Our school vision 

Our vision, “growing together” unlocks pupils' potential to thrive, developing character and encouraging inclusivity. We nurture growing together inwardly (towards God), outwardly (developing skills and talents) and in service (to others).  Living out core values of courage, compassion and trust, our community grows spiritually to be the best versions of themselves.

To underpin these values, our bible quote is from the parable of the mustard seed (Mark 4:30-32).

Jesus told them the parable (Mark 4:30-32):

‘The kingdom of heaven is like this. A man takes a mustard seed and sows it in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds but when it grows up, it is the biggest of all plants. It becomes a tree so that birds come and make their nests in its branches.’

Our school vision " Growing together" blueprint

Take a look at each crew's page to see examples of how the children have explored the mustard seed parable this year. 

• Crew Pages

Our core Christian values

When we reviewed our school values in 2019 we involved all stakeholders and distilled our core Christian values to Courage, Compassion and Trust. Alongside our three core Christian values, we learn from many other values. We firmly believe that when our children leave St Andrew’s that they will have a strong sense of these three core values, enabling them to be reflective, spiritual and respectful young people moving on to secondary school.

They are the cornerstones to all that we do; our Christian values are both implicit and explicit at St Andrew’s and guide policy and practice in every facet of the school life, from class time to lunchtime to home time. At our school everyone is valued and cared about. Our school is a place that will actively grow hopefulness and ambition.

Compassion

‘We love because he first loved us.’ ( 1 John 4:19)

Compassion through love is the foundation that all our Christian ethos is built upon – it lies at the root of all other values and is Love in action. It means how we show respect, goodwill, affection, kindness and concern for one another. This translates in how we promote an ethos of care and concern which embraces all members of the school community and beyond – it is at the heart of what we do. We recognise that God the Father is Love; built on a knowledge that God loves each and every one of us, and that love lives in the heart of every person. When we show His Love, God lives in us.

Courage

‘Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go’ (Joshua 1:9).

At its root, resilience is recognition that life is sometimes difficult and painful, and that it is important not to give up in the face of adversity, but to have courage. In today’s busy and competitive society, we recognise the importance of building courage and resilience in our children to carry on when things get tough; courage to take calculated risks in their learning and to know that mistakes can help us learn in a deeper way.

Courage also enables children to have strategies to call upon when things are difficult on an emotional/social level in their lives.  Resilience and perseverance are only possible where there is hope and that hope is based on the enduring nature of God’s love and faithfulness. This will help in our work of building confidence, independence and self-esteem in children through courage. Jesus had the courage to give his life for us; therefore, we must have the courage to stand up for others and what we believe in, courage to be ourselves and value difference.

Trust

‘My God is my strength in whom I trust.’ (Psalm 18:2)

Knowing God is with us and can always be trusted is a fundamental belief of the Christian faith. At St Andrew’s, we pride ourselves in building relationships between all members of the community. Through these relationships, children develop trust for adults in our school and trust for each other in our class crews and Tree Houses. Through our behaviour policy built on reconciliation and forgiveness, children learn to disagree well. Even when weathering the storm, we trust that things can be repaired. Trust is intrinsically linked to our other core values of courage and compassion – trusting one another to be ourselves and stand up for what we believe and loving one another, knowing who to turn to in times of need.

Our School Prayer

 

This is our school,

Let peace dwell here,

Let the rooms be full of contentment,

Let love abide here,

Love of one another,

Love of mankind,

Love of life itself.

Let us remember,

that as many hands build a house

So many hearts build a school.

 

Amen