Vision and Values
‘Learning Together for an Exciting Future’
At Malvern Parish our vision is for all children and adults to become aware of their God given gifts so they can flourish as individuals, achieve academically and build firm foundations for the future.
This vision is deeply rooted in strong Christian tradition and based upon:
“I have come that they may have life and have it to the full”. John 10.10
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29.11
We seek to develop our vision through our Christian values of Friendship, Respect, Trust, Peace, Truthfulness and Forgiveness and live out these values in every part of school life.
Theological Roots
As God's theology inspired us in creating this vision, John 10:10, this vision inspires every member of our community to make effective choices in fulfilling their potential.
Jeremiah was known as a weeping Prophet. He was sent by God to a crumbling nation to warn them of their impending demise. His message was one of repentance and restoration; he wanted people to change and follow God's path in order to give them hope and a future. At Malvern Parish CofE Primary school, we want all of our children to leave the school on the right path - one that will give them a bright future. We want our children to choose the path of courageous advocacy and stand up for what they believe in and provide a voice for good. We want our children to understand that they can all choose the right path in their academic endeavours and, through hard work, a bright future will be theirs. We want our children to be good citizens of their community and the world and follow the path of God's wishes, providing them with hope and a bright future.
- Junior Leadership Team Our Vision
Church of England Vision for Education
Deeply Christian, Serving the Common Good
The vision is deeply Christian, with the promise by Jesus of ‘life in all its fullness’ at its heart. Our vision embraces the spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional, moral and social development of children and young people. We offer a vision of human flourishing for all, one that embraces excellence and academic rigour, but sets them in a wider framework. This is worked out theologically and educationally through four basic elements which permeate our vision for education:
Educating for Wisdom, Knowledge and Skills
Good schools foster confidence, delight and discipline in seeking wisdom, knowledge, truth, understanding, know-how, and the skills needed to shape life well. They nurture academic habits and skills, emotional intelligence and creativity across the whole range of school subjects, including areas such as music, drama and the arts, information and other technologies, sustainable development, sport, and what one needs to understand and practise in order to be a good person, citizen, parent, employee, team or group member, or leader.
Educating for Hope and Aspiration
In the drama of ongoing life, how we learn to approach the future is crucial. Good schools open up horizons of hope and aspiration, and guide pupils into ways of fulfilling them. They also cope wisely with things and people going wrong. Bad experiences and behaviour, wrongdoing and evil need not have the last word. There are resources for healing, repair and renewal; repentance, forgiveness, truth and reconciliation are possible; and meaning, trust, generosity, compassion and hope are more fundamental than meaninglessness, suspicion, selfishness, hard-heartedness and despair.
Educating for Community and Living Well Together
We are only persons with each other: our humanity is ‘co-humanity’, inextricably involved with others, utterly relational, both in our humanity and our shared life on a finite planet. If those others are of ultimate worth then we are each called to responsibility towards them and to contribute responsibly to our communities. The good life is ‘with and for others in just institutions’. So education needs to have a core focus on relationships and commitments, participation in communities and institutions, and the qualities of character that enable people to flourish together.
Educating for Dignity and Respect Human dignity
The ultimate worth of each person, is central to good education. The basic principle of respect for the value of each person involves continual discernment, deliberation and action, and schools are one of the main places where this happens, and where the understanding and practices it requires are learned. This includes vigilant safeguarding. It is especially important that the equal worth of those with and without special educational needs and disabilities is recognised in practice.