RE and Collective Worship

Our Christian vision, which is threaded through all aspects of school life, is:

·         With God's love, we can fly.

·         We aim high and embrace life in all its fullness.

Our school vision bible verse-

·         "those who trust in the Lord, they will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles."- Isaiah 40:31

Our Christian Vision drives the work that we do at the school and forms the ‘heartbeat’ of our community. We are passionate in ensuring education- access for all; being inclusive in our approach to educational support and delivery within the community that we serve. This not only includes our pupils but also our staff and families. The whole school community live and breathe our vision and values.

Isaiah 40:31 contains a great promise of strength. We work with our children on developing and building up strength in the face of adversity and we provide them with the tools to build resilience in their approach to not only school, but all aspects of life.

Within this bible reading, the Israelites who first received this promise were worn out from their hardship, having lived in exile in Babylon for several decades and their perspective was darkened by despairing thoughts: “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God” (Isaiah. 40:27). They thought God either couldn’t help or didn’t care. Even though this vision has been part and parcel of the school for a long time now and the school has been here in Huxley, as a village school for 170 years, the vision remains the same. The reason I kept the same vision for our school is that I felt it now it has an even greater significance and relevance with the community that we currently serve. It has taken on a different perspective.

Isaiah uses the words ‘faint’ and ‘weary’. The Israelites were exhausted and burdened from the circumstances of life. They weren’t just weak in body, but weak in spirit. This is of particular relevance to the children and families we serve. Many of our children and families were at this point when they started with us. At a point at which they felt ‘weary’; they felt that they needed direction within their child’s education and whether they are practising Christians or not, the guidance and support was so desperately needed for so many. Some parents had become disillusioned by the education system, others felt that they had been let down. Our parents feel so strongly about the need for a ‘different’ educational approach for their children- Parental feedback illustrates this well-

‘Their level of understanding of all aspects of mental health is what initially prompted the move, however they became so much more. They promote individualism and encourage children to be their authentic selves whilst having high expectations of them too. All children feel safe, seen, heard and respected at Huxley. I believe it is this nurturing environment that allows our children to reach their potential.

‘I can’t tell you what a relief it is to finally see my child excited about school again’.

‘You have transformed my child’s educational experience. Thank you so much’

These few examples alone illustrate the strength of feeling behind the motives of our parents to enrol their children at Huxley.

We also believe our vision is very fitting for our children who needed (and continue to need) so much emotional support and guidance on starting with us. Isaiah 40:30 states “even youths shall faint and be weary; and young men shall fall exhausted”. Outlining that even people in their ‘prime’ and in perfect health, can grow weary and will have limits. Whether they were children where needs were not being met and they were at risk of Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance (EBSNA) or they were children who had never been in a place of formal education before, they needed support, nurture and guidance to help build strength to ‘aim high’ and resilience to ‘fly’ and achieve, enabling our children to be the best they can be and ‘embrace life in all its fullness’. We have many children who have experienced trauma or school anxiety. They need constant reassurance that as a school community we care and understand them. In our recent pupil survey 100% of our children felt safe in school and 93% said they felt ‘understood’ at Huxley.

As a staff, we now also see a renewed strength, as a school with our new approach, we feel that it is almost like a new school and we are excited about the new direction the school is moving in. We are proud to serve the community that we now have. One, as mentioned earlier, of children who otherwise may not be in formal education.

Isaiah continues to respond and explain the strength of God- You may grow faint, but God doesn’t. God is an endless source of strength, and he gives it generously’ “He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength” (Isaiah 40:29)

God is not too great to care, he’s too great not to care. This reflects our service to our school community, we care as He did. We support our families as we believe God would want us to.

Our Christian vision permeates all aspects of school life. Our children and families wellbeing is our utmost priority.

We are an inclusive school, where everyone has a valuable contribution to make to our school community. We recognise and appreciate that for many of our families, Christian faith is important whilst others may have other faiths or none. We are a Church of England school and therefore much of what we do is influenced by the Christian faith.

Our School Values, based on Christian principles are embedded and reflected in all that we do. Christian values are at the heart of our teaching and learning and we encourage all of our children to put these values into practice in every aspect of school life. Our values are: Compassion, Courage, Forgiveness, Friendship, Generosity, Justice, Perseverance, Respect, service, thankfulness, trust, truthfulness. They align with the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. Our PSHE curriculum works alongside our RE curriculum to embed these principles even further. Whilst we focus on all twelve principles, we focus on one in depth each term and explore this through our worship and classroom discussion.

Our Christian ethos, vision and values are considered in all decision making and is reflected in planning, policies and procedures throughout the school. We adopt a trauma informed approach to our behaviour management and use language of growth mindset and use strategies for perspective building to help

In the Bible, John 10 vs 10 tell us that Jesus said “I have come that they may have life in all its fullness.”  Life in all its fullness is about living a varied and full life full of learning, growing, supporting, finding joy and excitement and caring for each other. At school we aim to help each other to learn how to do this- this includes staff, parents and children with their peers.  We regularly acknowledge that is not always easy to live life in this way and so we help each other with the challenges we come across in our school work but also in life in general.  As a Church of England School we also look to Jesus to help and guide us. We have reflected on what “Life in all its fullness” means to us. Here are some examples of our reflections:

‘Be there to help each other. If someone falls, we help them up’ – M, Acorns class

“Make the most of your life, do your best, try hard at everything you do.” A, Oaks class

“Do your best to do everything you can do, listen carefully and work hard.” O, Oaks class

“Never give up, look for help in your friends and teachers. You can be resilient like our Huxley High 5!’ P, Acorns

Our original Christian vision was developed by staff, pupils, parents and governing body but it has been revisited, reviewed and developed further in light of the change in offer at Huxley more recently again

Our planned worship themes

TERM

Autumn

Spring

Summer

Roots and Fruits

2021-22

2023-24

Year A - Generosity

Year A - Compassion

Year A - Courage

Year A - Forgiveness

Year A - Friendship

Year A - Respect

2022-23

2024-25

Year B - Thankfulness

Year B - Trust

Year B - Perseverance

Year B - Justice

Year B - Service

Year B - Truthfulness