Our Vision, Values and Aims
‘Finding strength in God, soaring on wings like eagles’
Our Christian Vision
Our Christian vision is that all children and adults in school are able to gain strength from unconditional acceptance, love and careand, as a result, can flourish through opportunity and relationships, as fully-rounded, strong human beings, living life to the full with hope for a bright and satisfying future.
As a school with a Christian foundation and Christian vision, St Mark’s is completely inclusive, welcoming to, and accepting of, all. This includes people of the Christian faith, other faiths and no faith.
Our vision is based on these words of the prophet Isaiah, found in the bible, and on the image of the winged lion, symbol of St Mark:
“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Isaiah chapter 40 verse 31
Our Values
Underpinning this vision, and providing a solid foundation for behaviour, personal development and human flourishing, are our 15 Christian values:
Compassion, Creation, Endurance, Fellowship, Forgiveness, Friendship, Hope, Humility, Justice, Peace, Reverence, Service, Thankfulness, Trust and Wisdom
While we do not claim these values as exclusively Christian, we believe that the bible has a lot to say about each one. Our hope is that by learning and working in an environment where these values are taught, modelled and celebrated, all children and adults will be able to flourish.
Each term we take one of these values and explore what the bible has to teach about it, what wisdom relating to it we can find in other teachings and faith traditions and how the value should impact on our behaviour in school. Our Code of Conduct and Behaviour Strategy are built around the expectations inherent in these values.
Adults and children can nominate others in school for St Mark’s Values Awards. These are the way in which the values are celebrated because stories are told of how they have been demonstrated in the day to day life of the school.
Although challenging, and highly aspirational, we see these values as a starting point and key criteria for action, development and strategic decision making. We are not perfect and mistakes are made, however we expect all adults in school to model these values to the best of their ability.
Our Aims
Inspired by our Christian vision, and building on the foundation of our Christian values, we aim the achieve the following:
to lead and guide adults and pupils in relationships and activities, giving them agency to be able to flourish and grow
to support, recognise and celebrate the achievement and progress of all children
to develop effective learning behaviours
to encourage spiritual development and engagement with the big questions of human existence, supported by high quality shared community experiences in collective worship times and RE lessons
to keep children safe through the application of rigorous safeguarding policy, procedure and practice
to encourage progress, maintain high standards and constantly strive for improvement
to be a focal point, support and resource for the wider community
to take all opportunities for exercising ‘courageous advocacy’ locally, nationally and globally
to have close and mutually supportive links with the local church and other churches in Kendal
to develop strong links with other educational providers
to work openly and in partnership with the Kendal Collaborative Partnership (our cluster of local schools) and the Kendal Primary Partnership (the sub-cluster of local primary schools)
to be welcoming, accessible and actively encouraging of parental involvement
to participate enthusiastically in educational initiatives
to participate in a wide range of sporting and cultural events
to provide high quality, relevant professional development for all staff
to maintain the fabric of the building and its environment to ensure safety and inspire learning
to build our educational practice on recent, rigorous research