St. Mary's C.E. Primary School, Washington

St Mary's CE Primary School, Washington  is a Voluntary Controlled Primary School within the Diocese of Chichester. We work hard to develop and sustain our school’s Christian distinctiveness. Our Head teacher and governing body have a clear vision of a school with a distinctive Christian character. We work in close partnership with Reverand Patrick Pearson- Miles and St. Mary's Church, which is part of Chanctonbury Churches.

The Church of England’s vision for education (2016) is deeply Christian, with Jesus’ promise of ‘life in all its fullness’ at its heart. In line with the Church of England’s role as the established Church, their vision is for the common good of the whole community.

• Educating for wisdom, knowledge and skills: enabling discipline, confidence and delight in seeking wisdom and knowledge, and developing talents in all areas of life.
• Educating for hope and aspiration: enabling healing, repair and renewal, coping wisely when things go wrong, opening horizons and guiding people into ways of fulfilling them.
• Educating for community and living well together: a core focus on relationships, participation in communities and the qualities of character that enable people to flourish together.
• Educating for dignity and respect: the basic principle of respect for the value and preciousness of each person, treating each person as a unique individual of inherent worth.

As a Church of England Voluntary Controlled School, we offer an education that is distinctively Christian. Although each church school is unique, all church schools will share core values based on the Gospel values. Church schools are therefore places where loving God and loving our neighbours, is lived out in the daily life of the school. Therefore “Recognising its historic foundation, the school will preserve and develop its religious character in accordance with the principles of the Church of England and in partnership with the Church at parish and diocesan level. St Mary's C.E Primary School, Washington aims to serve its community by providing an education of the highest quality within the context of Christian belief and practice. It encourages an understanding of the meaning and significance of faith and promotes Christian values through the experience it offers all of its pupils”.

Our School is founded upon our core values of: Service, Teamwork, Ambition, Resilience and Self-control and time is spent exploring what is distinctively Christian about these particular values.