St Peter’s School Vision
The goal of everyone at Saint Peter’s Church of England Primary School is to provide our children with a wide and fully rounded education, which enables them to develop not only academically, but also socially, emotionally, morally and spiritually. We want our children to leave us as confident, well rounded and happy individuals, who not only feel valued but who also value both themselves and others. It is imperative that our children receive a robust academic education, which will allow them to succeed in their chosen fields. However, it is equally important that their education also develops in them the values and character traits which will allow them to succeed as people.
The education we provide to our children, is one which will allow them to become the adults we aspire for them to be.
We want to educate our children so that they are able to flourish both whilst at our school and in the years to come. We want to provide them with an education which will prepare them for their future. Jesus said; “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full” John 10:10. We want to educate our children that they may enjoy life in all its fullness.’
The St Peter’s Way
The St Peter’s Way is an approach which is carried over into every interaction between every member of our school community – staff, children, parents and governors. It embodies the values and attitudes which we see as being fundamental to the spiritual development of our children. These will be modelled by all members of our community, and when they are not, this will be addressed. We wish our school to be a micro society, where tolerance, respect and love are demonstrated by all. This school is a family and as such, all of us will adhere to the values we share and all will learn from the values modelled by those around us.
Our aim is to make St Peter’s the society we wish our wider society could be; and that consequently wider society will be improved by having our children taking their place in it as teenagers and adults.
Rather than promoting the Christian identity of the school in a ‘distinct’ manner, almost separate from other areas of school life, developing a Christian approach to life is a thread which is woven throughout our community. Promoting our children’s spirituality and their awareness of the teachings of Christ are interwoven through the approach we espouse in the St Peter’s way.
Our Core Values
Three core values are fundamental to the St Peter’s Way. They are Love, Courage and Wisdom. We promote these values at every opportunity, inside and outside the classroom, in every interaction with every member of our community.
Love
We are a family. We expect every member of our community to act in a loving and caring manner towards others at all times.
Philippians 2:4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others
Courage
Every member of our community will feel secure enough to take risks, to extend themselves further than they have previously experienced, to challenge injustice, to see failure not to be retrograde, but as a necessary step towards success.
Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.
Wisdom
We wish our children to develop their wisdom by increasing their knowledge in every area of learning. We also strive that they develop the wisdom to guide their behaviour and decisions, and to develop wisdom from instances where their judgement is unsound.
Ephesians 5 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity
The St Peter’s Child
Our children are at St Peter’s for seven years. We have identified the characteristics we wish to develop in our children by the time they leave our school. These are presented in the following statements:
- They must have a love of life, of people and of learning.
- They should be inquisitive and excited by the world around them, and have both the skills and the drive to learn independently, in every area, in every way.
- They should have a continued desire to learn, to improve and succeed, and have the resourcefulness to apply themselves to doing so.
- They must be brave; open to new experiences and challenges, and have a desire to learn and extend themselves.
- They must be diligent and determined to achieve their best in every area, but value effort and progress above attainment.
- They must be resilient and see failure as a step towards success.
- They must feel pride in their behaviour, their character and their achievements, without being boastful or selfish.
- They must be confident in their own feelings of self-worth and not be reliant on external judgements of success.
- They must be mindful of how to live life to the utmost, to maintain their mental health and physical well-being, to live in a way which makes them happy and fulfilled.
- They will also realise that their happiness is dependent on the happiness of those around them. They will be mindful of the needs of others and be selfless in how they will react to those who require kindness and support.
- They must realise that whilst it is important that they are independent and confident, it is of fundamental importance that they recognise the value of others and be able to work collaboratively, strengthening a team by their inclusion.
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
Matthew 13:31-21 tells us that Jesus told the parable of the mustard seed. Jesus told us:
‘the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”
The mustard seed is absolutely tiny, only 1-2mm in size, and yet it grows into a tree nearly 3m tall.
Jesus is reminding us that even very small things can become something much bigger and end up making a huge difference!
There were only a few people who knew Jesus as their friend and believed in Him to start with but the number of people who followed Jesus and became His friend grew and grew (just like that mustard seed!) by one person sharing the good news of Jesus with another person and that person then sharing that news with someone else and so on and so on. After a while, Jesus had lots of followers and the Kingdom of God had grown, just like that mustard seed that grew into a big tree!
That tiny seed made a HUGE difference, and even though we can sometimes feel small, Jesus is telling us that we can also make a huge difference!
Jesus wanted people to know that everything we do to help others is important. The big things are important and the little things are important. Sometimes we can do a little thing and it ends up making a BIG difference to someone else.
At St Peter’s, we want our children to take every opportunity to do small things which will make a big difference to others. We want them to follow Jesus’ teaching about the mustard seed, and to help our community to become as happy, as kind and as supportive as possible.