Vision, Aims & Values

Our Vision

Nurture

Jeremiah 17:7-8

Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose confidence is in Yahweh. For he will be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green.

As a Church of England school, we believe in serving our community based on the love of God for everyone, sharing our canopy of safety and reflecting our love for one another. This means that we are an inclusive school that welcomes all. We foster strong relationships with our feeder nurseries, our families, our local and wider community and our church. We welcome and value everyone into our school community. We work hard to give our pupils the best start at school, identifying and addressing any needs through an inclusive environment. We believe in building self-confidence and resilience, aspiring children to take on challenges and achieve a sense of fulfilment both academically and spiritually, living out our Christian values.

Grow

Psalm 1:3

He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper.

We take our responsibility of enabling our children to grow in their knowledge, wisdom and relationships very seriously. Our enriching and inspirational educational experience has been designed for our children by our staff team, who know the children at this school so well, enabling them to grow strong physically, academically, spiritually and mentally. Our forest school provision and outdoor learning are essential to this and our wonderful grounds within the Surrey Hills locality provide opportunities for gardening, outdoor science and geography and a variety of lunch zones created by our School and Eco Council. There are many opportunities to develop courageous advocacy across the school, where children can strive to make a difference to our local community and beyond. Reading and Maths will always be at the centre of our focus; these key skills are fundamental to a pupil’s progression; we are rigorous and consistent in our teaching approach in these subject areas. We also recognise the importance of creative arts in creating rounded children and provide artistic, musical and dramatic opportunities for our pupils.

Flourish

Matthew 13:31-32

He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took, and sowed in his field, which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.

Each unique child develops in their own time and we recognise that our pupils will flourish in different ways as they grow. Rooted in our community, we celebrate achievements together at our weekly celebration worship, enabling every child to have a life long love of learning. There are wonderful opportunities to represent and serve our local community where we have deep roots, including sports competitions, through music and in partnership local events and societies. Our roots extend and serve beyond the local community with our wider projects such as ROAR, enhancing our wisdom and understanding of the world around us and giving us preparation and hope for the future.

Our Copper Beech Tree

Our whole community, pupils, staff, parents, Local Committee and CEO worked together to define the Christian vision that is lived by our community at Surrey Hills. The symbol of the copper beech tree, which provides shelter and a safe canopy of metallic radiance on the Green in Westcott, was chosen to represent our vision, an image of the theological roots.

Our Values

Love

Show love for ourselves and each other

Believe

Have confidence in ourselves and in those around us

Respect

Demonstrate respect for everybody and everything

Aspire

To challenge ourselves, do our very best and work hard

Achieve

To reach our full potential

Hope

To make every day a better one and envision the future

Our children believe that:

Together we nurture – to bring hope

The roots of a tree feed the children, the roots take the water for the children, they send signals to each other and they are healthier when they are together.
Our community, it doesn’t matter what age you are, we all play together
The school encourages us to do well.
We have lots of different opportunities eg sports, Bikeability, art, lego club
You are encouraged to create your own clubs and follow your own interests.
School showed me the love of reading and the different variety of books I can read.
School helped me discover what my passion was and what I want to get better at.

To grow – in the love of God, spiritual growth

We are all kind to each other.
We are all friends together.
Like a community, trees are stronger together
We have an assembly every day as we get to be altogether and learn more every day

To flourish - as a school community

We are encouraged to develop each other eg in Collective Worship when we celebrate each other’s success and when pupils run the library.
We work together in partners - your partner helps you and you help them.
Our teachers really help us to flourish to do really well not just quite well. They really care.
All feel safe and have good friendship.

Our parents believe that:

Together we nurture – to bring hope

Is to support children to their individual potential
Is to high expectations to reach their goals
Is to aspire to educational excellence to allow each child to achieve their god-given potential.
Is to give opportunities given beyond the classroom

To grow – in the love of God, spiritual growth

Celebrating growth
Providing nurture
Organic feel towards learning and growing
Naturally a proud feeling to succeed

To flourish – as a school community

Building on learning together
Wonderful to have a school that makes the most of the setting around it
Developing children as a whole
As a result of this, children feel proud of themselves and their school
It is lovely seeing children collectively celebrate each other's achievements
Encourages children to strive

Our Staff Believe That:

To nurture

Our curriculum is interesting and outward looking. It addresses many of the issues facing us in the 21st Century such as ecological issues, diversity and the importance of wellbeing.

To grow

Children flourish and care for each other and our natural world.
Learning outside enables children to develop spiritually and enhances wellbeing.

To flourish

Friday Collective Worship is a very special time of the week. It is a joy to see children genuinely pleased for other children’s success.
We all pull together and look out for each other.