Junior Chaplains Accreditation

Equipping Pupils

Developing Vision

Transforming Lives

What Is Junior Chaplains?

Junior Chaplains is an accreditation awarded to schools for the development and use of chaplaincy within a school. We support the creation of a Junior Chaplain faith team that evaluate school vision and values being lived out daily. Children become chaplains to their peers and assist with nurturing the spiritual growth of the school community. This can be through collective worship and care shown throughout the school, as well as work beyond the school in the local and wider community.

Junior Chaplains is also a key resource to develop staff in preparation for SIAMs inspections as well as the effectiveness of the school environment.

Our consultants are experienced and engaging as well as informative and inspiring.

a vision for transformation in your school

Accreditation to unlock potential across your community

an invitation to collaborate and equip you for success

What Is Junior Chaplains Accreditation Scheme?

Our accreditation is about equipping you to develop your pupils in line with your school vision. We’re committed to helping your school grow and seeing you develop. We begin by delivering training to your pupils and staff and we’re here with you every step of the way as you prepare to receive your accreditation award.

Junior Chaplains accreditation is a mark of quality and your commitment to investing in your pupils. It demonstrates a school where the chaplaincy model is entrusted to children as a means for them to support one another. It allows people to see that you are committed to the vision of your school, and that courageous advocacy is a key part of the life of your community.

Whether you achieve Bronze, Silver, Gold, or even the rare Platinum award, you’re part of a community that looks to innovate and share best practice. We believe in the power of our scheme to inspire schools to embed practice that can transform lives, and we’re excited to share that with schools around the country and across the world. Begin your Junior Chaplains Journey with us today, we can’t wait to adventure together.

What Is Our Vision?

Equipping pupils. Developing vision. Transforming lives.

Junior Chaplains has a vision for Chaplaincy which is deeply Christian. We draw our inspiration from words in John’s Gospel:

“And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” john 1:14

We believe that God came and dwelt among us in the person of Jesus, and that by being among us, as one of us, he was able to bring transformation into the lives of those he met.

Junior chaplains is about equipping pupils to be role models among their peers. We present chaplaincy as a model of service, where pupil and staff can impact upon the lives of pupils and the culture of a school by their service among their friends.

Children are not responsible for creating vision in schools, or for sustaining it, but they can have some responsibility for living it out. We have seen how entrusting this responsibility to pupils, and sharing it together can have a truly transformative results in schools.

Equipping, developing, transforming; these are our values, the core principles that underpin our work. We’d love to partner with you.

Who Are We?

Ruth Parnell

Ruth is qualified teacher with a passion to see chaplaincy utilised across schools. She is an early years specialist, but left the classroom to pursue her passion of the work of chaplaincy. She currently works as a chaplain in a Primary school, is a public speaker and coach. Ruth is Studying for an MA in Chaplaincy at Newman University, Birmingham.

The Rev'd Jamie Gater

Jamie started his working life as a teacher. He taught in county and church schools in the deprived coastal regions of the south coast, and secured an MA in education before being called to ordination. Since training for ordination at St Stephen’s House, Oxford, Jamie has served in Parishes in West Sussex and is currently writing a PhD on the impact of parish clergy in church schools.

Our story, your journey

A chance at an education conference bought together two individuals with a likeminded approach to seeing schools develop their vision, and deliver transformative outcomes.

Junior Chaplains is the result of that meeting, and of that desire to see schools equip their pupils, develop their vision and transform lives. We work with schools to introduce children to the idea of chaplaincy; a model for ways in which they can support one another to develop as well rounded members of their community whilst living out the vision and values of their school.

We train staff and pupils together, encouraging them to understand their school’s vision and to live it out as role models. Once they have been trained, they are officially Junior Chaplains, able to take pride in modelling the school’s vision and it’s values.

The journey doesn’t stop there; we work with schools to see them develop and work collaboratively through the accreditation process. Your school will work to achieve accreditation at Bronze, Silver or Gold level, all the while encouraging school leaders to carefully consider how their vision and values are developing and becoming embedded across the school.