Biblical Roots

Jesus said “As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples.”  John 13:34-35

Our school Vision is based on Jesus’ words to his disciples at the Last Supper. He tells them, and us, to keep loving others in the way he has loved. The timing of this commandment to love, is so important; it was Jesus’s final teaching to his disciples before he died. This act of selfless love alongside the new commandment epitomises the root of Christian teaching that as we are unconditionally loved we should love one another.  

Our vision is that we nurture our children, and the wider community, in their thinking and understanding, and to personally grasp faith, hope and service on their spiritual journey. These key aspirations are now anchored in the words of Jesus “Love one another as I have loved you”. The context for, and setting of this command, is Jesus washing his disciples’ feet, an act normally performed by a servant.  The enormity of this act is profound. Jesus was setting his disciples a clear example of servanthood “By this everyone will know you are my disciples”. We are shown that no person is more important than another and through our learning, particularly RE and PSHE, and our actions, such as our Global Neighbours and Reaching Out projects, we seek to understand this and then to act upon it. This is key because the ‘living out’ is how Jesus’s words are put into daily practice. 

Contextually, Jesus’s next act was to give his life as a ransom for many.  This core concept of Salvation is the centre point for Christian hope that we are forever reconciled with God. Hope directly links with our foundation as a Church of England school; hope for every child, hope for their future, hope for the world and hope that we are forever reconciled with God. The messages from the Last Supper and particularly Jesus’s command shape our ethos as a welcoming, inclusive, aspirational and loving community rooted in faith, hope and service.

Our Vision–Learning and Living in Faith, Hope and Service

These three virtues (Faith, Hope and Service) are not only important in Christian discipleship; they are also important to us at Forty Hill CE Primary School. They have strong links to our foundation as a Church School in 1851, as well as acting as a reminder of what is most important to us in the present, underpinned by British Values, and forming a basis for how we want to help the children in our care to learn and live in the future.

They also connect to the wider Church of England vision for education through church schools:      Educating for wisdom, knowledge and skills; Educating for hope and aspiration;

                    Educating for community and living well together; Educating for dignity and respect

With an emphasis on Faith, Hope and Service, we hope to instil a vision for a better world, encourage greater tolerance and empathy, and help pupils to have big dreams for their local community and the wider world.

Learning and living in…

A good education requires wisdom, knowledge and skills; it is also a process of growth- academically, socially and spiritually. Through our broad, balanced and exciting curriculum, we aspire for our pupils to develop a lifelong passion for learning alongside diverse and inspiring opportunities, experiences and guidance that enable them, and everyone in our community, to live our Vision and Values. Putting our learning into action is living our Vision, and this is embodied in our work as Global Neighbours, through our Reaching Out Project and our commitment to positive mental health and wellbeing. At Forty Hill CE School, we are a family; where every person is cared for, valued and treated with compassion and respect, and to be the best we can. Likewise, we believe that we each have a responsibility to show respect and tolerance towards each other. Our shared school Vision and Values are central to what we believe within our school and permeate our daily actions, relationships and decisions that we make.

Faith-Faith in God, Ourselves and Each Other                        (Confidence and Respect)                                                 

Forty Hill CE Primary School remains faithful to its original legacy/trust deed of being a school that provides and cares for the disadvantaged. We do this via links to our Parish Church, caring for our immediate community and working to impact the wider community and world through different local or global projects- this includes working with the North London Foodbank, Homes of Promise, our Intergenerational project, Reaching Out programme, Charity days & our annual Global Neighbours project.  Our school values are explored through a faith lens in the context of bible stories in daily Acts of Worship, Religious Educational learning and PSHE.  Whilst Christianity forms the foundation through which we teach and understand our values, we also have a responsibility to support and encourage everyone in their own spiritual journey and to celebrate the diversity of our whole community.  As a result, children learn about faith in a broader sense by exploring different religions and in doing so foster understanding and positive attitudes towards those of different cultures, backgrounds and beliefs. We believe that faith is a firm foundation underpinning everything that makes our life worth living. It is rooted in our faith in God, but is also a firm faith, trust and confidence in ourselves. We want our children to grow the faith that they have in themselves and develop their own core beliefs through reflection and curiosity, underpinned by Christian values and teaching, to ensure they leave our school as courageous advocates, reflective and ambitious learners, and confident, respectful citizens of our world-with faith or inspired by faith.

Hope- Hope in God's Promises for Us (Respect and Resilience)

At Forty Hill CE Primary School, children explore and understand faith to have hope. Christian hope is the confident assurance of God’s faithfulness and a future He has promised through Jesus. We want our children to understand they are unique, created in God’s image and that He has a purpose for their lives. This living hope means we seek to raise awareness of a world full of opportunities and new experiences, and we aim to ensure all children can look to the future with hope and aspiration. We want to work with our families to instil hope and to share these dreams, working alongside us in equipping their children with the skills, education and values they need to flourish academically, socially and emotionally. We actively encourage our children to take responsibility for the world around them, through our curriculum, acts of worship and annual projects, so they become courageous advocates for those less fortunate than themselves, as well as for wider local and global concerns. We take pride in nurturing ‘Stewards of God’s Earth’, a generation who understand the need for sustainability and change, and the skills to put this into action.  Our world faces so many challenges and our community seeks to support and encourage one another in times of adversity/difficulty to nurture hope.  Faith gives us hope for both now and the future, and hope gives us the confidence to work hard, make changes and keep going, knowing God loves us and is by our side.

Service-Serving Each Other with Selfless Love                (Compassion and Responsible)

As faith nurtures hope, Christian hope requires a practical response to live a life which honours God’s promises and enables others to see Him in us. We believe that in serving others, we serve God and fulfil Jesus’ commandment to ‘Love one another, as I have loved you’ -John 13:34. Service is about looking beyond yourself, demonstrating our key values of compassion and responsibility and actively living out our Vision and Values in our relationships and our actions. This is epitomised in Jesus’ act of washing the disciple’s feet at the last supper alongside many further examples in the Bible such as the parable of the Good Samaritan. These examples guide us to serve others in need whoever they are, not to gain some advantage for ourselves but often making a sacrifice for someone else’s benefit. Jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice for mankind, and we would like our pupils to develop a deep understanding of Service so that they go into our challenging and everchanging world, with the core values of compassion and responsibility. This will enable them to have healthy, happy relationships in work and play, to spread love and respect in the face of division, and a recognition of being part of something bigger and beyond oneself. At Forty Hill, personal development, wellbeing and the growth of responsible and caring individuals is of equal importance to academic achievement; we aspire to provide opportunities for our children to learn why we need to and how we can, help others and our world. This can be seen in the actions of our school councils, the Reaching Out Programme, Our Global Neighbours projects, our numerous charitable events and the flourishing school garden-which has enabled our children to plant, nurture and then provide for our community.

Our Values-the building blocks for our Vision

At Forty Hill our values play a fundamental role in exploring, understanding and achieving our vision.   Our vision is rooted in scripture, and we explore our values in biblical contexts to deepen our theological understanding and spiritual exploration. 

 At Forty Hill, we develop confidence within our children, as well as foster respect for themselves and others. We are Global Neighbours, who show compassion towards each other, the wider community and our environment. We recognise the need to be reflective both personally, spiritually and in the wider issues we face in our world today.

Our progressive and creative curriculum, along with wide-ranging pupil responsibilities, enable our children to grow and meet challenges with resilience using a growth mindset. Our holistic approach to our children’s development enables them to flourish both socially and academically, to become courageous advocates and responsible citizens of the future.