Our School's Vision
Working with our community and church to ensure our children are spiritually, emotionally and educationally equipped for life now and in the future.
Ready for life now and in the future.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
When Jesus was on earth, he offered those he met the opportunity to make a choice. Many who came to see him were looking for something new. Jesus offered a different way to live, which changed not only individual lives but lives of whole families and their wider community.
Like the River Avon that flows with life through Twerton, we long to see a ‘River of Life’ transforming our school, church and local community.
At St Michael’s we are proud to be part of the family of St Michael’s Church and of our Christian ethos and distinctiveness. ‘Choosing life – Life in all its fullness ‘, underpins all that we do here at school. Through our weekly timetable all our children have access to a curriculum that helps them grow in Wisdom, Hope, Dignity and Community and we have chosen six Christian Values to focus on. We believe that God will help each child to have fun and enjoy life to the full here at school, and that lives will be changed which will flow out into our community to help bring about hope and transformation.
Our School Values - Wisdom, Forgiveness, Thankfulness, Compassion, Friendship and Trust
The story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 has inspired us to think about how the life-giving water that Jesus offered her is an invitation for everyone. The woman was from a different culture to Jesus, was an outcast and had had a difficult life, but Jesus accepted her and offered her another way to live.
We have chosen six values which are also reflected in this story.
Growing in Wisdom. Our children are encouraged to think about how the choices they make affect not only themselves but each other. They think about some of the people who can help them make wise choices at school and in the world. Jesus showed wisdom when he spoke to the woman at the well and helped her to make her choices. Our full curriculum enables the children opportunities to learn much about the world, themselves and equips them to navigate the future wisely.
Offering and accepting Forgiveness is difficult for us all but through doing so our children learn more of what it means to be forgiven. Jesus offered forgiveness to the woman at the well and Jesus’ ultimate example of showing forgiveness is shared as an example of God’s love and care for everyone. By forgiving one another the children learn to accept one another and get on with each other peacefully.
We celebrate being Thankful for our school, families, community and our world. Our children are happy and enjoy their learning and play at St Michael’s. Appreciating one another’s gifts helps enrich our life together and is important as we think of healthy minds and bodies.
As a school we value the concept of Community. Jesus taught about ‘Loving our neighbour as yourself’ and he lived this out when he showed Compassion to the woman at the well.
At St Michael’s we encourage the children to show Compassion to each other and to others outside our school family. Each class enjoys having ‘adopted grandparents’ in the local care home and we regularly support a range of Charities. We are richer as a school community in having children from a variety of ethnic backgrounds and celebrate their cultures and diversity.
Jesus taught people how to treat everyone with Dignity we aim to teach our children this too across all aspects of our learning.
Friendship is something that brings both joy and at times conflict in our school. We encourage our children to think about how to be wise about making friends, how to enjoy friends and make lasting friendships. We also think about how to mend broken friendships and look at some of the examples of how Jesus made friends with the marginalised and disadvantaged. As a school we enjoy OPAL (outside play and learning) as well as Forest School. Break and lunchtimes are a great time for children to enjoy creative play and learning with friends across the school.
Learning to Trust ourselves and each other at school and in the community are important lessons for us to learn. The woman at the well recognised Jesus to be someone who she could trust and so go out and make a new life for herself. We aim to teach our children how trusted adults and friends can help us feel more secure and able to make a difference in our world.
Through underpinning all our fun of learning and playing on these Values at St Michael’s our vision is to see our children Choosing Life – Life in all its fullness, lives that will flow out and help transform the local community and wider world.
And as a Bath and Wells Academy we Choose Life – Life in all its fullness John 10:10