The Roger Conant award at Drake’s School, East Budleigh

On 22 July 2025, the Vicar of Budleigh, the Revd Martin Jacques, presented book tokens to five children from Drake’s School in East Budleigh, chosen by their teachers as the first recipients of the annual Roger Conant award at their end of term leavers’ service. 

A gift of £500 from the village’s Roger Conant Club to enable the awards was made earlier in the year to the Parent, Teacher and Friends Association (PTFA) of Drake’s School, and the money will be awarded as prizes over the next few years to pupils who best represent the School’s values. 

Drake’s Church of England Primary School, pictured here, is named not after the Tudor explorer Sir Francis Drake but after Joan Drake. She was the first wife of the father of Sir Walter Raleigh, Queen Elizabeth I’s favourite courtier who, like Roger Conant, was born in East Budleigh.  

You can read about Drake’s School at https://www.drakes.thelink.academy/web/

If you are interested in the history of early America, and Roger Conant as a peacemaker in troubled times you can join the Devon Peacemaker Festival Facebook group at 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/700424602802079

 

The International Cross of Nails Award (ICONS)

What can schools do to promote peace and reconciliation? Well, in September 2024, Farway Church of England Primary School, near Colyton in East Devon, was awarded the International Cross of Nails Award (ICONS) by Coventry Cathedral for pupils’ work on peace and reconciliation.

‘We believe that initiatives such as the Cross of Nails project provide valuable opportunities for our students to engage in conversations about peace, reconciliation, and the importance of building bridges across differences on a national scale,’ said a spokesperson for the School.

In 1940, during World War II, salvaged nails which were found in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral’s bombing were formed into a cross. The nails found in the ruins represent the wounds and the destruction of the war, and the cross formation signifies both forgiveness and healing after conflict. As part of a special service, Farway School was given its own Cross of Nails, made in Germany and blessed in Coventry Cathedral, before being presented. The German city of Dresden suffered similarly from bombing during the war, and is now twinned with Coventry, in Warwickshire, England.

The Archdeacon of Exeter, the Venerable Andrew Beane, said: 'What was most impressive was how the children used what they learnt about Coventry as a framework for working for peace and reconciliation in their own lives and friendships.'

Roger Conant, celebrated as a peacemaker, would have been delighted by the news. Colyton, just five miles away from Farway Church of England Primary School, is the town which gained its independence thanks to the efforts of one of its leading merchants, the grandfather of Salem’s founder.

John Clarke travelled to London in 1546 and successfully petitioned King Henry VIII, allowing Colyton a measure of self-government by its councillors, or feoffees as they are still known today.

You can read about the award to Farway Church of England Primary School by clicking on 

https://exeter.anglican.org/inspiring-a-generation-of-peacemakers-church-school-in-devon-awarded-for-its-work-on-peace-and-reconciliation/

More about the International Cross of Nails Award (ICONS) at 

https://coventrycityofpeace.uk/icon-schools/

Image of the Cross of Nails from Wikipedia

If you are interested in the history of early America, and Roger Conant as a peacemaker in troubled times you can join the Devon Peacemaker Festival Facebook group at 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/700424602802079