Our Vision, Values and Aims

Church School Vision

Emmaus is an organisation based on Christian principals, values and aims.  Serving two Church of England primary schools we use the following phrase to encapsulate our Christian vision…

Two travellers are transformed and enriched by sharing their journey with a guide.  We view our work to be similar in making a difference to future lives.  We travel together on our journey of transformation and commit our school to always being supportive, nurturing and challenging.

All in our team are committed to the Emmaus Philosophy.

As in the gospel story of two travellers who meet and are transformed and enriched by sharing part of their journey with a guide, we view our work with children to be a similar brief opportunity to make a life long difference to their future lives.

For part of the children’s life journey we will have the privilege to walk with them. During these fleeting years, we commit to ensuring that your child is enriched, challenged, supported, comforted and developed, to be the best that they can be in all that they do.

Our Founding Values:

• Love
• Respect
• Inclusion
• Compassion
• Forgiveness

Church School Vision, Values and Aims

• We believe that children lie at the very heart of everything that we do, each with their own talents to be shared and developed, regardless of gender, race, background, faith or ability.
• We believe that children learn best when they are having fun, feeling happy, safe and secure within a warm welcoming and respectful environment.
• We believe that children should be encouraged, supported, challenged and developed to realise their full potential in all aspects of their life.
• We recognise that their childhood is fleeting, and as such every moment should be celebrated and every achievement shared.
• We believe that our children should grow up in an environment where they can encounter the widest possible range of high quality, inspirational learning opportunities.
• We value and encourage the links made between the school, the family at home and all in our village communities.
• We aim for all children to become independent thinkers, lifelong learners and positive participants in the school and wider community.
• We aim to develop positive attitudes towards personal health through physical and mental well being.
• We aim for children to recognise and value cultural and faith diversity within the local and global community. Developing life long attributes of acceptance, respect and understanding.

Curricular Aims

The aim of our curriculum is to prepare the children for the future, both in education and in life. To do so, the children need to have a solid understanding of the National Curriculum, which is taught in full and brought to life through a variety of rich and vibrant cultural experiences.
The ambitions for our curriculum:

• High aspirations permeate across the school
• The school offers a host of cultural experiences and enrichment opportunities
• Our pupils develop a love of life-long reading
• British Values are an intrinsic part of the school

We use the strap-line, “Small Village, Big Horizons” to articulate our vision for the school. This is because Lincolnshire is an isolated area-in terms of transport, culture and location. We want our curriculum to expand the experiences and ambitions of our pupils. We want our pupils to learn about local knowledge alongside national and global information. For example, the local area is explored through the history of the Pilgrim Fathers or pupils are able to compare and contrast our local environment with that of English cities and places across the wider world, such as America and Eastern Europe (the latter because many of our children are from countries in eastern Europe).
We are passionate about reading in school. We want our children to have a wide and expressive vocabulary. We do this by delivering early phonics teaching and ensure our books are phonetically matched. We teach literacy through text-based writing and we use Accelerated Reader and daily reading carousels.
The school promotes the British values of democracy and respect for others. Our topics are culturally diverse and fit with our ‘Small Village, Big Horizons’ theme. For example, we teach a topic on The British Empire which looks at the contributions that have been made by members of the British Empire alongside some of the barriers and prejudices faced. We ensure British values underpins everything we do and pride ourselves on being a caring and welcoming Church of England primary school based in rural Lincolnshire.