Ethos and Values
We are a small, caring school where all pupils are valued, nurtured and encouraged to achieve to their full potential. Children are given the opportunity to develop their skills and talents through our exciting and creative curriculum and our most able pupils achieve to the highest levels.
Vulnerable pupils are supported through our programme of nurture and counselling and consequently make outstanding progress. Effort in all areas of the curriculum and for all children, is rewarded and self-esteem and self-worth are raised.
Links with parents are established early through a programme of pre-school to school readiness. All learning is seen as a partnership between pupils, school and respect for all, by all, is of the greatest importance.
At Benington C of E Primary School, we are courageous advocates in what is best for members of our community, locally and nationally. Please read more about this in our courageous advocacy document.
- Courageous Advocacy (79.60KB)
Christian Values
Stained Glass Window in Library
Our Christian Values Education underpins every thing we do at Benington School. Each half term we focus on one value in depth. We think about where this value is shown in the Bible and how Jesus showed them to other people. We also look at how they affect our everyday lives and build our characters.
At the start of some of our worship, we have some welcome words, which change slightly with each new value. The welcome words are :
- This day may we know
- The FORGIVENESS of God the Father
- The strength of God the Son
- The humility of God the Holy Spirit
The value shown in capitals changes each half term. It would be lovely if you could share these with your children, especially the younger ones. During the next half term our value will be friendship.
How do we link ‘forgiveness’ with our SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural) education?
1 John 1.9: But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away.
Mark 11.25: If you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you.
Spiritual Jesus came into the world to show us how much we are loved by God; by taking the sins of the whole world upon himself on the cross Jesus made forgiveness and a personal relationship with God possible. We strive to offer every member of our school community a life-‐giving encounter with the person of Jesus Christ.
Moral Following Jesus’ example, we always offer forgiveness and a fresh start to children and adults who have made mistakes. We teach that an individual’s behaviour can have a positive or negative impact on others and that this consideration must be paramount in deciding whether behaviour is appropriate. When sanctions are deemed necessary because behaviour falls short of expectations, we endeavour to demonstrate justice with compassion.
Social As a community whose life is founded upon Christian values we recognise that forgiveness, offered and received, will be at the heart of all our relationships. We teach about how we can show we are sorry in practical ways and equip individuals with strategies to prevent them from repeating mistakes in the future. We believe that learning from the past and not holding grudges will help to develop character by making us more resilient.
Cultural As a Church of England school, our behaviour policy is informed throughout by our Christian values. We try not to make assumptions about people or situations before knowing all the facts and circumstances. Decisions about sanctions are made carefully and after consultation. We teach children about the justice system in modern Britain and the emphasis on principles such as the presumption of innocence until proven guilty and the concept of restorative justice.
Big Questions
At Benington we encourage children to think about the world around them by asking questions about what they see, hear and experience. Humans have been asking ‘big’ questions for millennia: ‘How did the world come to be?’, ‘What happens after we die?’ and ‘Is there a meaning to life and, if so, what is it?’, to name just three. Many such questions are central to religions and worldviews, meaning that RE is a natural place to explore big questions and responses to them with pupils. We use Big Questions in collective worship and circle times to start discussions.
Open-ended questions have no right or wrong answers, but help to broaden children’s thinking processes, to develop their speech and language skills, and to build confidence in their ability to express themselves using words.
Our values for Year A are: |
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| Half term 1 |
Generosity |
Half term 3 | Courage | Half term 5 | Friendship |
| Half term 2 |
Care |
Half term 4 | Forgiveness | Half term 6 | Respect |
Our values for Year B are: |
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| Half term 1 | Thankfulness | Half term 3 | Perseverance | Half term 5 | Service |
| Half term 2 | Trust | Half term 4 | Justice | Half term 6 | Truthfulness |
Every classroom has a reflection area. These areas give us a place to focus our thoughts, reflect and pray. We can reflect on our Christian values or consider our “thought of the week.”
Thought of the Week
To support our pupil’s understanding of the Values, we have introduced the Thought of the Week. Each ‘thought’ links to the Value, allowing the children to think deeply about its meaning. The ‘thoughts’ encourage children to reflect on their own behaviour as well as others.
Each week the children’s behaviour will be celebrated during our whole school sharing assembly. Children who have tried hard to incorporate the Thought of the Week and Value into their learning will become Benington Bees. Children have the opportunity to nominate a class member to become a Benington Bee.
