Vision and Values
Stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.
1 CORINTHIANS 16:13-14
This vision statement, deeply rooted in Christian theology, encapsulates who we are: a loving and caring school community where all are happy, valued and respected.
It also captures what we want for our pupils – to be courageous in their academic and life choices; to be strong and resilient learners who don’t give up when things are challenging.
Additionally, we encourage children to explore their own spirituality and wonder about life’s big questions in a supportive and nurturing environment.
How did we define our vision?
The process of defining our collective vision involved all stakeholders of our school and took more than two terms to collate and finalise. Under the guidance of our diocesan advisor, we presented staff, pupils and parents with three questions:
- Who are we? (As a school and as a community)
- What is the need for our school? (What do our children, parents and community need?)
- What do we do? Why do we do it?
We had a range of responses from both children and staff, who were given a couple of weeks to think about each question. We placed a large board in a central area, which allowed people to add their ideas over time.
A recurring theme of the responses centred on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects needed to be addressed in our vision for the school going forward. As a school we were proud of how we reacted to those most challenging of times and how our shared drive to ‘put the children first’, underpinned every decision we made. It was decided that our new vision, would articulate what our children and staff need on a much deeper level than academics.
After collating our ideas, we then spent time as a teaching staff trying to articulate all our responses into sentences and coherent ideas. Here are some of our initial ideas: collating our ideas, we then spent time as a teaching staff trying to articulate all our responses into sentences and coherent ideas. Here are some of our initial ideas:
After collating these two ideas, we then presented it to our governing body, to seek their advice. Our foundation governor spent some time working with our R.E and Collective Worship Lead to try and refine our ideas, to make our vision more accessible to all. Our discussions centred about the
As a result of these conversations and many more staff meetings, we then ended up with our finalised vision: a true articulation of what we value and embody at our school.
Our Core Christian Values:
Each half term, the children explore one of the school’s Core Values through Collective Worship and the curriculum. Each class has a reflection area to allow space for personal reflection, spiritual development and prayer.