A brand-new Church of England Secondary school opens in Enfield

Just before the October half term break, the Bishop of Edmonton, the Rt Revd Rob Wickham, visited the Wren Academy Enfield to bless the new school and license its chaplain, the Revd Alison Philips.

Wren Academy Enfield, a school in the Wren Academies Trust, is a new Church of England secondary school in Enfield. It opened in September of this year to 184 Year Seven students on a temporary site at AIM North London in Ponders End, and is due to move to its permanent site at Chase Farm next September.

A steadfast supporter of Wren Academy, Bishop Rob, along with the chair of the Trust, Kim Archer and the chair of governors, the Revd Stephen Coleman, took part in a socially-distanced tour of the new school where they met staff and students.

Bishop Rob then led an act of collective worship where he licensed Revd Alison as chaplain and blessed her ministry and the new school. He preached on the Biblical account of Zacchaeus and drew parallels with ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Dickens, which Year 7 will be studying in English later this term. Bishop Rob illustrated how an encounter with Jesus can be a helpful disruption of the norm and lead to amazing outcomes. The Academy’s foundational bible passage, “Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6 verse 8) was also highlighted for the whole school community to live by.

After the visit, some of the students commented:

“Bishop Rob was very funny. I was very happy to be part of the service as Revd Alison is very kind and has given all of us a lot of her time to discuss whatever is on our minds.”

Malakaai, Holborn House.

“It was an amazing service. Bishop Rob was very friendly and interested in everything we have been doing at school.”

Ivy, Holborn House and Isobel, Strand House.

Gavin Smith, executive principal, commented:

“We were delighted to host a visit from Bishop Rob and are thrilled by the way he inspired all of us through his message based on our vision and commitment to Micah 6 verse 8. This was a perfect way to licence our new Chaplain Revd Alison who has already had such a deeply positive impact on our new community”

Stephen Coleman, chair of the local governing body, said:

“After some years of planning, it was wonderful to be at Wren Enfield for the Bishop of Edmonton’s visit, and to see this brand new school in operation. This is an exciting time as the school develops and grows, and it was great to see the Christian ethos so firmly established under the ministry of the new chaplain”.

The Bishop of Edmonton commented:

“I’m so grateful for the vision of our team at Wren. Thousands of children’s lives will be enhanced by Wren’s heart for children’s aspiration and developing imagination, which will, over time, have a profound effect in the Enfield and London communities.  A disciple is a lifelong learner, and my prayer for every child is that their love of learning will grow and be developed at Wren, and Jesus will truly lead them to a fulfilment of personal potential, and a passion for the common good.”

As a diocese we assure all at Wren Enfield of our prayers for the future.