September 2023
During the summer term, staff and parents were asked to vote for the bible quote that they thought best reflected the school. Many thanks to everyone who returned their voting slip.
The two quotes that were decided on are:
Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Colossians 2:7
and
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31
From this, we created the motto:
Roots to grow...wings to fly.
We also decided what the most important Christian core values are for our children, staff, parents and the wider community.
We decided on:
Courage, Perseverance, Respect, Truthfulness, Hope, Compassion
Our Christian Vision
We desire to be a faith community where we all have the courage to grow together, personally, professionally, academically, and spiritually. A respectful and compassionate community that allows ‘roots to grow’ where children will be given a solid academic grounding, which ensures they all reach their full potential in all areas of school life and the wider community and can flourish and grow.
The ‘wings to soar’ will give children hope and enable them to ‘fly’ as a person, confident and resilient enough to know what is right, to be truthful and persevere and to know what they want in life, where growth has no barriers and where trust in God is encouraged.
Christian Character
As part of our school’s Christian Character, we aim to –
- Reflect on the teachings of Jesus Christ in our daily lives, through Collective Worship and prayers
- See all children as individuals, helping them to reach their potential whilst developing their self-esteem, confidence, mindset and independence as God intended
- Help children to become caring and responsible citizens, in and out of school
- Foster a lasting love of learning through creative teaching
- Continue to strengthen a close partnership with parents, church, governors and the local community
- Live by our school’s vision
- Model the school’s Christian values.
Collective Worship at Holy Trinity
Christian Value for Summer Term 1 - Hope
For Christians, the source of hope is Jesus. This value reflects the hope we have for all our children and the world.
The beginning of John’s Gospel says ‘The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.’ Throughout his life Jesus gave hope to others and the resurrection of Jesus shows us that evil can never ultimately triumph over love.
Hope is a core value for our church school because we share in the joy that comes from the belief that there is always hope and all is never lost.
The Christian understanding of hope illustrates how trivial our everyday use of the word can be. We hope that it will not rain for the picnic, or that the car will start or that the plumber will come tomorrow.
At a deeper level, hope is a universal human phenomenon. People hope for peace in time of war; food in time of famine; justice in time of oppression. Where hope is lost there is despair and disintegration. Hope generates energy and sustains people through difficult times.
For some people, hope is so strong that it inspires self-sacrifice to turn hope into reality. Hope is not always spontaneous or easy. There is work to be done. As well as trusting God, we have to develop qualities of steadfastness in our own character.
Paul says: ‘We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.’ (Romans 5:3-4)
Hope is coupled with faith and love as one of the three most enduring gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 13:13).
The story of Noah's Ark
Doves also represent hope - it was a dove which returned to Noah's ark with an olive branch to show the flood was over. They are symbols of hope, that the situation we are in will be over at some point. Doves are for looking and moving forward.
Christian Value for Spring Term 2 - Truthfulness
Bible Stories linked to Truthfulness
· The Burning Bush (Exodus 2-4)
· The Two Builders (Matthew 7, Luke 6)
· A Hard Question (Luke 20)
· The Night Visitor (John 3)
Christian Value for Spring Term 1 - Respect
Love and value everyone as God does.
Respect is about valuing everyone and everything and celebrating our differences. We are all God’s people and we all matter. Respect involves taking responsibility for each other and speaking and interacting with others in a courteous manner.
Matthew 7:12 says “Treat others as you would want them to treat you.”
“Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Luke 6:31
Respect is about being honest and trustworthy. It is about looking after belongings, equipment, the school and our environment. You gain respect by giving respect.
At Holy Trinity, we regularly discuss how respecting someone does not mean that we always agree with the other person but that we are prepared to listen and share our views without rudeness or impatience.
Christian Value for Autumn Term 2 - Perseverance
The Christian Value we will be focusing on this half term is Perseverance. This means to keep trying even when the going gets tough. The children will be encouraged to have self belief in order to keep on going and to speak out for what they believe is right. They will also reflect upon God's persevering love. This links in well with our 'Growth Mindset' work in school. Where we teach children that 'mistakes are proof you are trying' and that perhaps we can't do something...yet!
Jesus frequently encouraged his disciples to ‘endure patiently’ the difficulties that they encountered and persevere in the face of adversity. Jesus himself trusted God even when his enemies tried to stop his work and plot his death. We encourage the pupils and give them skills to persevere through difficult times, through examples from the Bible such as the story of Nehemiah re-building the walls of Jerusalem and also real life examples of heroes who have persevered through illness or difficulties.
Bible Stories linked to Perseverance
· Life is a long race (Hebrews 12:1-11)
· Persevering in Prayer (Luke 18:1-8)
· A persistent builder (Genesis 6:5-22)
· Persevering in tricky times (Daniel 1:1-7)
Christian Value for Autumn 1 half term: Courage
Have you ever been courageous?
What happened?
How did you feel?
Why were you showing courage?
What does it mean to be full of courage?
Our new value for the beginning of the year is courage. As part of collective worship and class reflection we are going to be looking at courage and courageous people.
Did you know that our word courage comes from the French word for heart?
Take heart is another way of saying be courageous. Being courageous doesn’t mean that you aren’t scared.
Many courageous people have been scared, but they stood up for what was right anyway. There are a lot of courageous people in the Bible.
Can you think of any stories where there might be somebody who showed a lot of courage as a difficult time?
In the book of Joshua, in the Bible, it says ‘Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go’. Jesus often says to people ‘don’t be afraid’. That sentence turns up 365 times in the Bible! Christians believe that when things seem difficult and hard that they can reply on God to strengthen their courage.
How can you show courage at school?
Click here to listen to a song about courage – 'Courage is' song
Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. 1 Corinthians 16:13
Comments (1)
Show CommentsHas your child shown courage? Let us know how and we will celebrate this in our collective worship.