The school, through its distinctive Christian character, is outstanding at meeting the needs of all learners.
High Ham Church of England Primary School is an inclusive, warm and welcoming Christian community. An ethos statement and set of core values, rooted in Christian teaching with God’s love at its heart are integral to the whole life of the school. The school’s ethos is very effective in promoting a strong sense of Christian fellowship by its emphasis on the word ‘together’. This, in turn, has created a happy and secure environment where each and every child is cherished and relationships are of the highest quality.
We are a Church of England Primary School which means we have a SIAMS (Statutory Inspection for Anglican and Methodist Schools) inspection every five years. Please click to read our latest SIAMS report which said:
We actively take part in our local Church services and work closely with Rev.Jess Pitman who is also a school governor.
There are regular school services planned in church, which everyone is welcome to attend.
We have a SIAMs team of governors who meet regularly to ensure that we are meeting the criteria needed for the SIAMS inspections.
During the 2018/9 academic year, we reviewed our school strapline, ethos statement, values and designed a new one which was led by Rev. Jess Pitman as well as our work with the Diocese which also involved all stakeholders. This is now an integral part of our school and reflects the ethos and vision on which we have built our curriculum. Our whole school display relating to the ethos is in the main entrance of the school.
DISCOVERING, LEARNING, BELIEVING TOGETHER
Discovering, Learning, Believing Together
At High Ham we encourage everyone to flourish, believing in themselves and others,
growing in wisdom and knowledge, discovering the joy of learning,
the comfort of friendship and the wonder of God’s world
JOHN 15.5-17
“I am the true vine, my father is the gardener, and you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit…
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for
one’s friends and I have called you friends…You did not choose me, but I chose you so that you might bear
much fruit—fruit that will last—This is my command: Love one another.
VALUES ‘fruit that will last ‘
THANKFULNESS
FRIENDSHIP
HOPE
JOY
COURAGE
CREATIVITY
all rooted in WISDOM and LOVE
2021/22: We are in the process of collating evidence regarding our six school values and have a focus each half term. When we do these we will add to the links below so you can click and look at some of the types of activities that we do throughout the year when we are focusing on each value.
Thankfulness Friendship (2 links) Joy Courage Hope Creativity
In addition throughout the year, teachers collate evidence across the seven strands of the SIAMS inspection and the links can be found below (the information has come from their twitter accounts which all staff regularly keep up to date).
Strand 1: Vision and Leadership #HHSIAMS1
Strand 2: Wisdom, Knowledge and Skills #HHSIAMS2
Strand 3: Character Development: Hope, Aspiration and Courageous Advocacy #HHSIAMS3
Strand 4: Community and Living Well Together #HHSIAMS4
Strand 5: Dignity and Respect #HHSIAMS5
Strand 6: The impact of collective worship #HHSIAMS6
Strand 7: The effectiveness of religious education #HHSIAMS7
Additional Examples
During the Covid years we needed to hold many of our usual Church activities online. Here is a small sample:
Harvest: October 2020 Rev. Jess Pitman and Rev. James Bell-Winfrow have put together a presentation with support from the whole of the school which brings together thanksgiving (our school value this term) and the blessing of Harvest.
Remembrance 2020: We held a competition and collated in our remembrance work in a short video and file.
Whole School Community
We work hard to ensure all we do is underpinned by the school ethos. In the recent Covid-19 pandemic when schools were closed we gathered photographs from all the children at regular intervals and encouraged them to take part in challenges to keep the sense of community alive. Here are just a few examples:
End of 2020 Review (.MOV)
High Ham School Community celebrates VE day
