Value of the Month
At Little Dewchurch CoE Primary School we teach our children, staff and wider community Christian Values throughout the year. We explore the distinctive Christian character of our school through these values. Each month, a new Christian value is introduced which is our focus for that time. We encourage the children to demonstrate these values and love to hear from the children about which values they have seen both inside and outside of school and the ways in which the values have helped them and guided their lives.
Our Christian Values are:
September - Resilience
The value of resilience can be found in many of Jesus' teachings. Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. It's important that we teach our children about:-
- how to can bounce back when faced with difficulties in school over work
- how to can bounce back when faced with difficulties with friendships
- how to can bounce back when faced with difficulties when things are hard to understand at home.
Key bible Story - Moses in the book of Exodus.
In the Book of Exodus, Moses is an important figure with some serious rebound power. He was born into slavery in Egypt and rose in importance within the ruling family. He fled Egypt and eventually found himself, meeting an angel from God in a Burning Bush. Moses led his people, the Israelites, away from Egypt after bringing plagues to that country as directed by God.
October - Respect
The value of respect is mentioned a lot in the bible. One of the most famous is: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you - Matthew 7:12
Ways we can show respect.
Respect yourself
- Treat others the way you would like to be treated
- Respect others’ thoughts, ideas and beliefs
- Embrace difference
- Look after your belongings and your equipment
- Take care of our school
- Take care of our environment
- Gain respect by giving respect
- Forgive others and seek reconciliation
Key Bible Story: The Widow's Coins (Mark 12, Luke 21)
Jesus was at the temple with the disciples. Here he witnessed something which he used to teach the disciples about giving. He sat across from the treasury of the temple and watched many rich people put in large sums of money. Then a poor widow came along and put in two small copper coins. Jesus teaches the disciples that the woman gave more than the rich.
November - Kindness
The Value of Kindness is shown many times throughout the bible. One of the most prominent verses is: 1 Corinthians 13:4 - Love is patient, Love is Kind.
Kindness is the the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. At school we can all show this by:
- Hold the door open for your teacher or headteacher.
- Let someone else go in front in the queue to go out to play.
- Help a friend who's stuck on their classwork.
- Clear up a mess you didn't make.
- Offer to hand out the fruit and milk at snack time.
- Hang up someone's coat if it's fallen off its peg.
The Value of Hope is shown through many Biblical writings. Christians see their hope in God’s promise “ that love and goodness have, and will ultimately overcome all evil.” This hope is manifested in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
- good friendships
- doing well in lessons
- good test results
- fun playtimes
It's also really important that children have something to hope for and our aim is that through teaching them this value they will raise their goals and expectation in life.
Key Story - The parable of the Prodigal Son. Luke 15:11-32
In this parable, Jesus is telling us that God's love is constant, and that even when we choose to turn away from God's love it is still there and we have the hope that when we say sorry, we can can come back to it.
January – Understanding
The Value of understanding is really important to all of us in school. Understanding is taught through many different lessons for all sorts of reasons. Understanding is the ability to understand, comprehend or simply to be aware of something. Understanding enables us to be sympathetic, tolerant and help us make good judgements. The are many examples of stories in the bible where understanding is shown. Christians seek to be understanding and to share God’s love. At school staff and students try to show our understanding by:
- listening to each other
- responding kindly
- forgiving each other
- playing other people’s games
Key Story – The parable of the Wise and Foolish Builder. Matthew 7:24-27
In this parable, Jesus tells his followers that a wise man builds his house on the rock or a strong foundation. There are many places in the Bible where Jesus is called this rock, the foundation of faith. When we have faith, Christians believe he will guide us in knowledge and understanding to build our lives on the strong foundation of his wisdom.
February - Love
The Value of love pervades all parts of our school. We love learning, we love our friends, we love good books and we love those things in life that make us feel good. These can be people, places or things. Love is defined as to have affection for something. We recognise that God’s love is different to these kinds of love because God IS love. We can show our love in many different ways, through words, through body language (a smile) or through physical contact (a hug). At Little Dewchurch we encourage staff and pupils to show and recognise love in many different ways:
- through friendships
- sharing
- kindness
- spending time with or on something
- not always wanting to get our own way.
Key Story – The parable of the Prodigal Son. Luke chapter 15:11-32
In this parable, Jesus demonstrates Love by showing the reaction of the father towards his son. Despite the son doing many things wrong, the father forgives and welcomes back his son because he loves him. The son had decided to change his life and asked for forgiveness. God is the same, he is always happy when we come back to Him.
March – Honesty
The Value of honesty is really important to us all in school. It is the cornerstone of how we treat each other and what we encourage in one another. Honesty is being truthful and sincere in our words, actions and intentions. We can all be honest at school by:
- Being fair in playtimes
- Being sincere in our promises to each other
- Being genuine in what we intend.
Key Story –Zacchaeus the Tax Collector. Luke 19:1-10
Zacchaeus was a tax collector, known for how rich he had become. Everyone knew that he was dishonest and keeping some tax money for himself. But one day, Jesus came to Zacchaeus’ town and Zacchaeus had the chance to meet him. In fact, Jesus went to his house! What Zacchaeus did next was amazing. He told Jesus that he would give half of his possessions to the poor and that he would pay people back 4 times what he had cheated them. Not only does Zacchaeus see the error of his ways, but he has a total change of heart. He no longer wanted to live a dishonest life, but an honest one. At Little Dewchurch Primary School we can always make the decision to do the right thing and be honest.
April – Peace
The Value of peace is focussed on at Little Dewchurch Primary school every year. Christians place great value on peace and it is written about constantly throughout the bible. To create a state of mutual harmony between people or groups, especially in personal relations is very important so we focus on it during April. We encourage our staff and pupils to find peace at all times. This could be through:
- Being a peacemaker between friends
- Showing how to be peaceful to others
- Forgiving other people
- Sharing
- Finding time to be still and reflective
Key Story – The story of Abigail, David, and Nabal. 1 Samuel chapter 25
During the time David was running from King Saul, he sent some of his men to ask a landowner named Nabal to share some food and supplies. Nabal was mean and said no and insulted David, who told his men to get ready to fight. But Nabal’s wife Abigail was wise and kind! She took David supplies and food and encouraged him not to attack Nabal in revenge. David thanked her for stopping the attack and keeping the peace!
May - Appreciation
The Christian value of appreciation is important at our school. In the bible it says ‘Be compassionate and kind to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.’ Ephesians 4:32
Everyone matters, no one is more important than anyone else and we should appreciate all in our community for what they bring to us. Ways we can appreciate others:
- Take care of others
- Forgive one another
- Use your voice and hands for kindness
- Care for our world and our environment
- Be humble, recognise other people’s achievements
- Think about others, listen to their thoughts and ideas
- Stand in some else’s shoes
Key Bible Story The Good Samaritan (Luke 10)
The story of the Good Samaritan, as told by Jesus in one of the gospels of the New Testament. A traveller is beaten up and robbed, and left for dead along the road. A priest comes by, but deliberately avoids the man. A lawyer also comes by but he too avoids the injured. Finally, a Samaritan comes by, and he helps the injured man, in an act of mercy and compassion.
June - Friendship
The Christian Value of friendship offers a chance to share in our community the opportunity to reflect what a friend is and how we can be good friends. In the bible it says: ‘A friend loves at all times.’ (Proverbs 17:17)
A feature of friendship is empathy, to be able to listen to your friend’s thoughts and ideas. Ways that we can be good friends:
- Trust and respect others
- Accept others for who they are
- Support and stay with others, in good times and bad
- Congratulate others and enjoy their success
- Compromise and share
- Be truthful and honest
- Forgive others’ mistakes
Key Bible Story: Ruth & Naomi (Ruth 1-4)
The book of Ruth tells the story of a woman who has lost everything. But for all her losses, she did have something and that something was a friend. Naomi's daughter-in- law Ruth came back to Israel with her.
July - Compassion
The Christian Value of Compassion offers us the chance reflect on ourselves and how we treat others. In the bible it says “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
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Compassion is the concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others. There are lots of opportunities in school to show compassion and the children are encouraged to do this.
Ways that we can show compassion in school:
- Helping someone who is struggling with work in the classroom.
- Helping friends on the playground when they don't feel included.
- Caring for friends who are struggling due to problems at home.
Key Bible Story: Boaz (Book of Ruth) — In Ruth’s Bible story, Boaz also proved to be a compassionate character. He instructed the workers in his field to leave grain for Ruth to pick up. This provided Ruth with the food she needed to survive. This is an example of compassion and sharing acts of kindness with the needy.
