Vision, Values and Spirituality
At Bengeworth, we live out a promise to continually learn, improve our world and better ourselves by applying Christian values through our actions each and every day. Our values guide our choices as we learn and prepare us for the journey beyond our school, into our future.
We have strong links with St Peter's Church, Bengeworth and regularly visit the church for whole school collective worship and special celebrations. For more information about St Peter's Church please click here.
Hi there,
My name is Mike, and I’m the Assistant Curate at St. Peter’s Church, Bengeworth, and now also a School Governor here at Bengeworth Academy.
The role of the Church in Church schools is something I think is really important. We love welcoming the whole school and parents into St. Peter’s for all the Champion’s Assemblies, as well as the various Festival services we celebrate in the Church’s calendar. Now that myself and Julie, our Children’s and Youth Worker, have Joined Andy, the Vicar, at St. Peter’s, we also have more capacity to become more involved in the School’s internal worship life.
We will be meeting with the Worship Team, regularly leading Collective Worship, as well as just generally popping in and being a presence at both the Burford Road & King’s Road sites.
We will also continue helping the School live out it’s wonderful Christian values, which we know already make a huge contribution to School life.
We also hope to be able to expand our capacity for other activities for Bengeworth pupils and parents at St. Peter’s, whether that’s engagement with our Sunday worship, or activities during the week – and we will share more on those when they are up and running.
For now, please do say hello if you ever see myself, Julie or Andy in the School, or around the town. We believe that God loves every single person, and our role as the Church is to not only let people know about that love, but also to show it too. We can’t wait to get to know you all more over the coming years, and to support you in your journey through this brilliant School.
If you want any more information about us or about St. Peter’s do check out our website here.
We would love to welcome you should you ever want to visit.
At Bengeworth Academy we…
Are respectful to all members of our school community.
Persevere with all aspects of school life.
Show that we can be a good friend to everyone.
Are responsible for our resources, school, environment, and behaviour.
Can be trusted.
Forgive each other and ourselves.
We show LOVE through all of our Christian Values.
When the rainbow appears in the clouds... I will remember the promise that continues forever. It is between me and every living thing on the earth."
Our definition of spirituality at Bengeworth is something that connects us all as inclusive spiritual beings, with the ability to look beyond ourselves and connect to something bigger. It is about the increasing awareness of the inner person and how this reflects what shapes our feelings, beliefs and behaviours in the same way ‘we are fearfully and wonderfully made’ Psalm 139:14. It is about the growing empathy, sense of belonging, concern and compassion shown towards others and the world around us allowing us to reflect on our Christian Values and Principles that influence and inspire our daily lives. We recognise that when ‘the rainbow appears’, we stop and notice moments of awe and wonder and appreciate the beauty of the journey. For some this may include experiencing feelings of transcendence which give rise to the belief in the existence of God. We appreciate that these wow moments appear ‘after the clouds’ of challenge, perseverance and doubt. Moments of stillness and reflection are used to help us to reflect on, consider and celebrate the wonders and mysteries of life and to live out the promise we make:
‘... to continually learn, improve our world and better ourselves by applying Christian values through our actions each and every day. Our values guide our choices as we learn and prepare us for the journey beyond our school, into our future.
Spirituality is promoted through the embedding of the five Spirituality Capacities and the high-quality opportunities we provide for our pupils which include:
Awe and Wonder
- Educational Visits - local and international
- Visitors in school
- WOW days
- Science investigations
- World Book Day
- Celebrations - Harvest/Easter
- The element of wonder in Literature
- Maths - The wonder of numbers, formulas and equations.
- Geography - Wonder at the diversity of environments and people
Connection and Belonging
- PSHE and RSE
- Community links / experience community cohesion at a local, national and global level
- Church links
- Reading buddies
- Class promises - Values & Vision
- Pupil Leadership Teams
- Golden Tea
- English - empathy with characters and authors in stories and plays.
- PE - Being a team member
- Geography - Empathy with people from other parts of the world
- History - Being part of History / influential events and people.
- Peer assessment
Curiosity and Mystery
- Bespoke activities such as Big Questions
- Curiosity cubes
- Key enquiry - Global Theme Links
- Science investigations/ Science Week/ Discovering the limits of experimentations
- Problem-solving
- Handling artefacts
Self Awareness
- Learning about our British Values
- Pupil voice
- Vision and Values activities
- PSHE lessons and activities
- Pupil Leadership/ Behaviour sessions
- Reflection Time
- Global themes
- Use of Art, Music and drama to express selves.
- PE - pushing yourself to the limits - 12 minute move
Prayer and Worship
- Inclusive and meaningful Collective Worship which provide opportunities to learn, reflect and take action (Window, Mirror, Door)
- Opportunities for celebration, stillness, prayer and song both in school and in church
- Pupil Leadership responsibilities such as the Worship Team
- Engagement with biblical texts and theological ideas in class
- Displays and reflection areas within classrooms and around school
- Class assemblies
- RE lessons
- Sensory Garden
- Celebrating the lives of people of spiritual significance.
- Educational Visits to places of collective worship (mosque, church, synagogue)
It is through these Spiritual Capacities and opportunities that we develop our pupils' abilities and confidence to Dream, Believe, Achieve.