St Mary’s was set up by the Church of England back in 1854 when the Church was the main provider of education across the country.

Today we still regard our links to the Church as very important. The Church provides the land and buildings for our academy and provides us with our values of Service, Compassion, Friendship and Forgiveness. We try to ensure that all our work is based on these principles.

Our academy values inclusion and equality. We welcome children from all religious backgrounds and equally welcome children from families who chose not to follow any particular faith. We do hope however, that the opportunity to experience vibrant Christian worship in school and to live out our Christian values in their daily lives will equip children to develop fully as human beings and form a basis from which to make informed personal choice as they grow up.

Our closest links are with the parish Church of St Mary & St Eanswythe and The Harbour Church but we also are blessed to work with a collection of people from different churches in Folkestone who ‘Open the Book’ to the children every week.