St Botolph's Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Christian Ethos

St Botolph's is a Voluntary Controlled Church of England School.

Together we are strong and powerful learners.

“Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.”1 Corinthians 12:14

This is probably the simplest and clearest statement about teamwork in the Bible. The body of Christ, or the people that are the whole of humanity, are a team. The body is not supported by one person, but by all of us. So if we want to be one, we are strongest when we work together in unity. Therefore teamwork is the key to living life in harmony, so that we can do God’s will.

At St Botolph’s Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, we believe it is important to develop core values by which to live and which help to develop a moral and spiritual awareness. We seek to explore the meanings of these core values and their significance through weekly acts of worship delivered by the Rector, with support from the local non-conformist church and the local Open the Book team. Values such as truthfulness, friendship, trust, courage, perseverance, compassion, service, respect, forgiveness, generosity and justice are what we want our children to leave with. Whilst 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.

Our core Christian Values are:

Friendship: This is a key concept in the Christian framework, with Jesus being criticised for being ‘the friend of sinners’ and eating with those whom society rejected.  Friendship is an undisputed value in our society.  Jesus’ stories of the heavenly banquet to which all are invited teach us that God desires barriers between people to be broken so all can live in a loving community around God and Jesus.  Thus trust is feeling comfortable in each other’s company, being able to share joys and sorrows. True friendship enables each person to grow and ensures that the unique individuality of each person is recognised. All this echoes the value placed by God on the preciousness of each person.

Courage:  From a Christian perspective courage can be defined as the ability to do something brave out of a motivation of the heart. Such courage always relies upon the supernatural power of God to strengthen and motivate the person to be courageous as children of God (Romans 5:3-5). The opposite of this is courage that relies on human strength and abilities and motivated by such things as self, greed and pride.

Respect: This involves listening when others are speaking and try not to talk over them; treating others as you would want to be treated yourself; using kind words, for in God’s sight everyone is special, everyone's opinion matters, everyone's contribution is important and everyone's feelings should be considered.

Forgiveness: Everyone makes mistakes, it’s part of being human. Sometimes our mistakes hurt others and then we need to say sorry and so ask for forgiveness. Sometimes the mistakes made by others hurt us. When this happens we need to be able to forgive them. Forgiveness can be difficult and costly but without it a new start is impossible.  Jesus came and died on the cross so that all might know that through Him our sins are truly forgiven.  He removes the stain sin causes as he washes us clean by removing our guilt caused by sin.

Truthfulness:  Christians believe that truth is revealed in the Bible and supremely in the person and life of Jesus Christ. Through Jesus’ teaching, we are given an insight into the nature of God and the way in which He means us to live.  This means we are to understand ourselves, by knowing our own strengths and weaknesses.  Truthfulness therefore involves; presenting ourselves in a way that shows who we really are; meeting any commitments or promises that we make; being accurate in our descriptions of ourselves and others, so that we do not mislead others.

Thankfulness:  This has always been at the centre of the life and worship of God’s people. ‘Songs of thankfulness and praise...’ are at the heart of Christian worship because thankfulness is directed towards God who gives and sustains life. Seeing the world as God’s creation underpins the way we approach everything in life, seeing it as a gift and not as a right.  Jesus gave thanks to God (Matthew 11.25) as He recognised His total dependence on His Heavenly Father.  Jesus encourages us to have a thankfulness that is wholehearted and stemming from a consciousness of the gifts and blessings that God has given us.

To find out more about our local church please click here.