The school’s background
Acle St Edmund C of E Primary School was founded by the Church of England in 1860 to educate the children of the village of Acle. This continues to be our central purpose, and we welcome children of all faiths and none, from within our catchment area and beyond. We maintain close links with the parish church of St Edmund as well as the the local Methodist Church. We aim to provide an education of the highest quality and, through the experiences we offer to all our children, seek to support them in developing their own moral, spiritual and ethical standpoint.
The school’s vision and ethos
“From a tiny seed…. all things are possible”
At Acle St Edmund C of E Primary school we believe that every child can succeed and flourish, no matter what their starting point may be, within a nurturing environment which is rooted in the core Christian values of Hope, Trust, Respect and Compassion. The staff and pupils at Acle Primary have taken inspiration from the parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 12:31), in which the smallest of all seeds grows into a fully formed tree, full of life, welcoming to all and outward looking.
This image also links with our established school motto:
Learn More, Think More, Be More.
Learn More:
Our engaging, creative and relevant curriculum encourages and enables pupils to develop the learning skills they need both for now and in the future, so that they can respond to, and embrace, the demands of an ever changing world.
Think More:
Within a nurturing environment, rooted in the core Christian values of compassion, respect, trust, and hope, we believe each child can grow and flourish (from ‘mustard seed’ beginnings) – knowing that they are equally valued and loved by God.
Be More:
We create opportunities for children to meet their God-given potential in many different ways, developing confidence in themselves and celebrating their own uniqueness and self-worth. We encourage each child to ‘dream big’, live life in all its fullness and to use their gifts for the good of others.
Church links
We enjoy close links with both St Edmund Parish Church and the local Methodist Church. The ministers of both churches (Martin Greenland and Andrew King) regularly lead collective worship at school and are fully involved in the planning of collective worship themes. We are very fortunate to have an Open the Book team who lead drama based assemblies regularly as well as a pastoral worker (Kim Lawrence) who is employed on a one day a week basis to further develop pupils’ spiritual awareness and support pupils in the leading of collective worship.
We visit both churches at different times, either as part of the children’s curriculum studies, or to take part in special services to celebrate Harvest or Christmas. Both churches have hosted activity days for different groups of children, which have helped to enrich our RE teaching and develop the children’s understanding of the Christian faith. A number of our pupils have also attended the annual holiday club at the Methodist church during the summer holidays.
