Trent School, Cockfosters; Spiritual Flourishing of Adults

At the heart of Trent, is our vision of ‘Inspired by Christ, we serve one another in love’ and our commitment to continually promote our identity as a Church of England School. Our vision permeates everything we do and is at the heart of our community . A central part of this is the shared intent of all stakeholders to enabling our pupils, staff and wider community to flourish spiritually. Because of our close partnership with and support from our church, Christ Church Cockfosters, we are well equipped to provide the best opportunities for spiritual flourishing.

Thinking deeply about God and finding time to reflect spiritually is something we have worked hard to establish for Trent pupils and our whole school community. In relation to staff, we have a WhatsApp group to which a short Bible verse is sent every morning by our site manager (who is a Christian and also works part time at Christ Church) for everyone to read and reflect on, at the start of the day. Then, when we meet as a staff body for briefing, we pray using that day’s Bible reading. This helps remind us of our vision of being inspired by Christ, and our shared commitment to it. For us at Trent, it is also very important that our whole community are part of this, and can be involved.  So, every Friday in the weekly newsletter, Monday’s staff Bible reading is shared and summarised, to reinforce that we value developing spiritually.

The impact of what we do varies from person to person, and it is hard to summarise this as it is deeply personal. For staff who are Christians, it reminds them of their calling to follow and serve Christ every day and the importance of living by His example. For those of different faiths or no faith, it serves as a shared reminder of the school’s Christian vision and ethos. Our parents tell us they value knowing that as a staff body we pray and reflect upon Jesus.