The Chief Education Officer of the Church of England has given school governors, head teachers and clergy in Chelmsford Diocese a preview of work in progress at Church House, Westminster, on the importance of values in church schools.
Speaking at a conference hosted at Chelmsford Cathedral by the education department of the diocese,
Revd Janina Ainsworth said that these values make church schools distinctive. As well as helping to define
and validate the work of church schools now, the values provide a focus for the future.
On the list are:
? Personal values - reverence, wisdom, humility, endurance.
? Relational values - service, compassion, trust, peace, forgiveness, friendship.
? Community values - justice, hope, creation, 'koionia' (or fellowship as part of the wider community of God).
? Love. “It doesn't matter what Ed Balls says or what's in the Daily Mail, for us this is what is important,” said Janina.
She urged schools to use the values to discuss progress, teach them as part of the curriculum, and use them as a basis for nourishing the whole staff team.
The title of the conference was “Christian Leadership - What does this mean in your school?” The Bishop of Chelmsford, Rt Revd John Gladwin, told delegates that leadership is sometimes likened to conducting an orchestra. But he described it as being more playing in a jazz band. “The tune is picked up as people take part,” he said, “so that something new and delightful is created every time.”
The results of the values project will be offered online at www.cofe.anglican.org this month. Chelmsford
Diocese supports 139 church schools in Essex and East London.
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