Our Church School Vision

Our inclusive school community puts our Christian values at its core and endeavours to develop all members to be wise, happy and spiritually aware individuals who can achieve their dreams and goals.

Working with our local community, we care for and educate each person, respecting individual differences.

As Jesus welcomed all, so we welcome everyone into our school and strive to send them out prepared to be good citizens in today’s diverse society.

We are preparing for a brighter tomorrow.

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

Proverbs 22:6

Our vision and values are produly displayed around our school. Click below to see our visiion and values poster.

Vision and Values Poster

Why this book of the Bible?

In our vision, we talk about developing ‘all members to be wise, happy and spiritually aware’. We have chosen to use this verse to drive our vision as it comes from Proverbs, which is considered to be one of the main sources of wisdom in the Bible. It is thought that much of Proverbs was written by Solomon, a king known for his wisdom. The short, snappy pieces of advice are thought to have been written largely to support young people in avoiding common pitfalls in life. This is perfect to go with the work we do in school to support our children, as well as the other members of our community, to prepare for a brighter tomorrow.

Our Governors Prayer

Before each Governors meeting, members reflect on the Church School Vision as it guides what they do and decisions they make. This prayer is shared at the start of each meeting.

Father God, we ask for your blessing and support in the responsibilites we share as Governors of this school. May we discuss and make decisions inspired by care, honesty, respect and concern to include. Grant us wisdom and understanding; of our school, our community and ourselves as we prepare for a brighter tomorrow.

Amen

Our Church School

Hopefully you will see from our whole website what makes us distinctive as a Church School. This page brings together lots of information about us as a church school as often prospective parents ask us what it means to be a Church School.

We are a Voluntarily Controlled (VC) Church of England School. As such we are part of the wider church schools family.

What makes us a Church School?

We are very proud to be a Church School and to be part of the Church School family. There are lots of different things that make us distinctive as a Church School including:

• We light a candle at the start of every Collective Worship to show that Jesus is the light of the world.
• Daily Collective Worship.
• Weekly Choral Worship 
• Weekly contact with the Local Vicar, Reverend Claire
• Participation in Church School events like the Church Schools Festival
• Frequent services held at St Thomas Church for days such as Harvest, Mothering Sunday, Christingle, Christmas and our leaver's service
• Representation of Foundation Governors on our Federation Governing Body
• Following our Christian values, rooted in the Holy Bible, of being caring, respect, commitment to achieve, honesty, co-operation, and fairness
• Having a Collective Worship council who help us to plan, deliver and evaluate our collective worship
• Having a emphasis on high quality Religious Education
• Children regularly have the opportunity to pray should they wish to
• Our Church School vision underpins all aspects of our work including our curriuclum, policies, Governors meetings and much more.

Spirituality

Spiritual development is developing a deeper or richer sense of self, other, world and beyond. The ‘beyond’ is very specific to the individual. It may be a God or an abstract such as love, truth, respect, etc.

Spirituality is a powerful force that determines what we are, our self understanding, our outlook on life, others and the world, and as a consequence shapes our behaviour. It forms the basis for successful relationships both in personal life and at work.

In the North Wolds Federation, the spiritual dimension is expressed through the Christian faith and the recognition of the spiritual nature of mankind.

It is our aim that the children’s individual spiritual development should be fostered throughout the curriculum and permeate all strands of school life.

Our staff discussed what spirituality means to them. Responses included:

• Understanding your place in the world (part of the bigger picture)
• Invisible feelings
• Connection to the natural world
• Awe and wonder experiences
• Deep connectiveness in our community for everyone
• Acceptance of self
• Being inquisitive / reflective
• Togetherness and inclusivity
• Can’t see / touch / feel it
• Connecting with something greater than ourselves
• Opportunity to flourish
• Connections – between all aspects of life on Earth and beyond

Spirituality is defined by our staff as:

• Enabling all our children, staff and members of the community to be part of our ever changing, diverse society
• Embarking on a journey of self warmth, reflection and providing our children with the skills they need to achieve their dreams and goals
• Spirituality is fostered in our school by supporting our children to nurture togetherness and inclusivity through shared opportunities to experience and question the wider world.
• To create and share collective and individual experiences that embrace the wonder of the world around us, to reflect on our place in the world and to connect with others in our school and community.

We use the symbols of windows, doors and mirrors to enable the children and adults to explore spirituality through these concepts:

Image - Please click

Bishop's Visitor

Our Bishop's Visitor comes into school regularly to hear children read, join in with Collective Worship, support events and read letters from the Bishop at special church services. At present, we are currently in the process of recruiting a new Bishops Visitor. 

Our School Prayer

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,

And love of God.

Let us remember

That, as many hands build a house,

So many hearts make a school

Amen

Our Church School Values

Our key Christian values are rooted in the Holy Bible. This table shows our Christian Values and the Bible readings to which they are inspired.  

Our Christian Value	Bible Reference	Bible Story	Link	Image
Caring Of each other, ourselves, our school and our world	Luke 10: 25-37	The Good Samaritan	Link to Story
Commitment to Achieve In everything we do in order to fulfil our potential.	Genesis 6:9    8:22	Noah's Ark	Link to Story
Respect Of ourselves, each other and our world.	John 13:1-17	Jesus Washes His Disciples' feet	Link to Story
Co-operation To help us achieve our common goals.	Mark 2:1-12	The Paralysed Man	Link to Story
Honesty To remind us to do the right thing.	Luke 19: 1-10	Zacchaeus The Tax Collector	Link to Story
Fairness To be fair to ourselves, our friends and our world.	Luke 15:11-32	The Prodigal Son	Link to Story

Policies and Curriculum

Use the links below to see our R.E and Collective worship policies and to see what we teacher the children at each stage of their learning. 

R.E Policy

Collective Worship Policy

R.E scheme of work

Statement of Spirituality 

Please follow these links to find out more about Church Schools.

Information about the Diocese of Lincoln

Prayer in School

Prayer is important in our Christian Community. Children are given the opportunity to pray in school. This could be in Collective Worship, under our peace window, at our attractive prayer space, in one of our many class reflection areas or in one of our outdoor gardens.  

Section 48 (Church School Inspections)

As a Church School we are inspected every five years. Some of the highlights from our last report include:

"The Christian character of the school in evident in the way children behave and in their love of learning, reflecting the schools Christian values."

"Collective worship is important to the life of the school."

"The consistent use of prayer in worship and other aspects of the school day enable children to develop their spirituality"

"Parents confirm that children are cared for and, if they are experiencing difficulties, are very well supported."

"The school is meeting the needs of the vast majority of children very well."

To read our Section 48 Report please use the link below.

2017 Section 48 Report

St Thomas Church

Our children are regular visitors to St Thomas Church. Whether it be the backdrop for a special occasion, visiting for a spiritual act of collective worship of visiting as part of our inspiring curriculum, our children enjoy their visits to their local place of worship.

For more information about St Thomas Church follow the link below.

Information about St Thomas Church