St Uny C of E Academy

Ethos, Aims & Values

All that we do at St Uny is underpinned by our Christian vision and values.

Our vision is to be a positive, loving school where children are equipped to live well with Jesus Christ and with others.

The Bible verse "Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven", Matthew 5:16 inspires our holistic approach to education, where we help every pupil to find, develop and show their varied skills and talents, for the benefit of themselves and others.

The school community worked together to select our three whole-school Christian values.

They are:

Forgiveness

Friendship

Respect

Each value has an accompanying Bible story to help us to consider the message of each value.

The parents have chosen:

Forgiveness – Jonah and the Whale (The Book of Jonah)

The pupils have chosen:

Friendship – The Parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15)

The staff have chosen:

Respect – Noah’s Ark (Genesis 5)

Spiritual Development

Spiritual development relates to fundamental questions about the meaning and purpose of life which affect everyone; it is not dependent on a person’s religious beliefs or affiliation. It has to do with the universal search for individual and communal identity. ‘Life in all its fullness’ means giving emphasis to physical and intellectual development, while also meeting the needs for spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

Defining Spiritual Development

Spiritual development can be explored through four lenses:

Self (being a unique person and understanding self-perception).

Others (how empathy, concern, compassion and other values and principles affect relationships).

World and Beauty (perceiving and relating to the physical and creative world through responses to nature and art).

Beyond – (relating to the transcendental and understanding experiences and meaning outside the ‘everyday’).

At St Uny CE Academy, we have adopted the 'Windows, Mirrors and Doors' approach towards spiritual development.

Windows: giving children opportunities to become aware of the world in new ways; to wonder about life’s ‘WOWs’ (things that are amazing) and ‘OWs’ (things that bring us up short). In this children are learning about life in all its fullness.

Mirrors: giving children opportunities to reflect on their experiences; to meditate on life’s big questions and to consider some possible answers. In this they are learning from life by exploring their own insights and perspectives and those of others.

Doors: giving children opportunities to respond to all of this; to do something creative as a means of expressing, applying and further developing their thoughts and convictions. In this they are learning to live by putting into action what they are coming to believe and value.