CAMELFORD vicar, Rev Jim Benton-Evans, has recently been appointed as chaplain at the town's secondary school in an exciting new venture.

Headteacher of Sir James Smith's Community School, Jon Lawrence, and Rev Benton-Evans have for a while been discussing how he could fulfill a more structured post within the school community.

A visit to a chaplaincy conference held in Truro last year gave them the platform they needed, and from there they firmed up the role Rev Benton-Evans would take up at the school.

Due to his new position at Sir James Smith's, Rev Benton-Evans will have a restructuring of his duties as vicar in the local parishes.

The restructuring will include, for example, Rev Deryn Roberts taking on more responsibilities in the Delabole and St Teath areas.

Schools in Helston, Falmouth and Bodmin have recently appointed school chaplains and many more are starting to do the same — although it is something new for schools in the Camelford area.

Rev Benton-Evans said: "The idea is a fairly new one and I have to be committed to the chaplaincy in order to do it properly. I'm very excited.

"I am not a counsellor, or an advisor. I want to emphasise the spirtual dimension of life and am always available to talk to.

"I am a well trained listener and will provide an ear for those in the school community. The school is a particular hub for the community, with a lot of people in the town involved with it in some way."

He added: "I am still very much the vicar for Camelford, and I still have a lot to do within the town."

A school spokesperson said: "Sir James Smith's School believes the following to be the purposes underpinning chaplaincy at our school: to have and maintain a spiritual presence in the school (in this context 'spiritual' is taken to mean a quest for the meaning and purpose of our lives); to have an immediate source of pastoral or personal care available to students, staff and parents; to have an input into the teaching and learning of spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) issues across the curriculum, including and especially formal Religious Education and Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE); to provide the school with a critical friend and to help to promote community cohesion.

"At Sir James Smith's, we firmly believe in the African saying, 'It takes the whole village to raise a child.' Good community schools have always had community cohesion at the very heart of what they do."

"Community cohesions is not simply about religion, race and ethnicity. By community cohesion we mean togetherness, a sense of belonging and being valued for who you are and what you may become."