When parents come to St Wilfrid’s CE Primary for the first time, we often hear them marvelling at the caring, nurturing, family atmosphere of a school which also offers outstanding education. This is very much our vision for St Wilfrid’s CE Primary as well:
To grow a diverse and creative educational community where we encourage belonging and nurture believing: together becoming fulfilled and responsible members of God’s world.
This vision is rooted in Mark 4: 30-32... Jesus once told a story about a tree that grew from the smallest of seeds. As it grew larger and larger, the birds of the air were attracted from the shade and made nests in its many branches.
These ideas of Belonging Believing Becoming are more than just buzz words - they’re the guiding principles behind everything we do at St Wilfrid's CE Primary.
Belonging
- to each other in mutual support, respect and trust
- to the community of Didsbury and providing it with outstanding local primary schooling
- to the Diocese of Manchester, as part of a family of 191 Church of England schools
- to the world in which we live, caring for the whole of creation regardless of race, religion or background
Believing
- in our gifts and abilities, as each child is unique and valuable
- in our potential, as each child will be challenged and nurtured
- in our Christian faith, as each child will be guided by our church ethos and values
Becoming
- responsible and productive - a force for good in society
- engaged and pro-active - ready to change and challenge the world around us
- aware of our vocation, with a growing sense of purpose and preference
- well-rounded and self-aware, through a holistic and broad-based education
Our Christian Values
As a Church of England School, our Christian Values underpin all that we do. Throughout the year, we focus on a specific value in order to gain a better understanding of how these values impact the way we live. These are also planned and discussed with our Reverend Andrew Bradley from St Wilfrid's, who, when leading an act of worship, will also refer and explore these and how these can be applied in our lives and within our community.
Our Christian Values are communicated with our children, staff and parents/carers and governors at various levels, from daily communication, celebrations, monthly newsletters and so are regularly referred to, to help children fully understand what they mean and how they link in with their own lives. Our collective worships link closely to the values being explored, providing further opportunities for learning, reflection and application.
Our values are the foundations of our behaviour policy, and we use them to talk to the children about their actions, to help them to understand consequences. This then helps them to make changes and choices to ensure they are fallowing our values within school and in their own lives at home.
Our Christian Values are an integral part of our theologically rooted Christian Vision, based on the Parable of the Mustard Seed. Over the years, there has been a significant amount of discussion as to how this is lived out at St Wilfrid's. Working with children, Governors, parents and staff, these have evolved to underpin our work. In creating our Christian Values we recognise the great need for them to be rooted in biblical teaching, to help children understand what these values mean for us as people in an ever changing world and how Jesus' teaching around these values can help us to be valued members of society.
After careful consideration we have chosen six values rooted in the Christian tradition, which express what matters most in our school life. We use these values as a focus for our moral and spiritual development and you will see these highlighted in a variety of ways throughout school. We focus on each in turn through the school year and they become the themes for our Worship Time and celebrations. This helps us to understand the meaning of our Bible stories, our prayers and become a guide for how we treat one another.
At St Wilfrid's we have six Christian Values, which are at the heart of school life. These have been chosen and selected for certain times of the year, based on our school context, times in children's lives, times within our Church life etc.
- Generosity
- Forgiveness
- Community
- Compassion
- Perseverance
- Respect
Through our core values of Belonging, Believing, Becoming and our Christian Values of generosity, forgiveness, community, compassion, perseverance and respect; we will achieve our vision.
