The value for this half term is TRUST
Our Vision
Our school is at the heart of our rural community. As a Christian school, we will welcome, value and nurture each individual as part of our inclusive family.
With the love of God and our Core Christian Values, our ambitious curriculum allows our inquisitive children to develop a desire to learn that will continue into the future. As learners, they will develop resilience, compassion, pride, confidence and self-belief.
The rural nature of our school enables us to promote and foster responsibility and care for one another, developing a mutual respect for the diverse world outside and empowering the children to become courageous advocates for the common good, not only locally, but nationally and globally.
1 John 4:19 – “We love because he first loved us.”
Our Christian Ethos
The School has a strong Christian foundation and ethos. Our pupils are encouraged to gain a sound understanding of the difference between right and wrong and to build up their spiritual and cultural awareness, as well as thinking through moral issues.
The School has an excellent relationship with St Peter’s Church and the Rector regularly leads worship, both at school and at the church.
Caring for each other, for our school and our world, because they are made and loved by God.
Core Christian Values
Our core Christian values of Respect, Responsibility, Perseverance, Kindness and Forgiveness permeate through our school and it is these values that create what we call ‘The Myddle Magic’.
The Myddle Magic
The core Christian values are used to guide our children in the following way:
Respect – To treat eat others how you wish to be treated yourself
Responsibility – To take responsibility for your actions and your learning
Perseverance – To always try your best and ensure others can do the same
Kindness – To show an awareness for others and the world around us
Forgiveness – To be fair honest and forgiving
As a result, The Myddle Magic is something you feel at our school and not just observe. It forms the foundations of the behaviour at our school and children guide each other to behave in this way.
Reward Cards
We also use The Myddle Magic to celebrate and promote positive behaviour. To encourage the conduct and attitudes we expect, children receive rewards cards when displaying these Christian values in and out of school.
Termly Values
As well as our core Christian values, each half term we focus on an individual value which is introduced and learnt about during whole school and class worship. These values expected to permeate through the school and be displayed in the children’s actions. These are organised into a rolling programme which can be seen in the table below.
Values and the Curriculum
Our core values are further embedded throughout our curriculum with a particular focus within PSHE.
At Myddle, we use the Jigsaw PSHE scheme.
What is Jigsaw PSHE?
Jigsaw PSHE is a comprehensive and completely original Scheme of Work for the whole Primary School from Reception through to Year 6. It brings together PSHE Education, emotional literacy, social skills and spiritual development in a comprehensive scheme of learning that link in with our core values as a school.
SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural) development opportunities are mapped throughout. All of these pieces of learning are brought together to form a cohesive picture, helping children to know and value who they are and understand how they relate to other people in the world.
Promoting British Values
British values are embedded in the life of the school. They are actively promoted through spiritual, moral, social and cultural education and form a part of our distinctive Christian character. British and Christian values are regularly promoted through high quality teaching across the curriculum, within Collective Worship, and by a positive behaviour policy which allows pupils to develop and demonstrate skills and attributes that will allow them to contribute positively to life in Modern Britain. These values and attitudes are promoted and reinforced by all staff and used to provide a model of behaviour for all our pupils. The way in which the school community behave and treat others is built upon a basis of respect, individual worth and Christian love, while recognising that many of these guiding principles are present in other faiths and cultures.
Democracy:
Democracy and communication is embedded in school life as the ‘voice’ of each pupil is valued and heard. Pupils are listened to by adults and taught to listen actively to one another, respecting the right of every individual to have their opinions heard. Pupils have the opportunity to share opinions and ideas through the School Council. Elections of the School Council members are based on pupil votes after each child has shared their manifesto. They collect the opinions of other children and provide feedback to staff. Children take part in mock elections alongside real elections and learn about how the election process works in real life situations. Children take part in debates in class – particularly in literacy and history. They have opportunities to research and prepare a point of view and debate with peers, hearing and responding to other people’s point of view.
Rule of Law:
The importance of laws, whether governing the class, the school or the country, is consistently reinforced. The children discuss and set their own classroom rules to ensure that they are relevant and clearly understood by all. Pupils are taught the value and reasons behind laws, the responsibility they have to uphold them and the consequences when laws are broken. They are taught the importance of right and wrong, in particularly relating to the schools Christian values. Our behaviour policy reflects these values and children are rewarded for upholding them. Children have also been involved in creating sanctions if the school rules are not kept. The school council worked with staff on these, then collected the opinions of their peers before the final version was published in the behaviour policy.
Expectations are reinforced through class teaching, daily collective worship and circle times.
We have annual visits from the fire service who work with children to teach them about this emergency service. Class 6 spend a day at ‘Crucial Crew’ workshops every year to ensure they know the guidance and laws relating to the emergency services, Childline, road safety, first aid etc.
Individual Liberty:
Pupils at this school are seen as unique and valued individuals, each of whom is equally important. They are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. Children are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and are advised how to exercise these safely through many curriculum subjects, particularly in PSHE and e-safety lessons.
Children are encouraged and supported in making choices about their learning through regular children initiated learning sessions and Forest School activities. Initiatives such as School Council, Monitors, and Buddies are opportunities for children to show they are valued and respected. In these roles they are able to use their strengths and talents to make choices and have a positive impact on others. Children are encouraged to raise money for charity and for the school PTA association. Children take an active part in community events, for example the village fete where they run stalls and perform music.
Mutual respect:
Respect is an important value to pupils and staff and is deeply embedded in learning and behaviour. Pupils understand that respect must be shown to everyone, whatever differences there may be. Respect underpins school life, in and out of the classroom. Respect is a key aspect of our behaviour code ‘The Myddle Magic’ and is one of our fundamental core values. We introduce and reinforce this value through collective worship, in PSHE, RE and other classwork. It is also part of our ethos in PE. It is also taught explicitly through e-safety, where children must show respect to each other when blogging or contributing to the school website. Good manners are taught and expected throughout the school. Children are rewarded for showing respect in all areas of the school by receiving praise and a ‘Myddle Magic’ reward card.
Children are taught to respect each other; children have responsibilities in school such as being Monitors, Buddies, librarians, and Councillors and it is expected that they are treated with the same respect as adults.
Tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs:
Christian concepts and values form an integral part of pupils’ daily learning but are taught alongside an understanding and celebration of different faiths, cultures, philosophies and beliefs. This tolerance is embedded within all subjects, particularly RE, enabling pupils to gain an enhanced understanding of the place of religion in a multi-faith world and their own place in a culturally diverse society. We have a range of multi-cultural resources to support this learning. We learn about the major festivals of other religions and celebrate these through themed work across the school (for example Chinese New Year, Holi, Diwali, Hanukkah).