The Deanery School Christian Ethos

 

Simply put: at Deanery we have the vision: Love God. Love Your Neighbour. Love Yourself.

Vision

‘Love God, Love your neighbour, Love yourself’ Luke 10:27

We believe that every child in our care is uniquely valuable, precious and deserves the chance to flourish.  Our vision is to show compassion through our actions, nurture respectful and loving relationships, and actively serve our local and wider community. We are committed to caring for God’s world and encouraging pupils to live responsibly and courageously within it.

Our ambitious curriculum is designed to help children achieve their very best. We encourage children to showcase and value their individual talents. 

A School Where God’s Children Thrive

We believe deeply that God’s desire is for His children to thrive in a happy, secure, and caring environment here at The Deanery. As part of our Christian ethos, we give thanks for God’s gifts of peace, love, faith, joy, grace, and hope, and we intentionally reflect these values throughout the life of our school.

Our School Motto – ‘Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam’ Translated this simply means ‘To the Greater Glory of God’.  

While our vision is rooted in Luke 10:27, our motto expresses how we seek to live it out: in all things bringing glory to God. We believe that everything we do is a response to God’s faithfulness shown through Jesus Christ. We aim for our actions to reflect God’s glory—both in the everyday moments and in the larger milestones of school life.

Beliefs and Values

We believe that God’s heart is for his children to thrive in a happy, secure, and caring environment at the Deanery.  It is an essential part of our Christian ethos that we thank God for how he has demonstrated peace, love, faith, joy, grace and hope to us. We seek to reflect these core values throughout all areas of life in the school.

We believe that education, strengthened by our faith, is the vehicle with which children can achieve their full potential.

The Deanery School Values

Below is a list of The Deanery School’s values and where they come from. The children are currently being taught what it means to embody these values, which have deep roots in scripture across the Old and New Testament.

Whilst learning about these values and where they come from, we are thinking about: How has God displayed these values to us? How can we faithfully respond by demonstrating these values to others?

We recognise that these stories in scripture are not the only places where God demonstrates our school values to us, but they are a good place to start.

Faith – Noah’s Ark – Genesis 6-8

Noah knew nothing about building boats when he built an ocean liner… but with God in our corner we can achieve things we never thought were possible.

Hope – Lost Sheep – Luke 15:1-7

Jesus is our shepherd, and he cares deeply about us. No matter how far we feel from Him, we always have hope because there is nothing that he wouldn’t do to bring us back home.

Joy – Mary Running from the Tomb – John 20:1-18

Some news is just too good not to share! When we learn something life changing, we can’t help but want to share it with those around us.

Love – The Good Samaritan – Luke 10:25-37

God loves all of us no matter who we are. He welcomes and cares for us all. Jesus said that your neighbour is the person you are least lightly to want to help. How can you serve and show love to people that you don’t get on with?

Grace – Prodigal Son – Luke 15:11-32

God never stops loving us, even when we make bad choices. He will always welcome us back home no matter what. How can we show this kind of forgiveness and compassion to others?

Peace – Calming the Storm – Mark 4:35-41

Even when the storms rage, we can still trust in Jesus. He calls us out to walk with him amongst the waves and calms every storm.   

School Culture

At the Deanery we aim to provide opportunities and experiences for everyone to learn and develop their social, creative and academic skills within a motivating and stimulating environment.

We aim to:

• Foster an environment that is enriched spiritually, morally, ethically and socially through the Christian faith.
• Value each child as unique, regardless of faith, ability, gender or ethnicity.
• Nurture children to be polite, respectful and considerate towards one another.
• Offer a range of opportunities and experiences to develop their confidence, self-esteem and independence.
• Encourage each child to fulfil their potential within all areas of the curriculum.
• Promote knowledge and understanding through a secure, stimulating and enriched environment.
• Create a broad educational experience that is enriched both morally and spiritually through partnership with staff, governors, parents, the local community, parishes of the Deanery and Birmingham Diocese.
• To enable each child to value themselves and have aspirations for the future.
• To recognise everyone’s place in the wider community.

 

Our School Motto: 

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

Translated this simply means

 ‘To the Greater Glory of God’