Christian Distinctiveness
Christian Distinctiveness
‘Our school family: Learning, loving and growing together, in God’s love.’
Our Vision Statement
Our school family is rooted in God's love, a safe and nurturing place where all are treasured.
We are committed to ensuring our children are happy, active learners in an inclusive and creative community.
We celebrate individual journeys and sow seeds for life-long learning, nourishing everyone to thrive.
Our School Bible Story
Matthew 13:31-32
Parable of the Mustard Seed
 | 31 Here is another illustration Jesus used: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches.” |
Our Christian Values:
Love
Trust
Honesty
Forgiveness
Respect
Narrative
Herne Infant and Nursery school is rooted and growing in God’s love, our foundational school value. We believe love is the most important thing we can show each other and therefore seek to let all that we do, be done in love (1 Corinthians 16:14).
Our school is a safe and nurturing place, like a well-established tree, the largest of all garden plants. Our artwork shows love is in our roots and that as our tree grows, our other school values of forgiveness, honesty, trust and respect develop and flourish too. Our community feels safe and welcome to come and make a nest in our branches, receiving the love, care and support they need.
We see our whole school community as tiny mustard seeds that are planted in good soil and nurtured, which will in turn grow into their own trees, displaying our school values. Our prayer is that the branches of those trees will in turn become safe spaces to offer support to others who need it. We are also planting tiny mustard seeds of faith into our school community, helping all to ask questions and make sense of the changing world around them.
We celebrate every member of our community and treasure the contributions each person can make. We take the time to know each individual child, their needs, personalities, interests and families and through this, ensure all pupils, whatever their background or ability, can flourish. We promote good health and emotional wellbeing and support children and their families in order to give them the best possible learning experiences at the start of their learning journey. We recognise that learning is life-long and believe that by getting the foundations right, we provide everyone with the opportunity to discover life in all its fullness which Jesus offers us.
What does Christian distinctiveness look like at Herne Infant and Nursery School?
Daily acts of collective worship. These include stories from the Bible, songs, prayer and a message that is relevant to us in our day to day life.
Singing. We learn a wide variety of songs in school including Christian songs.
Visual reminders of our values. Our school artwork, lanyards, photos depicting values and displays.
Whole school prayer station. A dedicated space for prayer and reflection that changes according to the time of year and/or children's needs and interest.
Class reflection areas which offer the children space to reflect in their own classroom.
Prayers and Grace. We have created a school prayer and use a special prayer for the Grace in order to thank God for his provision. These can be read below. The children also have opportunity to contribute to prayers in class and worship if they would like to.
Regular visits by our local vicar, Carol and her curate Cat, to facilitate whole school worship, Godly play, Governor monitoring, support staff with Christian knowledge and understanding and for pastoral care.
We go to the church to celebrate Harvest, Christmas and Easter, as well as a leavers service for Year 2.
We have dedicated weeks to explore Christianity such as the Easter experience, Pentecost experience and sensory prayer week. These are designed and run with Herne CE Junior School and St. Martin's Church, providing an opportunity to work together in our larger Herne Christian family.
Teaching RE At School
At Herne CE Infant and Nursery school we use the ‘Understanding Christianity’ syllabus for weekly RE lessons. We think about the bible as the big story of God and use ‘The Big Frieze’ to help us understand each part. Each term we have a ‘big question’ which we seek to answer together.
Year R learn about Christianity - Who Jesus was, his life and his friends.
Year 1 learn about Christianity for 4 terms and Judaism for 2 terms.
Year 2 learn about Christianity for 4 terms and Hinduism for 2 terms.
RE lessons teach tolerance, understanding and respect for people of similar and different faiths.
Herne School Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for the joy of making things,
For the strong and steady hands,
For the patience to try and try again,
Help us to learn something new every day,
Amen.
Grace
We thank you Lord for happy hearts,
For rain and sunny weather,
We thank you Lord for this our food
And that we are together,
Amen.