Beechcroft St Paul'sC of E Primary School
Christian Distinctiveness
Beechcroft St Paul’s is a Christian school, with a vision, Soaring with Compassion, which is rooted in part of the letter St Paul sent to the Philippians in Philippians 2: 1 - 4
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
As a church school, we are committed to encouraging the exploration of the Christian faith and values, while being open and welcoming to other faiths, beliefs and values. We maintain strong links with our parish church, St Paul’s, with worship led weekly by Father Gregory.
Courageous Advocacy
SOARING WITH COMPASSION
Our vision guides the whole school community in ethical and charitable activities both in and out of school. We hold a number of events throughout the year; a selection of these events can be found below.
School Events
- Harvest Festival - each year children and parents donate food items which are then displayed in St Paul's Church alongside donations from the community. This year, Collective Worship Crew have decided that the the food donated will be given to our local food bank, The Nest.
- #HelloYellow World Mental Health Day - children bring donations in to raise money for this important charity. This year, we also asked for donations of bulbs so that we can develop our outside areas and give children a place to be at one with nature.
- Christmas Jumper Day - we support this event each year, raising money for Save the Children.
- Collections at school events - following events such as the Nativity, End of Year Play and music concerts, we collect donations.
- Red Nose Day - children are encouraged to think of ways to raise money for this worthwhile charity.
- Christian Aid Week - This year the focus is on the plight of drought which numerous countries around the world face.
Child and Staff Led Events
We are keen to develop our charitable activities further and are exploring this as part of the Collective Worship Crew meetings.
Spirituality
We strongly believe in the spiritual development of all children and seek to ensure spirituality is woven into daily life through educating the whole child in fullness across broad, rich curriculum opportunities. Spiritual development is not specific to one curriculum area or activity. Our curriculum drivers (communication, aspiration, spirituality and environment) offer a CASE for our curriculum, acting as the backbone for our ongoing curriculum development.
Our belief about spiritual development can best be captured in our spirituality curriculum driver statement:
Spirituality
Our children need to understand themselves and take ownership of their thoughts and emotions. We will nurture all children, who through their learning and reflection can ‘still’ themselves. Our children will take an interest and delight in the world around them; they will be open to what lives beyond the material, which may manifest itself in faith. They will understand that differences between people should be celebrated and learned from. Our children will want to question the world around them in increasingly sophisticated and articulate ways and will seek to answer big questions.
RE
At Beechcroft St Paul's we follow the Wiltshire Agreed Syllabus. A rationale for the adoption of this syllabus was formulated in 2020 following a review of our curriculum intent and a proposal was put to the governors and trust who agreed to the school making a change in the academic year 2020/2021.
As a school we have a 2 year long term plan which unpacks key theological concepts and core ideas to allow us to deliver a strong, sequential curriculum in Religious Education. Please see the overviews below.
