Peace, Trust, Friendship, Thankfulness and Forgiveness

We aim to provide the highest quality of teaching and learning for all our children. We seek to create a Christian environment that is open, stimulating, safe and caring. We strive to value each individual and encourage attitudes of self-respect, responsibility and tolerance.  

We value:

The unique gifts and potential of every person

Working together and including everyone

Keeping safe, happy and healthy

Trust in God, through the Christian Faith

Our school buildings, grounds and equipment

We aim to:

Provide excellence in teaching and learning

Create and maintain a happy, safe and stimulating environment

Set high expectations and celebrate achievements

Develop independent, confident children who can think for themselves, ask questions and evaluate their own work

Make time for reflection

Listen to and work co-operatively with parents, church and community

Develop and cherish the whole person – mind, body, emotions and spirit

Show respect and good manners to everyone

Grow in understanding of our Christian faith

Encourage respect and empathy for other world faiths.

We will do this through:

Peace: founded on righteousness and justice. Christians are called to share in Christ’s work of restoring wholeness. The Christian vision in this respect is far-reaching and challenging: harmony between people, harmony between people and God, and harmony between humans and the whole created order.

Trust: is central to civilised society, to living together in harmony, so it is to be valued and honoured. With wisdom and discernment, we can relearn to trust. We can begin to rebuild trust in our mistrustful society by being reliable ourselves, by not letting people down. Similarly, when we work with others, if we are willing to let go of control ourselves and trust in the abilities and integrity of others, everyone can be enriched. Jesus, after all, entrusted his ongoing work to his disciples and ultimately to us.

Friendship: is an undisputed value in our society, with children often spending more time with their friends than with family. It is a key concept in the Christian framework, with Jesus being criticised for being ‘the friend of sinners’ and eating with those whom society rejected. Trust, feeling comfortable in each other’s company, being able to share joys and sorrows are all features of friendship and these are things of immense value. True friendship enables each person to grow and ensures that the unique individuality of each person is recognised. All this echoes the value placed by God on the preciousness of each person.

Thankfulness: is important. Luke tells the story of the ten lepers who were healed and is probably challenging his readers to examine themselves when he tells of the amazement of Jesus that only one, a Samaritan, came back to thank him. (Luke 17:11-19).

Forgiveness: cannot be given or received unless it is asked for, and the asking must be genuine and from the heart. Too often ‘sorry’ is said very easily, implying: ‘All I need to do is say I’m sorry and everything will be OK’. Real repentance demands that we take what we have done wrong with the utmost seriousness and have a deep desire not to do it again.