Our Church School
At St Edward’s we are proud of the distinctive church ethos which permeates all that we do at the school.
Life in all its fullness (John 10:10)
At St Edward’s we believe the purpose of education is to enable and nurture every child to thrive and become the person they are capable of being, experiencing a full life in mind, body, heart and spirit.
The values that we live out daily in our school are: Friendship, Thankfulness, Truthfulness, Trust, Forgiveness, Respect, Reverence and Responsibility.
We aim to be distinctive in our Christian character by living out our school vision and values daily. Our staff are role models in the way they interact with each other and with our pupils, living out our school values in all they do. People regularly comment on the 'family feel' our school has and how our pupils are such polite and courteous young people.
For more information on our values, see our prospectus.
Our Parish Church
We have very strong links with our parish church, St Edward the Confessor, which is in the middle of Romford marketplace.
The Vicar of the church, Father David, is very involved in our school and regularly leads our assemblies, along with other members of the church community. All of our children attend church services regularly. Our children attend church services at least once every half term, with the major Christian festivals being celebrated either with a service in church or school.
For more information about St Edward’s church, please click here.
Collective Worship
Our daily act of worship is an important part of every school day and worship is seen as the heartbeat at the centre of our school life.
Our pupils are frequently complimented on their reverent response during acts of worship, and the value we place on the opportunities we have to worship God together is clear for all to see.
Our Monday morning assemblies set the theme for the week, often based around our Core Christian values (Friendship, Thankfulness, Truthfulness, Trust, Forgiveness, Respect, Reverence and Responsibility). On Friday we celebrate and reflect on the achievements of the week.
Children in our school have regular opportunities to lead the worship of their peers in weekly class assemblies and our prefects lead assemblies too. Our worship committee, made of pupils in the Upper School, play an active part in preparing for our acts of worship.
Every year, Year 6 students are invited to attend the National Edwardtide Pilgrimage at Westminster Abbey.
Our Collective Worship Policy can be found here.
Religious Education
We believe that a high quality religious education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of the nature, role and influence of religion in the world.
Teaching should equip pupils to think critically, ask perceptive questions, formulate reasoned opinion and handle controversial issues and truth claims. It should provide pupils with the opportunity to pursue a personal quest for meaning, purpose and value and to develop an understanding of, and respect for, different beliefs and lifestyles. The development of human cultures and the lives of millions of people have been influenced by religions and beliefs; RE enables pupils to recognise this and respond to it so that they can learn more about themselves and their place in the world. The subject has a key role in enabling pupils to achieve and in preparing them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life.
Our School RE curriculum is currently based on the Havering/Redbridge agreed syllabus, supported by ‘Understanding Christianity’ resources. We organise visits to local places of worship and invite representatives of local religious groups to talk to the children. Children carry out research into religious topics. They study different faiths and also compare the religious views of different faith groups on topics such as rites of passage or festivals
Our RE lead teacher is Mrs Clare Beech.
SIAMS Inspection
As a Church of England school, in addition to monitoring by Ofsted, we are also inspected under a system called the Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS).
The SIAMS inspection takes place usually on a five yearly cycle. This is a national system which is organised, for our school, through the Diocese of Chelmsford, commissioned by the Department for Education. The SIAMS inspection is part of our ongoing process of school development and improvement.
Our most recent SIAMS Inspection was in October 2019 where the school was given the highest grading of 'Excellent'. This grading, only given to a small proportion of schools, is awarded to those schools who show ‘innovative, creative and exemplary practice’. A full version of our report can be found below.
