Our vision and values are at the core of everything we do. They underpin our teaching and learning, and provide an environment which prepares our pupils as confident, happy citizens.

‘Shining together to be the best we can be

for God and for each other’

Matthew 5, vs 14-16

This will be achieved by:

1. Creating a school community that is underpinned by our Christian Values and Christian ethos. Where all children are supported to feel safe, flourish as individuals and learn to understand and value each other.

2. Creating a teaching and learning culture with high expectations of all children and adults. Where the focus is on knowing our children and implementing effective teaching strategies to engage them in their learning and prepare them for the next stage of their educational journey; and where children and adults are supported to be active participants in their progress and professional development.

Wembdon Saint George’s is proud to be a Church school.  We see others as being special, a gift to us from God, each of us is unique, made in the image of God. We see prayer and worship as being important, so we allow time for this and have pictures and symbols around the school which encourage us to do this well. We celebrate the major Christian festivals and seek to understand what they mean to us. We know that it is important for the children to grow, socially and academically as well as spiritually, morally and culturally so that we meet the needs of the whole person and become the people that God intended us to be.

Why are these things important? It is because we follow the teachings of Jesus that are recorded in the Bible and taught by the Church about how we should live our lives. We have identified some 6 Christian values which we believe lie at the heart of all we do. Rather than try to explore a large number of these Christian values we decided that we wanted to focus upon 6 of these and think about these in some depth. In order to determine which values were the most important to us we met together to talk about this. So children, teachers, teaching assistants, parents and carers, as well as members of St George’s and other churches came together to think about which values were the most important. I am pleased to say we were guided by our children who came up with the ones we have adopted.

We think that it is important that we all understand what these values are and agree what these mean to us. Using the ideas from the National Society and the Biblical roots which they have looked at we have arrived at an understanding of these. Below you will find a brief description of each. We recognize that this is not an exhaustive outline of each value, but rather a starting point from which we can begin to explore.

The 6 Christian values we have adopted are: Trust, Compassion, Wisdom, Forgiveness, Koinonia and Service.

TRUST is at the very heart of faith, if you trust someone you can rely on what they do and say. People put their trust in a range of different things, for example money and possessions.  However all of these do not last for ever and can be destroyed.

Trust is so important in all of our relationships. We can trust our real friends, where we tell them things about us that make us vulnerable. We need to decide who we can trust and why?  We can find many examples of God keeping His promises to His people.  Similarly, we can see Jesus trusting us to do the things that he would have us do, we can do them in His name.

COMPASSION is much stronger than feeling sorry or having sympathy for someone else. The root of the word means to put yourself into another person’s shoes and experiencing what they feel, even when the other person is in pain or suffering in some way. This leads to a desire to act and enable things to change.  Compassion can need imagination and can demand humility when sharing in the lives of others.

WISDOM is more than being clever or having a good general knowledge. Wisdom is that insight into the way that life works, recognising that our actions have consequences which can be either good or bad. There is an awareness of the true value of things, which are important and last for ever. This is rooted in a reverence for God who is the source of all life and all values.

The wisdom of God is very different from the wisdom of today. Letting Jesus be crucified is the greatest example of this, yet through this God draws us back together as a family.

FORGIVENESS is not simply saying sorry and expecting everything to remain just as it was. Forgiveness needs to be asked for, but it is also recognising the impact of what has been done and making a commitment that it will not happen again. Therefore you need to think before you ask for this. The Bible makes it clear that God is always prepared to forgive when we repent, Jesus too took the same approach. Included in the Lord’s Prayer are requests to forgive.

There are also strong links with Easter, with Jesus’ life being offered as a sacrifice for our sins.

KOINONIA means those things that we have in common. It can also mean being part of a fellowship or community with others. In earliest times it meant being yoked together, just as oxen were. However, it is together that the strength comes from, overcoming these together. It is because of Jesus, through His death on a cross, that he allows us to become part of the Christian community, we become the brothers and sisters of God and because of this we are linked to others who are also part of this same community regardless. Each member is valued, we share in each other’s joys and sorrows. As part of this family we are interdependent upon one another.

SERVICE is linked to the word servant. Jesus showed how important this was. He came to earth to serve others and meet their needs. Jesus turned this idea on its head. He stated that it was better to be a servant to many as this was a real sign of wealth. Jesus gave us several examples of this including washing His disciples’ feet.  In the parable of the Good Samaritan we go the extra mile for friend or foe. This can mean extra time and sacrifice for us. We can serve God by serving others. A life of service can make us really free.