Our school's vision is...

“Learning Together in a Caring Christian Community” is our school’s long-established vision.

Our vision was developed through consultation with pupils, staff, governors, parents, and church links. It is central to daily life and is shared, discussed and reflected upon with the whole-school community regularly.

Our vision is biblically rooted in Psalm 23, ‘The Lord’s my Shepherd’, and it reflects a theology of God as a shepherd who guides, protects, and nurtures us all.

It is also rooted in our three core Christian values: compassion, respect, and responsibility. These values shape all aspects of school life – learning, relationships, behaviour, and community. They guide us in creating a safe, inclusive, and flourishing environment where every child and adult is valued and supported to achieve their potential.

Psalm 23 - The Lord is My Shepherd

Psalm 23 and its key themes of the Lord being our shepherd - caring, guiding, serving and protecting - drives our curriculum. This and our core values of friendship, courage, creativity, respect, compassion and responsibility are embedded in all aspects of school life.

Working together with members of our school community, we explored what Psalm 23 means to us and the Christian messages it conveys. You can see what we decided each line means and why it is special to us on the side-by-side versions above.

At our Church of England school, our three core Christian values—Respect, Responsibility, and Compassion—are at the heart of everything we do. Rooted in the biblical message of Psalm 23, we strive to be a place where every child feels nurtured, guided, and safe, just as the shepherd cares for his flock. These values support our school vision of “Learning together in a Caring Christian Community”, fostering an environment where all are valued and encouraged to flourish. Inspired by the Church of England’s Vision for Education, we aim to educate the whole child—spiritually, morally, and academically—so that each one can live life in all its fullness, contributing positively to our community and the wider world.

RESPECT - RESPONSIBILITY - COMPASSION 

Our Christian values are taught through collective worship led by Mr. Johnston our head teacher, Reverend Kieran McKnight from St. John's Church in Houghton and by class teachers. We appoint two worship leaders from each class who help plan, lead and evaluate our collective worship and who help set up and look after their class reflection area.

Inclusive, Invitational & Inspiring

We endeavour to create a special time and place for Collective Worship that is inclusive to all, enabling all our children, staff and families of all faiths and no faith to participate in a way that is respectful and appropriate for them. We invite all to be involved and we give choices on how to respond in a way that is considerate of individual faiths and beliefs. Through our Collective Worship, we aim to inspire our whole school community to learn from the example of Jesus and to be the best people we can be, standing up for what is right and being advocates for change - within school, in our community of Houghton and Carlisle and for our planet Earth.