Meeting the challenges of establishing a new, inclusive, Christian SchoolAndy YarrowPrincipal, Chelsea Academy

The Chelsea Academy Story:The challenges and opportunities of an inclusive Christian school

The early chapters• A twenty-year story• The two sponsors: LDBS and RBKC• The original vision: the known and the

unknown• The architectural brief• The significance of the admissions criteria• Governance• The appointment of the Leadership Team• Branding and strapline

Chelsea Academy today• A brand new Church of England school, growing

one year group at a time• £43 million state-of-the-art building• 596 students and 100 staff so far• Science specialism / Student leadership• The benefits of a blank sheet of paper…• Vertical coaching• Six hours of lessons per day• Heavily over-subscribed (4 applicants per place)• Outstanding Ofsted; IiP Gold; CPD Mark

Chelsea Academy ethos• A school for the local community• An inclusive Christian ethos• High academic aspirations• Traditional values combined with 21st

Century facilities, curriculum and approaches to learning

• Science specialism• Student voice and leadership• Learning at the heart of all we do

Chelsea Academy community

Challenges and opportunities• Collective worship (services, assemblies and coaching time)• Iconography around the building• Prayer Room / Chapel• Critical mass: Christian staff and students• Religious Education• Chaplaincy • Links with local churches and clergy• Christian Ethos Working Group• Christian ethos across the curriculum• Christian ethos demonstrated through day-to-day

procedures

Our Faith half-termly theme in Years 7 and 8• MFL (French and Spanish): students learn how to explain religious

routines and practices and learn about how Christian festivals are celebrated in French and Spanish speaking countries.

• Design Technology: students produce a symbol inspired by their faith. They investigate the role of symbols/visual stimuli and icons in the Christian faith.

• Music: students study Christian music from around the world.• Humanities: students study inspirational Christians and the impact

that their Christian faith has had on their lives.• Physical Education: students study Christian sports people and how

they have used the platform that sport has given them to inspire others.

• Personal Development: students study mediation, conflict resolution and reconciliation. They reflect on the Christian message of forgiveness.

Our Faith half-termly theme in Years 7 and 8• Art: students investigate and produce a piece of religious art.• History: students study how some of the major events of the

20th Century caused people to lose or strengthen their faith.• RE: students study the links between faith and endurance.• English: students study poetry that has been inspired by

various Christian writers' faith. (e.g. William Blake, John Donne, William Butler Yeats, Alfred Noyes and T S Eliot)

• Science: students learn about their responsibilities as stewards of the Earth.

• Dance: students study and learn Alvin Ailey’s Revelations piece and then choreograph a dance piece based on a story from the Bible.

Reflections arising from the tour of the Academy: explicit and implicit Christian beliefs and values

Next steps: towards a more distinctive and effective Christian ethos

• Q1. What should the Academy's priorities be with regard to Christian ethos and character?

• Q2. Should any changes be made to the Academy's admissions policy?• Q3. How could collective worship be made more engaging and inspiring for

students of all faith backgrounds?• Q4. How could the Academy's Christian character be made more explicit

around the Academy building and in its marketing publications?• Q5. What essential elements should be included in the design of the Prayer

Room and what should it be called?• Q6. Should the Academy's staff be trained to understand Christian beliefs and

values more clearly and, if so, how?• Q7. How could Christian beliefs and values be embedded more overtly

through the curriculum and day-to-day life of the Academy, e.g. the behaviour policy?

• Q8. At first glance, what areas of the SIAS inspection framework are currently the strongest and the weakest at the Academy?