Our Vision, Christian Values and British Values

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.

‘Enriching Lives Every Day’

Our motto inspired by the Apostle Paul -For in Him you have been enriched in every way, with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge. – 1 Corinthians 1-5 is the basis of our Christian Values of:

Excellence; Nurture; Respect; Integrity; Compassion; Hope (ENRICH)

What does ENRICH mean to you? Quotes from children.

Eli (UKS2) 'ENRICH is the highest level of achieving doing everything all the time.'

Bella (UKS2) ' ENRICH shows all our values at once.'

Daisy (LKS2) 'Our values show in how we speak and act to others.'

Elliot ( KS1) 'When I'm being naughty, I look at the values board to help me.'

John ( KS1) 'They help us to learn more things.'

Autumn Term 1: RESPECT

   'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you'     Luke 6 v 31

We start the year by focusing on our 'Respect' value. We have spent time in assemblies and Class Learning Forums (CLFs) thinking about how we show respect to others, ourselves and the environment. On our values display boards, we have built up a vocabulary of words to remind us about the word 'respect' and some children wrote their own golden rule about how to treat others. We have thought about how the value of 'respect' helps us with our behaviour in and out of the classroom and for the behaviours of learning.

Pupil Voice

Reception: 'Respect is working with the teachers.'

Year 1 - 'Treat people how you want to be treated.'

Year 2: 'Keep the world clean.'

Year 3: 'Kindness spreads more kindness and it's the same for respect.'

Year 4: 'Kind hands, share and listen.'

Year 5: 'Respect yourself and others' property.'

Year 6: 'Thinking about the impact of our actions and words.'

Year 6: 'Being inclusive and treating everyone equally.'

Autumn Term 2: Excellence

But as you excel in everything

– in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnest, and in our love for you –

see that you excel in this act of grace also.

2 Corinthians 8 v 7

In this half term, the whole school focuses on the value of 'excellence'. Again, this is introduced in assembly. This year, in our introductory assembly, we have looked at Sam Ryder's entry for Eurovision and finished with the school singing in two part harmony to demonstrate what can be achieved with practise and a determination to succeed.

Pupil Voice

Reception: 'I'm excellent at numbers and letters.' Reuben

Year 1: 'I try my hardest and do really good learning.' Edie

Year 2: 'I always do the best I can.' Jonah

Year 3: At St. Michael's, we show excellence by taking time when we are learning.' Helena

Year 4: 'We show excellence by doing our best.' Henry

Year 5: 'We try our best and push ourselves.' Fraser

Year 6: 'I go that extra mile!' Evie

Spring Term 1: Compassion

At the beginning of this value, we thought about showing kindness to others and passing it on. We watched some videos where other schools have created their own version of spreading kindness and our plan is to create our own St Michael's film. Watch this space! In collective worship, we've been learning about stories from the Bible where people show kindness, for example 'The Good Samaritan'.

Clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3 v 12

Pupil Voice

Reception - "Being careful with people." Charlie

Year 1 - "Help people if they're sad or on their own." Erin

Year 2- "If someone hurts themselves, we can give them a hug." Barney

Year 3- "You can show compassion by comforting someone." Evan

Year 4- "Compassion is being thoughtful and helping someone when they need it." Seren

Year 5- "You can learn more positivity and can be kinder to others around you." Charlotte

Year 6- "Compassion in school is shown by everybody being considerate and showing empathy towards each other no matter what." Daisy

Spring Term 2: Hope

In our first assembly on 'Hope', we thought about what this means and the teachers shared their hopes for the children.

We also watched a video clip showing how the Israelites showed hope when they left Egypt with Moses and sang 'When you believe' by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.

 “For I know the plans I have for you” declares the Lord,“plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29 v 11

Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22 v 6

  So follow the steps of the good, and stay on the paths of the righteous. Proverbs 2 v 20

Collective Worship

At St. Michael's, we have collective worship every day and strive to involve our Christian community at every opportunity. On Mondays, members of the school community lead assembly. This might be staff or children led. Tuesdays see Father Ben from 'St Michael's and all Angels' come in for worship; Wednesdays are run by the ICE team; Thursdays are run by other members of the local faith communities and Fridays are the day when we join together and allow our hearts to beat as one as we sing and pray together.

Mrs. Sowden plans the assemblies so that our vision and values are interwoven with Understanding Christianity, PSHE and important festivals and religious dates as well as Remembrance Day, Online Safety, Children in Need and British Values. Each week is planned on a theme with links to Bible passages.

Each half term has a Values assembly with Mrs. Partridge at the start, and at the end of the half term with a class assembly looking at the impact that value has had on learning and behaviour. Jigsaw units are also linked. For example, this year, we started our Spring term, with an assembly about 'New Beginnings.'

After each assembly, children are encouraged to write 'Big Questions' on a star and discuss them as a class. These stars are then displayed in the class' 'Connection Corners'.

Promoting British Values at St Michael's

We are part of a British society, and it is important to us that children learn the universal principles of:

• Self-help
• Self-responsibility
• Democracy
• Equality
• Equity
• Solidarity
• Openness
• Honesty
• Social responsibility
• Caring for others

We will achieve these values, for all staff and pupils, by:

• Creating an open, inclusive ethos where children  and adults can be themselves, develop courtesy, respect and tolerance for others.
• Promoting mental health and wellbeing through our curriculum as well as using in house and external agency support.
• Promoting equality of opportunity outlined in our policies
• Having a clear code of conduct, where children are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions
• Encouraging collaboration as one of our core learning values
• Supporting and promoting leadership skills and responsibilities within the school
• Taking an active interest in our service and more vulnerable families

Our broad and balanced curriculum will promote these values by providing opportunities:

• to  celebrate diversity, different festivals and key celebrations in the year
• to learn about our nation and its heritage, for example Remembrance Service
• to learn about key British leaders, explorers and inventors
• to use of our local area
• that encourage a sense of community responsibility eg;  the local church, police and fire services etc.
• to learn about cultures and faiths; how are we different from one another, and how are we the same?
• to understand Exeter as part of a global community; learning about children from across the world
• to understand democracy and actively seek to include voting about improvements within the school. e.g. should be use Christmas crackers for our Christmas lunch and what should we call our new yurt?