Values
Clearwater C of E Primary Academy is a church school and has at its core has 6 very important Christian values: joy, compassion, community, respect, responsibility and courage. These values will be at the forefront of everything we do as a school community.
Through these values we are committed to continuing the great start you as parents have given your child. We will join you in the education of your child, teaching and instilling a love of learning and equipping them with the skills to lead fulfilling lives.
Often, we hear wonderful snippets of children showing one of our school values at home or out in the community. In order to recognise this, we have introduced a Home to School voucher that parents can complete. We collect these in a Value Book and at the end of each half term these children will be celebrated in a Collective Worship Assembly. The voucher is available from the school office and can be found here: Home to School Value Voucher
Home School Values
We would like to share with you some activities that the children could carry out at home to reinforce their learning about our school Christian values. It would be great to see some of the activities that the children have completed, so please encourage your child to share them on Class Dojo.
Watch our children demonstrate their understanding of our values: https://youtu.be/pVjKoQpW_5k
After staff attended the SACRE conference, the children were given the opportunity to enter the “Spirited Arts” competition. Here are some of their Values poems:
Compassion
The important thing about compassion is looking after people.
The important thing about compassion is to be kind to everybody.
The important thing about compassion is being friendly to people.
But the most important thing about compassion is looking after people.
Respect
The important thing about respect is being kind to others.
Being nice to my Mummy and Daddy so they are nice back.
Being nice to your teachers. Being helpful to your brothers and your sisters.
But the most important thing about respect is being kind to others.
Community
The important thing about community is that it gets bigger.
Community means that you should be nice to everyone.
Community means that you should be caring to everyone.
But most important thing about community is that it gets bigger.
Joy
The important thing about joy is that it make you smile.
Joy is like a nice feeling.
It is a happy feeling.
It makes you laugh.
It is a powerful time.
But the most important thing about joy is that makes you smile.
Respect
The important about respect is looking after our environment.
Your kind to your mum and dad and you love them.
You care for your family.
But the most important thing about respect is looking after our environment.
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We will provide a caring, warm and safe environment in which they can learn and flourish. They will receive the highest educational provision underpinned by our Christian values.
The values of joy, compassion, community, respect, responsibility and courage are the attributes we want our children to leave with. While these are inclusive of human values, we try to anchor them into the Christian faith by relating them to the Bible through stories and readings. Please see below how we have linked our values to passages in the Bible.
Courage – Psalm 46: 1-2 God is with us
Community – Matthew 15: 32-39 Jesus feeds many people
Responsibility – Luke 15: 1-7 The Lost Sheep
Respect – Matthew 5: 14-16 Light for the whole world
Compassion – Luke 10: 25-37 Parable of the Good Samaritan
Joy – Psalm 104 God the maker
Our Values in the Local Community
Children took part in a community litter pick during the half-term break. They represented the school beautifully, showing respect towards neighbouring properties and thoroughly enjoying themselves whilst they worked.
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- The children collected 6 bags of refuse from the local area – well done children!
The school council, along with members of the Senior Leadership Team, took part in local memorial events on Armistice Day 2021. The organisers commented on the children’s exemplarily behaviour, the respect they showed for the memorial and how they engaged beautifully with others.
The children did a tremendous job helping to support Gloucester Food Bank at our local Tesco store, collecting many donations.
Worship
The school meets daily for collective worship, which, as the Education Act states, ‘is wholly or mainly of a broad Christian character, the main emphasis being on the broad traditions of Christian belief.”
Collective worship is an important and special part of our school day and reflects Anglican beliefs, practices and values in accordance with the requirements of the Trust Deed. Worship themes around our Christian values are planned to foster the pupil’s spiritual development, experience awe and wonder, to promote willingness to reflect on their own experiences and those of others and to learn about the life and teachings of Jesus.
We are privileged to welcome pupils to our school from all faiths and none and from diverse cultures and lifestyles. Our collective worship is open to all, providing an opportunity to share in an experience which is emotional, reflective and invites the community to explore life through the lens of our vision and values. Pupils and adults are invited to engage in worship without compulsion and in a way that never compromises their integrity or dignity.
Worship is led by the Head Teacher, members of the teaching staff, visiting clergy and the Open the Book Team. We aim for our worship to be creative and inspirational by giving our pupils opportunities to listen to and act out stories, to listen to music and sing, pray and have time to reflect. From time to time worship takes place in the classroom and the children are given opportunities to reflect on our school Christian values. Pupils will be encouraged, when appropriate, to help to plan and/or lead worship. This may take a variety of form, including being encouraged to ask and answer questions; act or mime a story; reading poems, prayers and stories; exploring artwork or leading the music/singing.
This is how our children speak of their personal use of prayer:
“Sometimes when I pray to God it makes me feel special that he cares about me and I care about him.” – Holly.
“I like talking to God. It makes me happy talking to God because I know I can trust him.” – Poppy.
School Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father,
Please bless our school community, the parents, the children and all those who work here. Help us to work hard, try our best, be kind to one another and be cheerful all through the day.
Amen.
Links with St. James Parish Church of Quedgeley and Kingsway
Our school has strong relationships with the clergy of St. James Parish Church who visit the school on regular basis.
We visit St James regularly to celebrate key events including Christmas, Easter and Harvest, and to enhance our RE work. We work closely with Fr John and his team.
Spiritual Reflection
At Clearwater C of E Primary Academy the children have many opportunities to grow spiritually in our supportive and nurturing school. ‘Spiritual development’ is a very difficult term to define. It applies to all pupils, not only those from a religious background. Similarly, the potential for spiritual development is open to everyone. In an educational context it should not be thought of narrowly in terms of developing religious beliefs nor of conversion to a particular faith.
Clearwater C of E Primary Academy uses the language of spirituality that was developed by the Education Department at the Diocese of Gloucester, the children are introduced to the concepts of wows, ows and nows. These are used to explore relationships with: ourselves, others, the wider natural world and beyond and offering the invitation to relate to God. Each classroom has a designated Spiritual Reflection area.
As the children progress through school they are also introduced to windows, mirrors and doors as a way of thinking about the world around them.
“Windows are for looking out onto the world and becoming aware of its wonders, both the ‘wows’ and ‘ows’; things that are ‘awe-full’ and make us wonder and be grateful and things that are ‘awful’ and make us wonder and ask questions.
Mirrors are for looking into and reflecting, alone and together, to see things more clearly, for thinking and asking important questions learning from our own and each other’s responses…
Doors are for looking through in order to then act or express this in some way in response; for moving on, making choices, and doing something creative, active and purposeful in response.”
Taken from:
Spiritual Development
Interpretations of spiritual development in the classroom
The Church of England Education Office