Our Values and Ethos
Our mission is for children at St Andrew’s to be happy, and feel good about themselves both socially and academically. This extends from:
- Great relationships between teacher and children, both individually and as a class
- High quality lesson planning - and preparation, including great provision for SEN (adaptive teaching)
- High expectations of behaviour - and work
- A broad, creative curriculum, including sports and the creative arts
- A strong focus on Christian values, and having amazing staff who model these and encourage them in others
- Working in partnership with parents
- Being able to read
Our mission statement is:
'Learning for Life; Aiming for Excellence; Guided by God'
1. Learning for Life
Skills for Life: For children to flourish and be happy in the modern world, they need to be provided with an environment and curriculum that meets their individual needs. That means using a broad, creative curriculum to equip them with the skills, knowledge, and sense of responsibility to make a positive difference, and feel valued in the world around them – at school, at home, at work, and in wider society.
Whereas all subjects contribute to enriching the school curriculum, we at St Andrew’s believe there are certain skills that we all need to help us lead successful lives at school, home and work. We have identified those as being Reading, Writing, Mathematics, Computing, Independence and Working with Others.
Meanwhile, other curriculum areas also provide skills, knowledge and understanding needed in life, such as: the ability to see things from another perspective (History and RE); the benefits of a healthy lifestyle (PE, Science, RSHE); knowledge and understanding of the world around us (History, Geography, RE, Science).
The creative and performing arts provide opportunities for enjoyment and expression, whilst being part of a wider community in which we appreciate culture, build self-esteem and enrich our lives.
See ‘Guided by God’ for information about Learning the 'Values for life'.
2. Aiming for Excellence
At St Andrew’s every child matters, and we endeavour to ensure that every child does their best to meet their potential. We have high expectations of teaching and learning, and we very much believe in working as a team for the benefit of each child in every class, especially those who may be disadvantaged. Excellence is represented by our 3 P's (Presentation, Productivity and Progress) and achieved consistently when all parties take responsibility.
3. Guided by God
Values for Life: We aspire to develop the skills and Christian values we all need for our lives - and those of others’ - to be happy and fulfilling. Using Jesus’ example, we strive to model these values in the way we treat and care for everyone in our community, and in our compassion for the wider world, reflecting on how our actions have effect on others, and ourselves.
Through daily Worship and other class work, we explore in detail twelve core values, which underpin our six Golden Rules:
- We consider others;
- We respect differences;
- We are honest;
- We forgive;
- We care for the environment;
- We try our best.
The twelve core values are:
- Generosity
- Compassion
- Courage
- Forgiveness
- Friendship
- Respect
- Thankfulness
- Trust
- Perseverance
- Justice
- Service
- Truthfulness
We reinforce these values not only by exploring them in Religious Education and Collective Worship, but by modelling these behaviours and expecting them in others.
‘In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you.’ (Matthew 7:12)
Nathan Golbey (Headteacher)
