We foster everyone’s potential and hunger for learning by serving up a wonderful diet of generosity, sharing and a sense of belonging. As a Church of England school, we welcome children from all faiths and none. Our vision is inspired by Jesus, but our message is universal. The story of Jesus feeding the 5000 speaks powerfully to us:
Matthew 14:14-21
Picture the scene: a large crowd made up of all sorts of people – all waiting to see and hear what Jesus would do. But it was getting late and the crowd had been following Jesus all day; they were tired and needed something to eat. Jesus recognised just how hungry they were and before he taught them he decided to feed them. Although there was a meagre amount of food, by some miracle, everyone got fed and in fact there were even left overs.
We love this story at St Mary’s because it has so much to say to us about our life together.
Firstly, it’s a MIRACLE…. and we expect miracles at St Marys! It seems the disciples didn’t really have any expectation that a miracle could happen and thought Jesus was being a bit silly when he asked them to feed the crowd. But Jesus wasn’t put off. He knew that within the love of God, anything was possible. So we have high hopes at St Mary’s of all our children. We look for that miracle, breakthrough moment for each and every child, delighting in their differences yet knowing that each of them has been endowed with a God-given gift.
Of course the focus of the story is on the SHARING of FOOD. Food is important to us at St Mary’s and the sharing of food is a key aspect of our life together. Whether we’re enjoying lunch at the hands of our catering team, collecting food for our church food bank, baking bread as part of a spirituality workshop, learning about the significance of sacred food in different religions, or talking about healthy living …. we understand the importance of food. And our school families love a good meal! We can all communicate over food and in sharing it we find we strengthen the bonds between us.
Jesus recognised the HUNGER of the crowd sat around him – it was a both a physical hunger and a spiritual hunger to hear and learn more from him. Here at St Mary’s we recognise the innate hunger in every child to learn and we make it our mission to feed eager young minds, bodies and hearts. We foster a love of learning, encouraging independent thinking and questioning whilst always ensuring children have the support they need to flourish and reach their potential. Our expectation is that every child will leave St Mary’s hungry to learn more as they seek to find their place in the world.
We are inspired by Jesus – the food he shared, the stories he told around the meal table and the way he brought all sorts of people together over a shared meal. We know that we all have something to bring to the table – it may not be bread or fishes but we believe each of us have a God given gift to be shared with others – a gift that will make our school and the wider world a better place.
So why not come and sit around the table at St Marys and you will discover a warm welcome and a great community!
The Spiritual Values to which we aspire are:
Kindness: in treating others as we would want to be treated ourselves. (Jesus knew the crowd was tired and hungry)
Truth: in the choices we make and in our dealings with family, friends, school and community. (The crowd had faith)
Courage: to stand up for what is right, overcome our fears and aspire to make a positive change.( The little boy with his packed lunch was brave)
Hope: about the future and know that tomorrow can be even better than today. (The crowd had hope that Jesus would help them)
Love: for ourselves and others, knowing that God loves us. (Jesus showed unconditional love to everyone)