Mark Cross Church of England Primary School

As a Church Aided Primary School, Mark Cross works hard to develop and sustain the school’s Christian distinctiveness.  We work in close partnership with Reverend Mason and the Church of St. Mark.  Governors have also formed an Ethos Committee and work alongside similar committees from neighbouring church schools in order to nurture the school’s Christian ethos and ensure Christian faith is manifested through every aspect of school life.

Mark Cross is founded upon core values.  Our principal values are honesty, trust and forgiveness although many other Christian values are explicitly taught including appreciation, caring, co-operation, courage, freedom, friendship, happiness, honesty, hope, humility, love, patience, quality, respect, responsibility, simplicity, thoughtfulness, tolerance, trust, understanding and unity.  Although these values may be supported and shared by Christians and non-Christians alike, theological backgrounds and biblical references help to explore what is distinctively Christian about each value.

We have daily collective worship in the school hall, including a weekly ‘Songs of Praise’ service.  Once a week collective worship takes place in the Church of St. Mark and this is led by Reverend Nigel Mason.  We also have fortnightly community service where a visitor speaks to the children about their role in the local community or their employment, and if applicable their beliefs and practice.  We have had visits from a fireman, pottery artist, professional ballerina, geologist and an olympic standard horse jockey…just to name a few.

Religious Education is a core subject at Mark Cross CE Aided Primary School and is timetabled weekly.  As a Church School, Christianity forms the major study in Religious Education lessons.  We follow the East Sussex Agreed Syllabus for RE. 

We also have a duty to foster an accurate and increasing understanding of religions and world views.  As a result, pupils will gain greater insight into the world in which they are growing up.  They will also be able to appreciate the faith of others and develop a deeper understanding of their own beliefs and practices.  These outcomes contribute to harmonious relationships within and between communities, promoting social inclusion and combating prejudice.

Each classroom has a prayer space or ‘reflection area’ to enable children to explore faith and spirituality in a safe, creative and interactive way.

We have a dedicated prayer box where pupils, parents, staff and visitors alike can write a prayer.  These are then read aloud in Collective Worship and hung onto our school prayer tree.