Christian Values

At Mordiford Primary school we treasure each individual, believing that everyone is unique and valued by God. We create a nurturing, inspiring and challenging learning community rooted in Christian values : compassion, respect and love. We provide an outstanding education for our pupils underpinned by a growth mindset philosophy enabling our pupils to be responsible, confident and empowered so they can grow and flourish as young adults.

The teaching of values at Mordiford is both explicit and implicit and aims to enrich our lives by sharing lessons and tools to develop each individual spiritually and morally. We teach our Christian values explicitly through collective worship assemblies and PHSE or RE lessons in class; our values are also taught implicitly as we lead by example.

We celebrate our values and recognise children who are great role models for others every Friday during Celebration Assemblies and children learn to recognise and appreciate these values and can give ‘thank you’ tickets to their friends. We hold termly ‘thank you’ tea parties with our governors and the Headteacher.

We have 3 core values at Mordiford which stand above the rest :

Love, Compassion, Respect

In the bible we learn God is love and that he showed his love for us when he sent his son, Jesus, to live on earth. In Mordiford, love forms a foundation for all we do: love for our school, love for learning, love for our environment, love for ourselves and love for one another.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Corinthians 13 4-7

We learn of the constancy of love. We learn about being a good friend, skills being taught explicitly through ‘Friendology’ and PHSE lessons about relationships. We show each other love through small acts of kindness, often without being asked, we encourage each other with kind words and show our gratitude by saying thank you. We learn to love our world and all the creatures in it, our learning helps us to develop environmental consciousness so we are prepared to take action to make a difference.

‘A new commandment I give unto you is to love one another, just as I have loved you’ John 13 v 34

We learn about love from biblical characters such as : Mary & Joseph, Ruth & Naomi and Moses, also through stories Jesus told like ‘The Lost Sheep’, ‘The Prodigal Son’, ‘The good Samaritan’.

Compassion is about caring how others feel, trying to understand their point of view and knowing when to offer help or support. It’s about being proactive and going ‘above and beyond’ for other people. Being compassionate, we care about the well-being of all those in our school community. We aim to follow God’s example.

‘But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger abounding in love and faithfulness.’ Psalm 86:15

We show our compassion in our charitable work : learning about the problems people face and taking steps to do something about it, we pray for those who need it. We try to be kind to everyone, even if we are not friends to them or we don’t always get along. We show ‘random acts of kindness’. We are courageous in standing up for people and for our environment.

‘Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud…do not be conceited’ Romans 12:16

We show good sportsmanship, fair play and generosity when playing or competing. We collaborate and value each person’s contributions in class, even if we disagree. We learn about ‘bucket filling’, that when we fill someone else’s bucket (with an act of kindness), we fill our bucket too (it makes us feel good).

We learn about compassion in Biblical stories, like ‘The Good Samaritan’, ‘Joseph & his brothers’, Jesus healing the sick, feeding the 5,000, healing a leper.

We ‘treasure each individual’ recognising that we each bring unique talents to the community and that our differences make us, collectively, stronger. We learn to treat each other as we would like to be treated.

‘Love your neighbour the same as you love yourself’ Mark 12 : 31

Respect is the foundation for all relationships in our community, with respect, we treat others how we want them to treat us, we ensure each person is treated equally, regardless of our differences. We learn to value each other through tolerance, honesty and trust. Respect for our school means we are thankful for the resources and spaces we have to enjoy and will look after them. Respect for our environment means we will be proactive in looking after it, by connecting with local environmental groups and taking action in the way we live our lives.

At Mordiford, we have a history of strong connections with schools across Europe through participation in the Comenius project. These links give our students opportunities to look beyond their local and national borders, it helps them understand and respect different perspectives, understand the need to be inclusive and fair in the way we live our lives.

We learn about respect in Biblical stories like : Zaccheus the Tax Collector, Jesus in the Temple.

During collective worship we learn and reflect on different Christian values. We want to share this learning with you at home, so each half term there will be a different value to think about, supported by activities you can do with your children at home. Children can bring their artwork for a Values display in the hall.

This half term our value is RESPECT and here are the activities for you to explore together.

We will be sending home resources for family values each half term as follows :

Mordiford CE Primary is a church academy school and part of the Hereford Diocese.  We were very proud to be graded GOOD in our last SIAMS inspection (2015). The school has high standards in all areas which stem from the ‘Treasure Each Individual’ driven ethos based on our Christian character. The Christian vision also has a powerful impact on children’s learning and understanding of the community.

Our school sits across the road from Holy Rood Church, which is a central part of school life.  Here we celebrate the key Christian festivals, hold Collective Worship and learn about the Christian faith in RW. Rev. Chris Moore is a regular visitor in school and a strong supporter of all we do through his role as Chair of Governing body and as our incumbent.

Worship and Spirituality at Mordiford occupies a central part in the children’s experiences and takes place on a daily basis in some form or another, e.g. whole school, year group, key stage or class worship.  All staff take an active role in either leading or taking part in worship throughout the week. Worship is also linked to our Christian vision, curriculum topics, special times throughout the year or the Christian values to widen children’s thinking and to strengthen the Christian context of their learning. We view Spirituality at Mordiford as ‘Treasuring Each Individual’ and giving them the opportunity to explore the person within and how they use it to enrich their lives and the lives of others.

Click here to see our last SIAMS Report.