A warm welcome to St. Michael’s Church of England Primary School
Love – Honesty – Forgiveness – Respect
Do unto others as you would have done to you – Luke 6:31
The team at St Michael’s Church of England Primary School wishes you a warm welcome. We are a small, nurturing school that works closely with the children and wider community of St. Michael’s to offer a happy, safe and creative environment, providing the very best opportunities for all our learners. This positive environment encourages our learners to flourish and become capable young citizens of our ever changing world.
St. Michael’s has a well-established caring ethos founded on our Christian values of Love, Honesty, Forgiveness & Respect, where every member of our school is valued as an individual, enriching the happy, caring environment which we strive to create. This contributes to the wonderful family feel of our school, and the smiling faces and laughter you hear when you visit us. As reflected in our recent Ofsted report:
Pupils enjoy learning at this warm and friendly school. They feel happy and safe. Pupils have trusted adults they know will address any concerns they have. One pupil, reflecting the views of many, said, ‘The best thing about the school is that we look after each other.’
This nurturing approach underpins the learning environment that offers pupils well-designed opportunities to develop a range of skills in the context of an ambitious new curriculum that meets the needs of all and delivered by staff (with) high expectations for pupil achievement – Ofsted 2025.
You can access our full Ofsted report here.
The school is tucked down a rural lane in the Domesday village of Playden, just on the outskirts of the historic medieval town of Rye. Our rural setting places us in the heart of the calm of nature and offers us a wonderful setting for learning, playing and growing. The school building itself is clustered around the original Victorian school house and includes an expansive outdoor learning area for early years and KS1, a hard court play surface, multi use games area, astroturf play surface and playframe, grass playing field and an outdoor learning area.
Our vision at St. Michael’s is that every child receives an excellent education and feels valued for who they are. We want to lay a foundation of curiosity, tapping into children’s natural inquisitiveness about the world around them, and to foster their ambition by recognising and responding to their talents and individuality. We seek to treat everyone in our community with love, honesty, forgiveness and respect, rooted in the principle of ‘do to others as you would have them do to you’ (Luke 6:31).
Our recent SIAMS report reflects these aspects of the school’s life and Christian foundation, you can read the report here.
We hope this website gives you a flavour of life at St Michael’s. If you would like more information, please get in touch via office@playdenschool.com or come and visit us in person.
Mrs Fay Churchill – Headteacher
The Genesis Federation
St Michael’s CE Primary School is part of The Genesis Federation with Peasmarsh CE Primary School and Beckley CE Primary School, Playden. Our three schools still both maintain their unique identities, however our federation links allow staff to work together to support the teaching and learning in both schools by sharing resources, facilities and staff training opportunities, wherever appropriate.
Our Federation embraces the creation and development of ‘human flourishing’ through wisdom, hope, community and dignity. We nourish our community on a journey of spiritual, moral, physical, intellectual, emotional and social growth that helps everyone fulfil their potential through the promises and love of God. We work in harmony to promote ‘Life in all its fullness’.
