Month: October 2025

School News

 

Bishop Sophie Visits Ilmington CofE Primary

Paul Crouch, Headteacher of Ilmington CofE Primary writes:

 “It was lovely to welcome Bishop Sophie to Ilmington School and she was kind enough to lead an act of worship with the children where she explained part of her role as a bishop. This involved dressing up a few of the children in some of her bishop’s robes and in a running vest. She also got some children to hold other items which represented her ministry and were important to her. She then talked about why each of these things meant so much to her and how they help in her role.”

SIAMS News

Congratulations to staff and governors at Burton Green CofE Academy who had their SIAMS inspection last month. They were found to be living up to their foundation as a Church school, enabling pupils and adults to flourish. You can read the report here.

Pray for Schools Event – Prayer Requests Welcome

Walsgrave CofE Academy are hosting a prayer gathering on 20 November as part of the national ‘Pray for Schools’ day. They are inviting you to join them in praying for all schools, students, staff and wider communities. If you have specific requests you would like them to pray for, or want to know more, see here.

 

Wholehearted Leadership: An Online Programme for Senior Leaders in Church of England Schools

• For those who are new to senior leadership in Church schools (Assistant/Deputy Heads and Headteachers) or anyone who just needs that regular reminder of why they do this essential yet challenging role.
• Self-Directed online course with ‘touching base’ network meetings.
• Twelve half-termly sessions over two academic years starting autumn term 2025.

This is a new programme for Senior Leaders in Church schools, providing half-termly sessions where senior leaders are invited to consider leadership issues through a lens of Christian distinctiveness with input from Jen Jenkins, the DBE’s RE, SIAMS & Spirituality Officer. It is offered as a ‘gift’ to you – a space to reflect on your development as a person, teacher and leader, and meet and discuss with other senior leaders in the diocese.

The programme uses a blend of online self-directed sessions with face-to-face events. It has three core components of focus, personal reflection and coaching. It is based on Thessalonians 5:12-18 giving it a distinctively Christian approach.

Jen was formerly a Deputy Headteacher and the programme is informed by shadowing senior leaders in the diocese so that the current reality for senior leaders is deeply considered.

Find out more here and do share with SLT colleagues. To enrol and get started on your first self-directed sessions this term contact lisa.boffey@coventrydbe.org

 

National Society for Education – Free Advent Collective Worship Resource

The National Society’s AYLA invites school to join them in ‘The Joy of Christmas’, a brand new collective worship resource for Advent 2025 aimed at KS2 and KS3 learners.

For KS1 pupils there is a brand new version of the book ‘The Grumpy Owl and the Joy of Christmas’, which tells the story of Jesus’ birth through the eyes of an owl who seems determined to miss all the excitement. You can find out more about this here.

At KS2 and KS3 the focus is on the central theme of grumpiness into joy, taking time to reflect and celebrate the key characters in the Nativity story, Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and the wise men. Children will explore what might have made them grumpy, or find things difficult, and how they found joy in connection, trusting, sharing, and following.

Schools can sign up here: www.nse.org.uk/ayla/advent

 

For the full Headlines newsletter contact joanne.evans@coventrydbe.org

 

 

School News

Revd April Gold joined the Bishop of Coventry and the Mayor of Rugby on Tuesday to attend a special service at Clifton-upon-Dunsmore CofE Primary School to celebrate its 175th anniversary. Other guests in attendance were the vicar, previous Headteachers, current and previous governors and colleagues from the neighbouring church MAT who have been working in partnership with the school.

April said “It was wonderful to visit the school and to see the children dressed up to represent the different eras through which the school has operated. Guests visited the classrooms for each year group to share their work on a particular 25-year period. We then joined with the whole school for a special celebration time of worship at which the children sang a wonderful medley of songs to reflect the eras. We finished with birthday cake and then the school was open for parents to visit.”

The photo shows Headteacher Lisa Bernard with one of the fascinating log books they’d found in the archives which dated back to the 1860s.

 

 

Headteacher and Parish Partners’ Conference – Tuesday 18 November 

‘Leading for Faith, Hope and Justice’

We look forward to welcoming you to this year’s conference at Ardencote Hotel on Tuesday 18 November 2025, 09.30 – 14.30 for a day of inspiration and joint working with your Parish Partners. If you can’t attend, do please send another colleague.

Keynote Speaker Diana Osagie on ‘Being Fearless and Intentionally Courageous’

Diana Osagie brings over two decades of experience including taking on the role of headteacher in a secondary school in inner London. Her journey is rooted in resilience, courage, and a commitment to honesty. Diana has led through adversity and speaks with humour and insight. She aims to connect, inspire, motivate and leave you ready to roar with the courage in your leadership!

 Find out how to deliver ‘Difference for Primary’ in your school

After lunch there will be a workshop with the Difference team from Lambeth Palace. Their free suite of ‘Difference’ resources will help your school navigate an increasingly complex world, inspired by Jesus to embrace difference and champion a culture of hope and empathy. Find out more about Difference here.

 Or Learn about becoming a Cross of Nails School  (or how to refresh your status) with Emma Griffiths from Coventry Cathedral.

 Do send an additional staff member after lunch if you’d like your school to take advantage of both workshops (Difference and ICONS).

We will be Worshipping with iSingPOP and see their new song to complement the ‘Difference’ programme

Each school attending will get a free copy of ‘Heroes of Hope’ – 22 Inspiring Stories of Christians around the World by Revd Dr Sharon Prentis and Alysia-Lara Ayonrinde.

There will be time at the end of the day to use the space to hold any meetings or have networking time if you wish.

book your place here.

 

Getting the Most Out of Your Pop Box – Recording Now Available

Want to get pupils leading collective worship?

 Is your Pop Box gathering dust on a shelf?

 Not quite sure how it should be used?

 This short 20 min session, led by iSingPOP Project Leader Emma Kenyon, demostrates how best to use your pop box and help support your collective worship in school. One of the delegates told us that this resource has been excellent and really helpful in her school for supporting children to lead collective worship.

Find he session here on the DBE website resources page under collective worship. Any further questions – contact Emma on emma.kenyon@isingpop.com

 

Upcoming Termly SIAMS Update Session

Live and recorded session – Monday 24 November 16.30 to 17.30

This session, led by Jen Jenkins, is intended to support those schools who are due for inspection in the next two years.

Book here to either attend or receive the recording.

 

Thrive Licensed Childhood Practitioner Course

 Stour Federation MAT are offering this course for the spring term. The Thrive Childhood Practitioner Course will revolutionise how you view behaviour. Equipped with Thrive-Online, you will learn how to identify pupils’ social and emotional needs and create targeted action plans to remove barriers to learning. See further details and how to book here.

 

For the full Headlines newslettter contact joanne.evans@coventrydbe.org

 

 

School News

Joanne Evans, the DBE’s Services to Schools Officer visited St John’s CofE Academy in Coventry last Friday to chat to the families attending their early morning Family Prayer Space. She then stayed for a truly uplifting and joyful celebratory collective worship.

The focus for the prayer space was ‘ows, wows and nows’. Families were invited to share their ‘nows’ and ‘wows’ and children could write their own separate prayer card or encouragement to anyone experiencing an ‘ow’ moment. This was also mirrored as a permanent feature in the staff room for the team to record their own spiritual reflections. There were other quiet activities including Lego, colouring, activity books, prayer station activities and sharing Bible stories using the books from the prayer space. It is open and welcome to all ages, from pre-school children to grandparents and a valuable space for some calm, reflective time together before the busy school day begins.

Such a privilege to be able to visit and see the school’s Christian vision lived out with families and the wider community.

 

Worldviews Teacher Knowledge Organiser

This useful one-page knowledge organiser is available on the DBE website resources page under ‘New Agreed Syllabus – CofE School Specific’ – access with the usual password. This has been created by Shannon Clemo, Head of RE at Blue Coat CofE School and has been generously offered in case it is of use to other RE teachers.

 

Request Free Support to Support Your School’s Climate Action Plan

The DfE funded Climate Ambassadors Scheme will link nurseries, schools and colleges across England with free access to local experts who can provide tailored advice and guidance to help them develop their climate action plan.

Education plays a critical role in the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss; an issue that young people consistently say is a top priority for them. The DfE aims for all education settings to have a climate action plan in place this academic year.

Find out more about how you can embed sustainability in all you do and engage young people in a way that inspires hope and action.

 

For the full Headlines newsletter contact joanne.evans@coventrydbe.org

 

 

School News

Revd April Gold visited Wolston St Margaret’s CofE Primary on Friday 12 September to bless and officially open their new Prayer Garden. Each child painted a pebble to go into the garden and they have been busy making objects such as stained-glass windows and dream catchers to make it a beautiful place to reflect and pray.

 

New Black History Month Collective Worship Resource from the National Society for Education

New Black History Month Collective Worship resources (for primary and secondary) are now live and available to access on the CofE National Society website here.

These materials have been intentionally created without reference to a specific date or year, so they can be used not only during Black History Month but also at any point throughout the year.

 

Applications Open for the Church of England ‘Leaders Like Us’ (LLU) Programme

LLU is designed to support UKME/GMH aspiring senior leaders from across Church of England schools and surrounding schools. Participants do not need to work in a CofE school, but they must identify as UKME/GMH.

This year, they would also welcome mentors in the following capacities:

• Headteachers from primary schools
• Heads and deputy headteachers from secondary schools

(Mentors are welcome from all heritages and from all school contexts.)

For more information click here.

To apply click here.

To apply to be a mentor click here.

Applications close on Friday, 21 November 2025

 

‘Whole Hearted’ Leadershp Pathway for Leaders in Church of England Schools – Enrol Now

The DBE are currently enrolling for leadershp programmes which are a mix of self study and online touching base meetings. They are free to leaders in DSA subscribing schools.

The two year programmes are designed to support those with leadership roles in Church of England schools in Coventry Diocese to explore how to lead with Christian disctinctiveness and to support them in becoming the leader that they want to be.

The Middle Leaders programme has been running for three years and is a very successful. We have had great feedback and many of the participants have sucessfully gone on to Headship within our family of schools.

The Senior Leaders programme is new for this year and has been written by Jen Jenkins, the DBE’s RE and Spriituality Officer in collaboration with some of our Church School Heads.

Contact Lisa if you wish to sign up. Lisa.Boffey@coventrydbe.org

 

For the full headlines Newsletter contact joanne.evans@coventrydbe.org