Our Mission
Our mission is at the core of everything we do. Our school values, derived from this mission, underpin our teaching and learning, and provide an environment which prepares our pupils as confident, happy citizens. As a Catholic school our moral purpose is to translate our mission of ensuring that our pupils experience the highest quality education, that puts Christ at the centre of their lives, into reality.
Our Mission Prayer was created through consultation with pupils, parents, teachers and governors. It reflects our commitment to ensuring that all our pupils grow in their faith and their learning to become the best version of themselves that they can be. We pray our Mission Prayer every day as a reminder of all that we hope to be.
The school curriculum is underpinned by three pillars: live wisely, think deeply, love generously (Pope Francis in Laudato Si). God’s teachings are the foundational pillars for our whole curriculum. The Catholic Social Teachings (CST) of the church are our moral compass, guiding us on how to live out our faith in the world. CST inspires us to see every person as a child of God and Pope Francis calls us to collectively protect our common home.
Our mission, translated into our values, prayer and the entire curriculum, ensures our pupils leave St Joseph’s with a love of the Word of God, the desire and ability to think deeply about issues near to and far from our school community and a passionate understanding of how to live sustainably, working actively to improve all these for the common good.
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Mission Prayer We pray our school will be a place of great discovery, creativity and adventure. May it be a place where we love to learn and we learn to love. A place where everyone is respected and all are deeply valued. We ask all this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. |
Our School Values
Our children, staff, parents and governors collaboratively decided on which values we felt were most important to us at St Joseph's. Each half term we will explore our DISCOVERY values through collective worship, RE and PSHE&C lessons. These values express our desire to discover ourselves as learners living in God's image, as part of our school, as part of our parish community and as part of our wider British community.
Our DISCOVERY values are: Determination, Independence, Serve God, Courage, Open-mindedness, Victory, Encouragement of others, Resilience and a Yearning for Learning. Each value is taken from a bible story as that is how we can learn as children of God.
Our school values link directly to the Catholic Pupil Profile virtues,
which we aspire to embody throughout our lives:
BRITISH VALUES
At St Joseph's Catholic Primary School we value the backgrounds of all pupils and families and undertake a variety of events and lessons to celebrate these. We have found this approach to be enriching for all parties as it teaches tolerance and respect for the differences in our community and the wider world. Underpinning all of this is a range of curriculum topics, which have strong links to our British history and culture. Details sharing how key British Values are embedded in our curriculum are contained in our termly curriculum leaflet to parents.
At St Joseph's Catholic Primary BRITISH values are reinforced regularly and in the following ways:
Democracy
Democracy is rife within the school. Pupils have the opportunity to have their voices heard through our School Council and Pupil questionnaires. The elections of school councillors and House Captains are based solely on pupil votes. Our school behaviour policy involves our DISCOVERY values awarded to pupils by any member of staff for being a role model and demonstrating appropriate values.
The Rule of Law
The importance of Laws, whether they be those that govern the class, the school, or the country, are consistently reinforced throughout regular school days, as well as when dealing with behaviour and through school collective worship. Pupils are taught the value and reasons behind laws, that they govern and protect us, the responsibilities that this involves and the consequences when laws are broken. Visits from authorities such as the Police, Fire Service etc. are regular parts of our calendar and help reinforce this message.
Individual Liberty
Within school, pupils are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. As a school we educate and provide boundaries for young pupils to make choices safely, through provision of a safe environment and empowering education. Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and advise how to exercise these safely, for example through our Online Safety and RHE lessons. Whether it be through choice of challenge, of how they record, of participation in our extra-curricular clubs and opportunities, pupils are given the freedom to make choices.
Mutual Respect
Part of our school ethos and behaviour policy revolves around our DISCOVERY values and our Courtesy Award, and pupils have been part of discussions and assemblies related to what these mean and how they are shown. Posters around the school promote respect for others and this is reiterated through our classroom and learning rules, as well as our behaviour policy.
Tolerance of those of Different Faiths and Beliefs
This is achieved through enhancing pupils understanding of their place in a culturally diverse society and by giving them opportunities to experience such diversity. Assemblies and discussions involving prejudices and prejudice-based bullying have been followed and supported by learning in RE and RHE. Members of different faiths or religions are encouraged to share their knowledge to enhance learning within classes and the school.