Christian Values and Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Education
Our Christian Values as a Church School
The School's values seek to underpin the Christian belief that we are all God's people and that we all matter. We endeavour to nurture excellence in all that we do; both in our learning and through our citizenship. We believe that everyone within our school community should be valued and treated with love and respect and that each of us has a right to grow and become the best we can be. Likewise, we believe that we each have a responsibility to show respect and tolerance towards each other. Our shared values have been developed and are shared by the whole school community. They are central to what we believe within school and permeate our daily work and interactions, relationships and decisions. With these values and our belief that we have a responsibility to give our best in all we do, our children are helped to prepare for their life long learning journey.
The key value that Christian foundations are built upon – it lies at the root of all other values and is Love in action. It means how we show respect, goodwill, affection, benevolence 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. When we show His Love, God lives in us. This underpins the other values:
At its root, endurance 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. Also, enabling children to have strategies to call upon when things are difficult on an emotional/social level in their lives. Endurance 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 God’s values. Courage describes how we personally should act as people in the world.
Respect describes what we most want for our community - having respect for ourselves, others and our environment. How we show acceptance and tolerance towards others – celebrating difference and diversity as well as what draws us together as human beings. We recognise that the Holy Spirit is the invisible power of God that comes alive in us when we live with respect for each other and the world around us.
We feel this value is key to the work we do in school; that we all have rights and we all have responsibilities. This is reflected in the responsibility we have to ourselves to always do our best, but also the service we give to others (community being key here) and how we support and think of others. Responsibility is thinking about the good of everyone, not just what suits one individual and we try to do our best for the good of others as well as ourselves and follow in Jesus' footsteps.
Being true to ourselves and to others. Enabling reflection and celebrating individuality. We feel this value is intrinsically linked to the others - It takes courage to be honest and people respect those whom they can trust, those who are honest.
Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Learning and Development
We have a duty and responsibility to ensure we are developing and nurturing the spiritual, moral, social and cultural lives of our children at Abbotts Ann School. Here you will find a booklet that demonstrates SMSC in action across the school.
As a Church of England school, our worship reflects some of the rich traditions of Anglican prayer and worship. When planning worship it is necessary for us to include aspects of this tradition so that pupils’ growing maturity contributes to a broadening and deepening of their spiritual experience and understanding.
Collective worship is an integral part of the life of our school community. In providing a daily act of worship we are conforming with the law and our trust deed. In the first place Collective Worship gives expression to and the opportunity to reflect on certain values and experiences. These values and experiences are a way of demonstrating Christian spirituality. These are: wonder and awe; joy; paying attention and listening; humility; interiority and stillness; silence; trust; selflessness; peace and harmony with others; communion with God and others; perseverance; healing and wholeness; gratefulness; kindness, compassion and empathy for others and the experience of God’s unconditional love for each person.
Collective Worship happens daily in a number of ways. We come together as a whole school and in Key Stage groups and classes. There is always time to reflect and pray – to be still and have time to think. Children take an active part in our Collective Worship, either by writing and sharing prayers, acting out Bible stories or contributing through music and song. Collective Worship themes for a half term or term, the weekly focus and the music we will listen to are always shared with the school community and we ask ‘big questions’ each week to help us reflect and think about ourselves, others, the beauty around us and the beyond – the more transient questions that give rise to discussion and exploration.
We are always more than happy to have visitors to our Collective Worship to join with us during this special and important time in the week where we come together.