Vision & Ethos

An Overview of St Mary’s Cockerton as a Church of England School

St. Mary’s Cockerton School is distinguished by its Christian foundation and the principles that flow from this. The school is committed to developing the full potential of its pupils as individuals – spiritually, emotionally and academically. Spiritual development forms an integral part of school life and collective worship is an essential part of the school day.

In our school, we exist for the benefit of, and to serve, our children and our community. We exert no pressure to believe, yet Christian values are built into our vision, ethos and teaching whilst respecting other world faiths. Our school follows this to forge strong links between school, home and the local community. We aim to display a high quality of care and understanding to the school community.

Recognising its historic foundation, the school will preserve and develop the religious character in accordance with the principles of the Church at parish and diocesan level. The school aims to serve its community by providing education of the highest quality within the context of Christian belief and practice. It encourages an understanding of the meaning and significance of faith and promotes Christian values through the experience it offers all its pupils.

Our Vision

Our Vision is of our school as a place of each person working together in the building of a community which lives within, and shares the love of God. Historically, we are embedded in our community as a place for the Christian education of local children. Our vision is to offer an education which allows children, staff and pupils to be inspired to raise our eyes, open our minds and explore the world God created, to participate in God’s mission of love to both our local community but also the wider world, to live fully as global neighbours.

Our Mission

Our mission is to be the hands and feet of Jesus here in Cockerton. We use the words of St Teresa of Avila to recognise our part in building God’s kingdom. ‘Ours are the eyes through which His compassion looks out on the world. Ours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Ours are the hands with which he blesses the world’.

Our Values

At the heart of our school is our aim to help our children engage with the wider world. Our approach to Spirituality is to use windows, mirrors and doors as symbols to help us understand our place in the world. We look out through the window at the wonder and challenges in the world, we reflect on ourselves through the mirror at who we are and how we play our part, and we go through the door to take steps of action in response. As we do this, we will carry our core values with us. Inspired by the words of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians (chapter 6), to wear the armour of God so that we ‘be strong in the Lord and his mighty power’, we wear our values so they become part of who we are, wherever we are. In this way, we will live as the ‘hands and feet of Jesus’.