As a Church of England Voluntary Controlled School, we have very close connections with St. Mary’s Church in Shincliffe. We have links with other churches in the Durham area too.
Christian Values for Schools
To help us live out our Christian Vision of ‘life in all its fullness’, each half term, we focus on a different Christian Value. This is done explicitly through our Collective Worship time, but also throughout our curriculum. Children have regular opportunities to reflect on each value and to develop an understanding of the Value in action. Each Friday, in our Celebration Worship, we acknowledge children who have demonstrated these values and how that helps them to experience ‘life in all its fulness’.
Our visitors from St. Mary’s Church (Father Peter, Father Bill and Mrs Matthews) regularly lead our worship to help us to reinforce our understanding of each value as they share stories from the Bible. Children have opportunities to plan, prepare and lead worship for the whole school through class assemblies.
The Values we explore and strive to live by are:
We believe these values are empowering our pupils to develop their spirituality and guiding them in personal development as effective learners and good citizens. We encourage children to ‘look up’, ‘look in’ and ‘look out’ as a shared language for understanding spirituality. For more information please view the Christian Values for Schools website or our Christian Values Powerpoint for Parents.
During the Autumn term we will be revisiting and further exploring the value of Endurance and Compassion.
Ensurance
This term we will be focusing in School on the value PERSERVERENCE. We hope your family will find these ideas helpful as you explore the value and have fun together.
Talk about Perseverance together….
Teachers often say that perseverance is something that many children find difficult. Very little that is worthwhile in life can be achieved without perseverance. An athlete may train for years before they are ready to compete at the higher level. A musician must practice every day, sometimes for hours at a time, if they are to really master their instrument.
- How would each family member rate themselves on a scale of 1 – 10 at perseverance?
- Can you give an example of something difficult you have achieved by determined perseverance?
- If there a skill that you think you could improve with perseverance?
Read Together – The Widow Who Never Gave Up
There was once a judge living in a town just like this one, said Jesus to the crowd of people who were listening to him and hanging on his every word. The judge did not care much about God or justice. The crowd muttered to one another and smiled knowingly, they all knew judges like him! A poor widow, called Sarah, lived in the same town. She was being treated badly by her neighbour who was making her life very difficult indeed. Sarah went to speak to the judge to ask him to hear her case and give her justice.
At first the judge tried to ignore her. Silly old woman he thought. Why won’t she leave me alone. Doesn’t she realise that I have more important things to deal with? But Sarah persevered. You are my only hope she told the judge. You must help me. Day after day she went to see him. In the end, the judge was so exasperated that he thought to himself I will never get a minute’s peace unless I help this old woman.
Finally, he let her explain to him the problems that she was facing and agreed that Sarah’s neighbour was indeed behaving very badly and must be made to stop at once. Sarah’s perseverance paid off and eventually she got the justice she deserved. So, keep persevering and keep praying said Jesus to the crowd.
Compassion
This term we will be focussing in School on the value of Compassion.
Compassion’ and ‘sympathy’ have much in common and both are stronger in meaning than simply ‘feeling sorry for’ someone.
The words have their roots in the idea of ‘suffering with’ someone, putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and experiencing what they experience. This leads to a desire to act, to do something. It is not about ‘doing good’ from a position of strength or ‘remembering those less fortunate than ourselves’. Compassion requires an act of imagination and humility to share in the lives of others
This half term we are focussing on Compassion as our whole school Christian Value.
In Colossians 3:12 Paul says:
‘Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.’
Compassion’ and ‘sympathy’ have much in common and both are stronger in meaning than simply ‘feeling sorry for’ someone.
In the Gospels we find many stories of Jesus showing compassion to the sick and the downtrodden of society. Christians believe that their attitudes and actions must reflect the kindness, mercy and compassion of Jesus and the love of God for everyone. In the school community this means showing kindness and respect to each other. It is related to the way in which new people are welcomed into the school family and nurtured and supported. It is reflected in the ways in which members of the community support each other through difficult times, such as bereavement. Christians would say that God Himself is the perfect example of community—the three persons of the Trinity are bound together in the ultimate closeness which makes them one. In a church school the idea of community will always be a strong one— schools share a common life and common goals—we aim to nurture and sustain all our members.
We would like our children to continue their reflection and experience at home. Please look at our home school value sheet for compassion. This will give you lots of ideas of activities you can do at home.
Some things to think about:
- In what ways do we encourage members of the school community to show kindness and respect to one another?
- How do we foster links with charities for those in need?
- How are new members of the school community nurtured and supported?
- How does the school help, and encourage pupils to understand and empathise with members of their community who have suffered traumatic experiences, e.g. bereavement?
SIAMS
In March 2018 we underwent a Statutory Inspection of the School as an Anglican School (SIAMS). We are delighted with the judgement of Outstanding that we received. For further information regarding the SIAMS reports please view our school performance page.
Christian Heritage – Ethos
The ethos and community values of our caring school comes from the Christian heritage which underpins everything which we do.
In this section, you can find out about the links and opportunities which shape the attitudes and behaviours of our pupils.
The Church of England in Durham
Positioned so close to Durham City Centre, we are lucky to be able to form relationships with a host of Church establishments, creating many, mutually beneficial, opportunities. Our parent Church, St. Mary’s, host whole school services, which offers the opportunity for more personal worship in a church setting. Strong links with the local parish mean that children are able to engage in activities organised by the church outside of school hours. Father Peter Kashouris, the parish Reverend, leads our involvement in the local churches.
Eucharist
Pupils in year 5 and 6 are given the opportunity to participate in a service of Holy Communion. Taking place at St. Oswald’s Church, they are led through the service to help them learn about this traditional and important Anglican service. Led by Father Peter, pupils assist by singing, reading and praying. All pupils receive the opportunity to take bread and wine if that matches theirs, and their family, beliefs. Pupils can also opt to receive a blessing as part of the service instead.
C of E Schools Year 6 Leaver’s Service
Each year, our year 6 pupils get the opportunity to attend the leavers service organised by Durham Diocese. It gives them opportunity to reflect on the successes and challenges of their time in primary school and chance to think and pray about the future as they approach secondary school. This year, pupils spent time moving around prayer stations, reflecting on ‘wow’ moments, people who have cared for them, worries about the future and the skills and talents they have gained. They then joined in a service with hundreds of other pupils to sing, dance, pray and give thanks for the past and the future. All of this in the inspirational setting of Durham Cathedral – what a wonderful opportunity.
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