Our Core Christian Values  – Love, Courage, Respect

Our Core Christian Values of Love, Courage and Respect underpin the Christian distinctiveness of our school and engender a special sense of community where everyone is cared for, listened to and appreciated.

Through these values, we develop children’s understanding of their roles and responsibilities as citizens looking after each other, our school, our community and God’s world.  This includes helping children to develop an understanding of positive relationships, to have courage to stand up for what is right, to have knowledge to make good choices and to appreciate and embrace one another’s differences.  We encourage children to celebrate who they are, to learn to love themselves as unique individuals and to reflect deeply on the kind of person that they aspire to be.

Love

Love is a core value for our school because the Bible tells us that God is love.  He loves each of us for who we are.  This value includes learning about kindness, generosity and gratitude.  Jesus showed us to love everyone through the story of the Good Samaritan and he proved his love for us when he died on the cross so that we can be forgiven.  We show love to each other through small acts of kindness and through the kind words that we share with others, remembering that God loves us.

“God is love and that those that live in love live in God and God lives in them.” 1 John 4:16

Courage

Courage is a core value for our school because Jesus teaches us to do the right thing and make the right choices, even when this is hard to do.  It shows us to have faith in ourselves and our abilities, to have positivity, self-belief, resilience and to value the importance of doing the right thing. Jesus showed us the importance of making the right choices through the story of the wise and foolish builders.  The story of David and Goliath teaches us to be courageous and have faith in ourselves.  We show courage by standing up for what it right, by showing tolerance and respect for others and by persevering when things are difficult.  We try hard to make right choices and encourage others to do the same.

“Be strong and courageous; do not be discouraged, for the Lord God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1: 9

Respect

Respect is a core value for our school because it forms the foundation of relationships within our school and wider community.  This value involves teaching children about forgiveness, tolerance, honesty, empathy and thoughtfulness.  In the Christian tradition, this value means ‘reverence’, which stems from our awareness of the Holy Spirit’s presence within the created world and within our relationships with others.  If we believe that other people are made in the image of God, then we are all ultimately precious and should value difference and show tolerance.  At Alverstoke CE Junior school, we show respect to ourselves, others and the world around us through our actions and the words that we speak.

In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus gives us the Golden Rule as our ultimate guide: “Treat others as you would want them to treat you” Matthew 7:12

As a Church school we are aware of our deeply Christian character that shapes our school values.  We also recognise that these values are not exclusively Christian and are accepted by people of all faiths or no faith at all.

Our core Christian values are taught through Collective Worship, our school curriculum with SMSC concepts and philosophical questions at its heart and by celebrating learning and personal achievements. Together we explore how values are exemplified in the Bible, in fiction stories and throughout the school day so that children understand how these are applied to their own lives.

These core Christian values link to the ‘Foundations of Learning’ shared by the Bay House Cluster of local schools:  Self-awareness, Co-operation and Collaboration

Our Motto – ‘Be Ambitious    Be Brave    Be Kind’

At Alverstoke Junior School we set high expectations and believe that everyone should strive to be the best they can be.  It is important to us that every child is treated as an individual; inspired to achieve and celebrate their skills and abilities.  We pride ourselves in developing children’s emotional, physical, spiritual and intellectual growth, building life-long skills that will allow children to adapt to an ever changing world and lead a happy and successful life.

 Our motto encompasses the 3 aspects of our vision that show our commitment to developing the whole child:

1)      Be Ambitious – Alverstoke CE Junior School children should strive to be the very best that they can be. By inspiring a growth mind-set and a life-long love of learning, children gain knowledge and skills within a rich curriculum and develop conceptual understanding that will persist over time.

2)      Be Brave – Developing emotional resilience and inner strength so that children know themselves, know how to find strength in difficult situations, can understand and manage their emotions and love themselves for who they are.

3)      Be Kind – Nurturing good citizens who treat others with respect, value diversity and know how they can play a part in improving and caring for God’s world and everything in it.

As a Church of England school, our vision is underpinned by our school’s Core Christian Values and our EPIC Learning Skills.  To achieve our vision, pupils, staff, parents and governors work together with these principles at the heart of all that we do.   At the centre of our culture is our drive for excellence.  We have high expectations of ourselves and our children, encouraging everyone to ‘be the best that they can be’.

Our EPIC Learning Skills – Nurturing Ambitious, Resilient Learners

Our school’s ‘EPIC’ learning skills develop children into resilient learners who are ambitious, curious and who love to learn.  Focused teaching of the EPIC behaviours gives children necessary life-long skills so that they can work successfully independently and within a team by building active listening and empathy.

Children learn to be EPIC learners by developing the following skills:

E – Evaluation

P – Perseverance

I –  Independence

C – Creativity

Co-operation and Collaboration

Challenge

These link to the ‘Foundations of Learning’ shared by the Bay House Cluster of local schools:

·         Collaboration and relationships – Co-operation and Collaboration

·         Independence and Resilience – Perseverance, Independence

·         Thinking Skills – Evaluation, Creativity

·         Self-Awareness – Evaluation

Children develop these skills through daily teaching and learning opportunities.  Year group targets provide specific focus to ensure development and progression of learning skills throughout the key stage.