‘Life in all its fullness’ (John 10.10)
At the heart of our project there must be ‘love’;
our school needs to be ‘a place where the future is bursting with possibility.
A place where they are loved and can learn to love’ (Debra Kidd, 2014).
We look to follow Jesus’s command to
‘Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.’
‘To love ourselves and support each other in the process of becoming real
is perhaps the greatest single act.’ (Brené Brown)
We are inspired by many great leaders, like Jesus, who have always taught us to be radically humane; to celebrate the worth of everyone; to make space for hope, to avoid condemnation and to look beyond existing rules and conventional wisdom to do what is right and good. Jesus’s teachings require us to teach from the heart; to maintain a sense of awe and of limitless possibilities; to persevere in humility.
This school is inspired to extend its remit beyond the narrow confines of academic attainment to sponsor the thriving of every member of the school community in their broadest sense. We see it as our responsibility to guide children with the teachings of Jesus, to commit to a life of love and grace and to offer opportunities for our pupils, families, staff and volunteers to experience a life fully lived. In this way we look to build a thriving community of shining lights, as instructed in Matthew 5:16:
‘…let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.’
We believe that Jesus taught us to ‘…be an example…with your words, your actions, your love, your faith and your pure life’ (1 Timothy 12:4). We look to live out these instructions in all that we do. We are guided by his radical hand to follow his lead and support our community to contribute positively to creation each and every day, to truly ‘live’ our core values.
We recognise that not all members of our school community are Christian and follow the model of Jesus in embracing and including all members of our community, celebrating the message he gave both in his life and his parable of ‘The Good Samaritan’; that all people are our neighbours. In doing so, we aim to encourage a community who are articulate advocates of justice, equality and change, towards a world where every person is valued as unique.