Developing Our Vision With Pupils

As part of our work to develop our school vision, we have worked with pupils through class sessions and assemblies.  So far we have -

1.  Investigated a variety of Bible verses to see what they mean and how they relate to our lives at school today.  From this, we selected three favourites: 

In everything do to others what you would have them do to you (Matthew 7:12)

Give all your worries to me because I care for you (1 Peter 5:7)

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

From these, we selected our 'Golden Rule' - In everything do to others what you would have them do to you.  This will form the basis of our School Vision.

2.  In Collective Worship, we have begun to explore what our Golden Rule would mean in different areas of school life.  We have looked at the more obvious meanings, such as being kind, compassionate, forgiving and friendly, but have also looked at deeper meanings - our care for others around the World; our care for the World itself; justice and equality; tolerance and respect.  Next term, we will consider what our Golden Rule tells us about our learning by investigating our right to learn and our responsibility to allow others to learn. 

3.  We have looked at different Bible stories that demonstrate our Vision at work.  We have learned about treating others with compassion through the story of the Good Samaritan and stories about Jesus' care for the sick;  about treating others with forgiveness through the story of Zacchaeus and that of the Prodigal Son; about treating others in a way that makes us trustworthy through the stories of Noah and the Storm on the Lake.  We have talked about putting our faith in God and showing courage in our dealings with others through the stories of Daniel in the Lions Den and David and Goliath.  Over the next term, we will begin to look at the stories of the 12 disciples and what they can tell us about learning, making mistakes and persevering.

4.  Our vision is displayed in each classroom and referred to on rare occasions when pupil's make less than good choices about their behaviour or treatment of others.  Our vision and some of the Bible stories we have used to explore our vision are displayed in the main hall, where collective worship takes place each day, the entrance foyer and the Headteacher's office.