Vision and Values
St Paul’s School Vision
Our school vision is based on Philippians 4:13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
At the heart of St Paul’s we aim for excellence. We seek to understand ourselves and to understand others. We value creativity and the joy of learning, whilst gaining a deep understanding of the Christian faith.
Our vision guides our learning and is an aspiration for the type of community we want to be. It is not simply a vision for children but a vision for all. At its heart is an ambition that we can all grow and flourish. It is a guide and ambition but it is also a licence to enjoy learning, to be free to test your talents and dare to be creative whilst being a learner at St Paul’s. We are deeply proud that former pupils have gone on to be authors, professional athletes, academics, doctors and Olympians. Equally we are proud that parents have become teachers; that former pupils are now senior school leaders or that colleagues have left this school to become local Head Teachers.
But the greatest strength of this school is that so many see it as a personal anchor and return, year after year, to catch up with staff, chat in the summer fair or simply run their hand down the list of pupils who left with them in their class on their class plaque.
This school, guided by its vision, is a special place because this community has the courage to be willing to understanding each other and walk in faith with Jesus.
You will see our vision throughout the school; it is written in large print outside our classes but more importantly it is lived out by everyone in this community and can be summarised as:
- Excellence
- Understanding
- Joy
- Faith
St Paul’s Values
Supporting our vision are seven key values. Each of these values reflects a characteristic that we, as a community, have agreed are important for our children. They reflect our learning, attitudes and complement our school vision. Each year group has one of the values as a link value to its class to act as a focus throughout the year.
These values are:
- Communication
- Respect
- Creativity
- Curiosity
- Adaptability
- Encouragement
- Christian Service
You will see these values lived out throughout our curriculum (St Paul’s Curiosity Curriculum), our sporting ambitions (encouragement), our extended journey’s (adaptability), our music (creativity), our active campaigning (Christian service), our attitude to one another (respect) and how we can debate and speak with confidence on a wide range of matters (communication). As with our vision, our values are not limited to these areas but permeate throughout school life. At core, these values offer an opportunity to understand and learn characteristics that are reflected in our Lord, Jesus, and our aspiration to reflect them in ourselves.
Spirituality
As a church school we have a duty to prepare our children academically, socially and spiritually. The London Diocese describes spirituality in the following way:
Spirituality enables us to become aware of God, one another, the world around us and ourselves.’
Rebecca Nye (author of Children's Spirituality) puts it in simpler terms by referring to spirituality as a 'relational awareness'. By this she means having a relationship with:
- Self (being a unique person and understanding self-perception)
- Others (how empathy, concern, compassion and other values and principles affect relationships)
- World and Beauty (perceiving and relating to the physical and creative world through responses to nature and art)
- Beyond – (relating to the transcendental and understanding experiences and meaning outside the ‘everyday’)
What this looks like around school is unpicked in our policy below, throughout our curriculum, our relationship with the church and how we teach RE.
Fundamentally it is at the heart of our school vision (to understand ourselves and others) and is something that we believe makes our school distinctly different, providing a calm place to grow together.
