Our vision is to nurture and inspire our whole school community, to use their God-given gifts, to be the best that they can be, so that they can let their light shine to the world.

To do this we seek to inspire our children to have courage, to have respect and to have faith. 

Our vision is that our children will flourish in school and life.

We affirm the Church of England’s vision that such character education is “central to a Christian vision for education for ‘life in all its fullness’ and is concerned with developing virtues seeing them as ‘character in action’, grown through experience and demonstrated over time in word and deed.”

We recognise the “fundamental interdependence of character education and academic excellence for developing and celebrating human flourishing.”

In school we have have discussed what is means to have courage, what it is and how can we show it. 

Courage

“Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. “ (1 Corinthians 16:13).

In Christian terms, courageous stepping out is a response to the belief God is there I the space into which we step: you can step there because God is with you.

We recognize that our children need courage in life, and that it’s formation can happen in the classroom. We encourage children having the courage to speak up, to ask questions and to seek help.

The place of courage in education comes from a belief we are encouraging children to step out, supporting them as they do so. In this respect our school enacts the Church of England’s Vision for Education: “There is confidence that the pursuit of wisdom, knowledge and skills is consistent with how God has shaped the world and ourselves.”

Courage will be different for each child and we are sensitive to the particular obstacles that will draw out the courage in different individuals.

We also affirm the place of courageous advocacy – of knowing when and how to stand up for something whether that is for you or others.

Such a fostering of courage reflects the Church of England’s Vision that: “Good schools foster confidence, delight and discipline in seeking wisdom, knowledge, truth, understanding, know-how, and the skills needed to shape life well.”

Isaiah says of the people of God, “Each one helps the other, saying to one another, "Take courage!” (Isaiah 41:6).

At Thurnham Glasson C of E Primary School, we do that.

We believe our role, as Christians, is to be courageous advocates for the common good; locally, nationally and globally.  We want to help others because that is what Christ told us to do. 

We support a range of charities; locally, nationally and globally. Many of our charity work supports organisations suggested by the children.

We advocate standing up for what we believe and our Christian Values ensure that we all have opportunities to discuss big issues, to challenge injustice and to engage in activities that can bring about change.

Being a courageous advocate is about supporting, defending or speaking out on behalf of others; arguing for, or supporting a cause. We actively support charities and organisations that make a difference, and are passionate about many including those below: