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Our Christian Vision
Our Christian vision is for every child to love learning in a safe environment where they feel nurtured, valued and happy. We aim for a culture of exceptionally high expectations and an innovative approach to inspire our children to believe they can achieve excellence. This is rooted in our core values of kindness, friendship and respect.
Our Christian Parable
We believe our vision guides and influences all that we do and is the heartbeat of our school.
Our Christian Parable is the Parable of the Mustard Seed. At Thornton Dale we believe that this parable is a metaphor for our children who grow and blossom during their time with us. Each child is like a mustard seed, and each child grows and is supported within our school community. We hope that each child will have an experience of the 'Kingdom of God.' during their time here.
Our Christian Values
Our Christian values were chosen by children, staff and parents. We treat every child with the kindness, friendship and respect that they deserve as children of God. Our school community works tirelessly to ensure that every child is nurtured and enabled to flourish through our teaching and care.
Meet Our Reverends
Our school is supported by Reverend Sally Gough and Reverend Joe Kinsella who also support the churches in the benefice; Thornton Dale, Allerston, Ebberston, Ellerburn and Wilton where some of our children live.
Collective Worship
Collective Worship is a very important time in our school day where we come together and celebrate our Christian values and school vision. Our Collective Worship is a time for reflection and discussion with the children about the theme of the week and each child has the time to share their thoughts and ideas.
In Collective Worship, children are given the opportunity to praise God for the wonders of the world, to give thanks for God’s love and to learn about and celebrate the shared Christian values and vision which are the heartbeat of our school.
Weekly themes are linked to Biblical teachings and the Global planner. Collective Worship also allows the children to look out of their own experiences and understand the weekly theme within the wider world.
Our children are involved in every aspect of our Collective Worship. We have Global changemakers and Spiritual Leaders who plan, deliver and lead weekly Collective Worships. This allows children to take risks, grow in confidence and develop a deeper, reflective approach to their spiritual learning.
Children, teachers, governors and parents are also given the opportunity to evaluate worship and services, ensuring we are always improving our practice to meet the needs of our children and community. This monitoring is overseen by our Religious Education and Christian Distinctiveness Lead -Becky Humphreys.
Our Collective Worship Timetable is as follows:
Throughout the year, we gather together with the community to celebrate important times in the Christian calendar. Here are the services which we deliver throughout the year:
- EYFS and Year 6 - The Christmas Service
- Year 1 and 2 - The Christmas Nativity
- Year 3 - Harvest Festival
- Year 4 - Christingle
- Year 5 - Remembrance
- Lent and Easter - Whole School
Our Prayer Spaces
We have prayer spaces in every classroom. They are calm, comfortable and reflective spaces for our children to access. They include a bible, a cross, a candle, a copy of our parable and a reflective diary. In addition to this, we have a shared, central prayer space at the entrance to school for children, families and staff to access at all times
Reports
Click here for our latest report
Useful Links
- Click here to visit the Church of England website.
- The National Society is the educational division of the Church of England and has responsibility for inspecting church schools. Click here to visit their website
- We belong to the York Diocesan Family of Schools and Parishes. Our mother church is York Minster – Visit the Diocese of York web page here. As a diocese we have a vision that shapes how we grow and work together.
- Click here to visit our Religious Education learning page
