Month: March 2026

School News

Sandra Sutherland, the Headteacher at All Saints CofE Junior in Warwick and colleague Liz Garrett have just come back from visiting link primary schools in Bo, Sierra Leone.

Liz, the RE Lead, has visited several times as part of the One World Link (OWL) charity. OWL schools in Leamington and Warwick fundraise to pay the salary of a worker who is employed through Educaid to develop teaching and learning in schools.

Whilst there, they shared friendship from schools in Warwick and Leamington as well as the message of the Coventry Cross of Nails. This included a trip to St George’s Cathedral in Freetown which is also a member of the global community of Cross of Nails.

 

Congratulations to staff and governors at Wolvey CofE Primary who had their SIAMS inspection last month. It was found to be living up to their foundation as a Church school, enabling pupils and adults to flourish. You can read their report here.

Wolvey has a unique and diverse pupil cohort with a third from Nepalese families based at the local military base, Gamecock Barracks, and a quarter of all Gypsy/Roma/Traveller children in Warwickshire attending the school. Their Christian vision is ‘…Among us you are all equal…’ (Galatians 3:28) which means that respect and celebration for diversity and difference is a way of life, and new pupils quickly establish a deep sense of belonging. One of their notable strengths was that “Leaders are inspirational in their vision to be a beacon of ‘equality and excellence’. This empowers staff to be relentless in their support for a richly diverse school community, enabling pupils to flourish.”

 

Do You Need to Develop Pupils’ Understanding of Christianity as a Global and Diverse Faith?

This CPD session from the DBE will explore a bespoke training package that can then be used to train your teachers. ‘Christianity as a Global World Faith’ is a brand-new resource that aims to work together with Understanding Christianity to challenge the Eurocentric vision of Christianity.

The session will look at how this might fit within your current curriculum that meets the expectations of SIAMS and the new Statement of Entitlement. There will be time to go through the resources to consider an action plan for your school.  It will be led by Keith Farquhar, Church Schools Distinctiveness Advisor for Birmingham Diocese.

• Weds 20 May – 09:30 – 12:00
• In person event at a venue near Warwick
• For primary and secondary RE Leads
• Free to DSA subscribers
• Resources are free once the training is complete

Book your place here.

 

Growing Faith Foundation – Do You Have a Story of an Amazing Young Leader?

The CofE Growing Faith Foundation is in the development stage of The Flourishing Young Leaders Award (FYLA) which is a new pupil leadership programme in development at the NSE. As part of these resources for schools (at KS2 & KS3) they want to include inspiring real-life stories of children and young people as leaders.

Do you know of any young leaders who took initiative, started something new and brought positive change to their school, church or community?

If so, please let them know here where more details are provided. (Link closes on Friday 27 March)

 

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

 

School News

Harris CofE Academy has banned mobile phones to change school life for the better.

ITV News spent two days at the school at the beginning of the year to find out how transformative the ban has been.

At 08.50am everyday students must lock their phones away in lockable pouches and the phones must remain locked away until the end of the school day. Random checks using a metal detector are carried out throughout the day to ensure the phones remain locked away. Assistant Head, John Naylor, says that the ban has had a “huge impact” and “allowed students to get their childhoods back.”

The students themselves agree. One student said, “Everyone’s got a big attachment to their phone, so no one really wanted to get rid of it. But overall, no one’s complaining now it’s settled down, and everyone’s starting to really enjoy the phone ban, because it increases everyone’s social interactions.”

The students themselves agree. One student said, “Everyone’s got a big attachment to their phone, so no one really wanted to get rid of it. But overall, no one’s complaining now it’s settled down, and everyone’s starting to really enjoy the phone ban, because it increases everyone’s social interactions.”

Since the ban, the lunch hall is filled with the sound of laughter and talking, with students playing board games or doing crafts together. It has also led to a dramatic decline in the number of phone and social media-related incidents needing intervention from staff, and student behaviour has overall improved.

 

Getting Ready for SIAMS

 Weds 29 April – 09:30 – 11:30

• In person at a venue near Warwick
• For all leaders involved with SIAMS and Christian Distinctiveness
• A recorded version of this training will also be available.

This training will be particularly helpful for those schools who are expecting a visit from SIAMS in the next 2 years. It will be led by Keith Farquhar, Church Schools Distinctiveness Advisor for Birmingham Diocese and will explore the key inspection questions as well as the latest updates from the annual report. Keith will focus on key preparation such as what your website should contain and creating an effective SIAMS SEF.

This training replaces the previously advertised sessions that were scheduled for March. Book here.

 

New RE Resources from the National Society – Christianity as a Global World Faith

• Weds 20 May – 09:30 – 12:00
• In person event at a venue near Wawick
• For primary and secondary RE Leads
• Resources are free once the training is complete

This National Society resource aims to work together with Understanding Christianity to challenge the Eurocentric vision of Christianity and celebrate the infinite translatability we can find in the diversity that exists within the Christian Faith. Through this session you will be able to access both the excellent training programme for schools as well as all the resources. It will be led by Keith Farquhar, Church Schools Distinctiveness Advisor for Birmingham Diocese.

The training will allow opportunities to understand the significance of providing a diverse approach to Christianity in your school. This will be explored in a bespoke training package that can then be used to train your teachers. Keith will look at how this might fit within your current curriculum that meets the expectations of SIAMS and the new Statement of Entitlement. There will be time to go through the resources to consider an action plan for your school.

Find out more from the NSE here. Book your place here.

 

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

 

School News

Revd Steve Gold was at St Gabriel’s CofE Academy last week for collective worship with the pupils. Every week he meets with the whole school for a short act of worship.  Last week’s visit was a little different to the norm, with Steve providing a late Ash Wednesday ashing to those children who wanted to take part. He ashed around 200 children – nearly half the school!

SIAMS News

Congratulations to staff and governors at the following schools who had their SIAMS inspections recently. They were both found to be living up to their foundation as a Church school, enabling pupils and adults to flourish.

You can read the reports here:

The Dassett CofE Primary

Wolston St Margaret’s CofE Primary

 

DBE News – Office Move

The DBE team have now moved offices to:

Wolston Priory, Priory Road, Wolston, Coventry CV8 3FX

Our telephone numbers and emails addresses will all remain the same but please bear with us next week if our responses are slower than normal.

Free Clearance Items from the DBE Office in Rugby

We have cleared our cupboards of resources, books, stationary and other sundry items that are available free of charge for schools and churches that can put them to good use. Do feel free to come and look and take whatever you like after 1pm on Friday 20 March – there is parking on site.

 

iSingPOP – what is available FREE for your school as part of the Diocesan Partnership

Many of our Church Schools and their parish churches are now seeing the benefit of having iSingPOP come in and work with your pupils…

There are three offers available FREE for this last year of the partnership:

Bespoke Main Event – 3 days teaching in your school with a professional live production/concert on day 4 (ideally in your local church) to involve families and the community.

POP Box Training with the NEW Belonging Box (Summer Term)

iSingPOP are piloting a new resource called The Belonging Box. The Belonging Box can be used as a follow on from the Difference course for schools, or as a stand-alone resource in school or Sunday school. Each session has been designed to give opportunities of pupil voice and creativity and the elements of each session have the windows mirrors doors framework in mind.

Emma Kenyon will come in to train 8-12 KS2 pupils over 3 weeks on how they might lead collective worship, using any of the 3 resources you decide. Availability is from the week commencing the 18 May onwards.

Joy Seekers Workshop (Mental Health and Wellbeing)

A whole school workshop day where the children will learn 2 catchy songs, have a prayer activity and celebrate at the end of the day with an assembly.

Any of these iSingPOP activities are available FREE until the end of 2026 for CofE schools in Coventry Diocese so do make the most of this opportunity.

Contact Emma Kenyon to discuss needs, availability and booking. If you have any specific requirements (e.g. to fit around a specific school celebration or event, do talk to Emma to see what she can do to tailor some of the songs/content).

emma.kenyon@isingpop.com

 

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