Earl Sterndale School Vision and Values

Making Good Decisions Together

‘So you will walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous…’ - Proverbs 2:20 

Our vision and values are at the core of everything we do. As a small school community with a close-knit family ethos, they underpin all our decisions around teaching and learning, and provide an environment which prepares our pupils to become confident, cooperative, happy members of their community in line with the British Values.

Our vision - Making Good Decisions Together - is grounded in the teachings of Jesus and aims to develop thoughtful, caring, well-behaved children with enquiring minds, a spirit of curiosity, respect for themselves, others and the environment as well as making good decisions about keeping safe.

This is underpinned by making the right decisions together. The Bible teaches us to make good decisions and to follow the right path. We are beset each day with choices and we have lots of decisions to make. Very often it can be hard to choose correctly and with justice, safety and what is right at the heart of what we decide. Our aim is to give our children the skills, knowledge and wisdom needed to make the right decision – in their learning, with their friends, in the community, with their behaviour, in shaping their values and principles, so that they will have the resilience and adaptability to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

Respect                       Community                     Resilience

Making Good Decisions Together

Learning                       Behaviour                           Safety

Our Values

To achieve our vision, we aim to abide by the following values:

To create a learning environment that is at once happy and relaxed, yet hard-working and focused.

By creating a calm, safe, secure, relaxed and above all happy learning environment, children can feel confident about learning in a way that is accessible and inclusive, but also challenging. By valuing the contributions children make, we shall create learners who are successful in all they do. We aim for a culture of learning where being successful in all areas of school life is celebrated and fundamental to our existence.

To deliver learning experiences for our children that are meaningful, challenging and inclusive.

We ensure all our children become confident, independent learners with an enthusiasm for acquiring knowledge.  Challenge is at the heart of successful learning and everyone aspires to ‘achieve or be more’.  Children are taught to understand how they learn and the skills they need to work through and conquer each new challenge.  They are taught the process of learning and understand that making mistakes can be part of this process and should be seen as positives. 

 To involve all the school’s stakeholders.

A successful school is one that will involve all the people who are affected by it directly – children, staff, governors, parents, the church, the community the school serves, local industry, the Local Authority and other relevant agencies. We support our children to develop and maintain positive relationships and have respect and value both for themselves and others. Opportunities are provided for children to build relationships within our community that encourage our children to be proactive in their responsibilities towards the local community and the wider world. 

To encourage the children to be healthy, active and safe.

By encouraging the children to lead healthy, active, safe lifestyles we hope to make them lifelong participants in an active, healthy, safe lifestyle. We ensure that the curriculum and resources are flexible, adaptable and relevant for the needs of all learners in an evolving world and encourage individuals’ interests and aptitudes to flourish.

To promote a small school, family ethos, grounded in Christian values.

Our school is constantly trying to instil in our children the values of Christianity – tolerance, reconciliation, patience, a love and respect for the world and community around us and a feeling of peace and belonging.

All of these values can be traced theologically to the teachings of the Bible (see Theological Roots page on this website).