Oldbury Primary School Logo
Oldbury on Severn
Church of England VC
Primary School
‘Love one another as I have loved you’ (John 15:12)
Oldbury Primary School Logo
Oldbury on Severn
C of E VC Primary School
‘Love one another as I have loved you’ (John 15:12)
Oldbury Primary School Logo
Oldbury on Severn
C of E VC Primary School
‘Love one another as I have loved you’ (John 15:12)

Christian Values

The school’s Christian values are having a good impact on children’s academic achievement - SIAMS

Our Christian Character

We are keen that all groups of our children achieve well.  Through regular assessment, planning for different needs and through analysis of results, we identify our children’s outcomes and plan for future achievement.  We value achievements across all areas of our curriculum and school life and celebrate this in our weekly celebration assembly.

We promote health and well-being through teaching safe practices, healthy relationships and healthy eating.

Our policies and schemes of work provide children with the opportunities to explore other beliefs and cultures, as well as opportunities to respond to the beauty of God’s creation.  We are very fortunate to have wonderful grounds and views around our school which foster a sense of awe, wonder and appreciation in our children.

Our SMSC development is explicitly related to our Christian values.  Our children are able to explain notions of right and wrong and discuss the consequences of their behaviours.  We have developed a school 4-part apology – which the children use to make amends to each other.

Our Christian status can be seen visually throughout our school through displays and symbols in important areas such as our hall, entrance, during Collective Worship, in classrooms and in our Outdoor Reflection Area.

Our parents and children speak of the school as a warm and welcoming place which promotes positive relationships based on Christian values.  These values are also integral to our policies, such as our ‘Good Behaviour and Self-Esteem’ policy and ‘Anti-Bullying’ policy.

Serious behaviour incidents are extremely rare and adults and children have positive relationships which leads to a very positive learning environment.  Children who demonstrate particular values are recognised in our weekly Celebration Assembly, demonstrating the impact of values on our school.

SIAMS Report

You can download a copy of our SIAMS report from May 2017 by clicking here.

Spirituality

We believe that spirituality relates to having an awareness of something greater than ourselves.  It relates to our experiences of God’s creation and enriches our everyday experiences and our ability to relate to others around us.  It involves reflecting on life’s big events, like birth and death, and life’s big questions, such as the search for truth.  It relates to finding meaning and purpose in our lives and the values we choose to live by.  We believe spirituality can enrich everyday life and can foster a sense of awe and wonder in us all.

Religious Education

Our Head teacher is the RE Co-ordinator at our school.  RE is promoted as a core subject within our school, it is given prominence with RE displays in each classroom, our Key Stage 2 children each have a Reflection Journal.

Our children are positive in their attitudes to RE, they enjoy a RE syllabus which combines the ‘Understanding Christianity’ materials and our locally agreed syllabus for RE – both of which are rigorous and engaging.  Children can express their views in RE lessons and they develop an understanding and respect for diversity within Christianity and in other cultures and religions.  Our resources and planning ensure that learning in this subject is of a high standard. Learning about Islam, Judaism and Hinduism are also included in the syllabus

Collective Worship and Prayer

Collective Worship provides opportunities for our school community to come together and reflect upon and explore the Christian faiths, moral issues and our own beliefs.

We encourage participation on Collective Worship through active involvement in the presentation of Collective Worship or by listening and responding.  Collective Worship is a time when we all come together to develop our common ethos based on our Christian values.

Prayer is at the heart of Collective Worship, we regularly recite and sign the Lord’s Prayer and our School Prayer (based on our Golden Rules).  Children are given the opportunity to write their own prayers in lessons and for Class Worships.  We have a prayer box on our Worship table where children suggest subjects for prayers.  Our children engage of prayer in Collective Worships, in Church Services and each day before lunch.  We open our staff meetings with a prayer.

The cycle of the Church year is observed in Collective Worships and Church services.  Collective Worship is planned around our chosen 6 Christian values: Growth, Care, Respect, Friendship, Community and Joy – the impact of this is monitored by our RE leader.  We have regular visits from our vicar who leads Worship in school and at Church.  We start and end each Collective Worship with a Christian liturgy and have a ‘bar chime’ to open and close the sacred space of Collective Worship.

School Values in scripture

Growth – ‘Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit’ – In the image of the vine and being fruitful we are encouraged not just to aspire academically and to inspire a love of learning, but for everybody in our community to grow and develop through each year. The focus is on growth and improvement on an individual basis, with the desire to bear good fruit, whatever our starting place might be.

Friendship – ‘but I have called you friends’ – Recognising that Jesus calls us friends, friendship is at the heart of our community, embodying the generous and giving example of the friendship described in John 15:13: ‘No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends’.

Respect – ‘I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another’ – We all have a place and role within our community (God as the gardener, Jesus as the vine, us as the branches) and so we are encouraged to have respect for our teachers and staff, as well as our fellow pupils. Love and respect are reciprocal, and so we build a culture of respect in our community as we seek to show concern for those we meet, and to abide by the rules and expectations in place for us.

Care – ‘he prunes to make it bear more fruit’ – In the picture of the ‘vine grower’ we are reminded that growth and good things come from care, taking the time to assess our needs as a community, and tend to one another. This care is not just shown in our love for another, but also for our wider community, and for the wonderful creation God has gifted to us. In our rural setting this value of care is also lived out in our engagement with creation, with our outdoor spaces, and with our learning about the environment.

Community – ‘I am the vine, you are the branches’ – As branches on the same vine we are connected to one another in community, in our classes, our school, our church and our wider community. This is central to our school ethos and values and lived out, among other things, in our church/school links and engagement with community events and occasions.

Joy – ‘so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete’ – This passage in John ends with the promise of complete joy. For this reason, as we aim to live out and embed our values across the school life and culture the aim is to achieve a place of learning that is filled with joy, praise and times of celebration. This includes celebration of individual achievements and our wider successes as a school community.