the effect Spiritual Development has on them as individuals.

What do you think about RE lessons? What have you enjoyed most?

• I have enjoyed acting out stories from the Bible.
• The Parables help us learn to live life well.
• Learning Christian stories, if you’re from other religions, is fascinating.
• Class discussions about what we think, are good.
• R.E. is a very good subject, my favourite: everyone is able to give their opinions in RE

How do RE lessons help you learn about our Christian faith and beliefs and those of other religions.

• Learning about other religions helps us learn about respect and how to be friends with people from other cultures; knowing what’s appropriate or inappropriate to say to them is important
• Thinking about how Christianity crosses over with other religions is what I enjoy most
• RE lessons teach us that we are all different but we are all the same as well – all sons and daughters of God.

As a Christian school does the school provide opportunities to do as the bible tells us that we should eg help others.

• Red Nose Day  -  paying money to charity, to wear your own clothes. 
• Raising money e.g. Caring Hands at Harvest..
• Raising money for Christian Aid helps people all over the world like Africa, Bangladesh e.g. we bought gifts and got a thank you letter back.
• The Shoebox Appeal was about helping others

Both the Sikh and Muslim pupils in the group mentioned that their religions are similar to Christianity because they believe in charity too.

Do RE lessons make you think and if so what do you think about?

• I think about God  -  R.E. is focused on that.
• RE makes me think about different religions apart from my own. Thinking about Christianity has helped me become more religious (Sikh pupil).
• RE lessons make me think about what in Christianity is similar to Islam e.g. stories in Bible and Quran. It’s helped me  - before I wasn’t religious but now I am (Buddhist prayer / practices at home).
• RE lessons help you think about Right and Wrong; the 10 Commandments are like a little guide to life; some Do’s and some Don’ts. Our laws are based on the 10 Commandments, It helps with different scenarios  -  what would you do in this situation? The Good Samaritan makes you ask what you would do?
• RE makes me think about helping others and saying prayers for them.

All pupils could recite the Lord’s Prayer and then did so, one in the original version.

Question asked

Pupil responses

What do you think makes our school a Christian school?

• Praying to God
• We always go to church
• Our classes are named after saints
• We celebrate God and his blessings

Can you tell me about our School Vision and what it means?

(The  children were able to remember the school vision and they readily recited it).

• We should shine everywhere we go – this means be our best
• We should always try to shine in life
• Arise  are  our school values (the children were readily able to recite all the values and explain what they mean)
•  One child described the image to show the vision --  people holding hands, on a hill, next to the cross (Jesus died on the cross  -  so we can have peace). 
• The picture has people of all shapes and  sizes because it includes teachers and pupils – it shows we are all different and still love each other
• Holding hands is included in the picture because holding hands is important it shows  -  friends / shared friendship.
• All the people in the picture are stronger together working with God- nothing can push them down because they will arise again.

What are our ARISE values and do you think they help staff and children act in a Christian way?

• Our school values teach us how we should behave
• Achieve- you should try hard even if you don’t always get it right.
• Respect-You should respect each other; it’s rude if you’re not listening to someone (teacher) who’s talking. Don’t blame other people. Be honest.
• Include  -  if you’re playing a game and you tell someone they can’t play, that’s not including. It’s good to welcome everybody, especially new people.
• Support  -  example:  if someone is sad and you help them you are being supportive. You can cheer people in a race to give them a boost.
• Enjoy  -  games, learning. I love writing, reading, science and stuff. I enjoy After School club and I enjoy school

Do you think that our Vision and Values help you to think about spiritual things like God and Jesus?

• Yes.  e.g. in the Vision picture it’s dark but God is shining like a bright light so that no one is lost.             
• In the bible Jesus says “I am the Light of the World”
• God shines the light so we are not lost and can find our way back to him if we do get lost for a little while

What symbols do we have around school that show we are a Christian school?

• The names of the Saints on the classroom doors  -  St Mary, St George etc
• School vision picture in our Reflection area in our classroom
• The cross in our reflection area- crosses make me think God is always by my side and that Jesus can help me.
• The paper chain in our classroom  - this shows God is by my side and that’s why I love him. I like to sit on the carpet under the paper chain with messages to God on, I like to write messages to God
• The cross in the hall
• The candle used in worship

Can you tell me about the special Reflection/ Prayer station area in your classroom?

• We have a cross and the school vision in our reflection area
• We have lights in our reflection area to show God is with us
• We also have prayers in our reflection area
• We have a worry box in our reflection area and we post notes to our teacher in this if we are upset

What do you like about gathering together for worship? ( which we call ‘Spiritual Development’)

• Talking about God. He’s looking into your heart during worship. God’s not looking at how smart you are; he’s looking into your heart and how kind you are.
• Listening / reading the bible stories  - God gives me confidence when I’m scared; I’m     confident in my heart that I can do this
• When we gather together God is happy because we are like a family celebrating our love

(Gathering together was seen as important by all the children)

Why do we light a candle at the start of worship/ Spiritual Development?

• Jesus said he’s the light of the world.
• It reminds us that God is here.
• God stops what he is doing when we light the candle and he listens to us.

Can you think of an act of worship that was about issues that are important to you?  Which one was it?

• King David –The story of David finding Saul and instead of killing him he cut a piece of his robe off. David really wanted to kill Saul but didn’t, because he listened to God.
• I remember that assembly , when I really want to do something (wrong) but I don’t because I remember David- and the message is-  Don’t be mean to other people be a good boy.  
• Remembrance  -  when the soldier visited.
• Our global neighbours assembly about the earthquake faraway. It made me sad for the children who had no homes.

Does worship give you a chance to think about things in your own life?  What do you find helpful?

• reciting the School Vision; makes me remember to try hard in class
• Prayers  - praying makes me feel happy because it reminds me that nothing will ruin my day no matter what, because God is on my side
• Singing to God in a really nice way together with all of our heart shows we are a family.
• Worship stories give us  things to think about.

What do you think about RE lessons? What have you enjoyed most?

• We get to do writing! I love writing.
• We learn more about God and how he loves us
• I always write neatly in my RE book. I try to shine my best in RE.

How do RE lessons help you learn about our Christian faith and beliefs and those of other religions.

• We’ve learnt about Judaism and Hinduism before.
• It would be very boring if we were all the same.
• Being different from each other is good because we learn from each other
• We learn about how other religions celebrate their festivals

(the children discussed the diversity of the group sitting around the table)

As a Christian school does the school provide opportunities to do as the bible tells us that we should eg help others.

(The children discussed some of the charities they have recently raised money for.)

• Christingle service – Demelza boxes and food bank
• Pyjama Day  for homeless people.
• Red Nose day – for starving people in Africa
• Soldiers fund – buying poppies and poppy school pencils
• Helping people is important.

Do RE lessons make you think and if so what do you think about?

• I think about God in my heart
• I think about how God guides us
• I think BIG things like the question on our Thunk board… If God made the world… who made God?

How do you think we could improve on being a Christian school?

• Having paper crosses with us at playtime with God on them.
• I think we could teach others ….like make a poster about God to put in the town for people to see.
• I think we could write prayers every day.
• Helping the environment every day would be a good thing to do