Primary school becomes part of church hub

The church of Steve Chalke has officially integrated a neighbouring primary school into its hub.

Johanna Primary School in central London formally became Oasis Academy Waterloo at the start of the autumn term and is now legally part of the Oasis Waterloo Hub run by Oasis Church Waterloo, formerly Church.co.uk

The landmark development was given the go ahead by the school's governing body in March and reflects the close relationship between the school and the Oasis Church.

Over many years, church staff and volunteers have delivered a variety of school-based projects including sports clubs, a transition group for Y6 pupils and mentoring.

The church and school will now be jointly managed, with a number of staff playing key roles across both, as well as church staff taking responsibility for delivering extended children’s and family services through the school and across the wider community.

Steve Chalke, Oasis founder said: “This is an historic development. The first schools were run by churches and it is great that in the 21st century we are part of an example of a return to the genuine ‘joined-up’ integrated thinking and provision.

"Jesus calls us to a gospel which is good news socially, emotionally, educationally, economically and environmentally as well as spiritually or – to put it differently – shalom.

"For a school to choose to become part of Oasis Hub in Waterloo, committed to the same vision as the church and working together to build a safe and outstanding community where people feel included, happy and proud to live, learn and work together, is a great breakthrough.

"But, more than that, we believe it provides a new model of the role that churches can play across the UK in our fast changing society.”