Our Christian Narrative: Mathew 5:1-2 and 14–16 (Good News Bible)
The Sermon on the Mount
"Jesus saw the crowds and went up a hill, where he sat down. His disciples gathered around him, and he began to teach them…"
“You are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl; instead it is put on the lampstand, where it gives light for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven".
Bible extract: Matthew 5:16
‘…your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do...’
Our vision encourages our children to show the world how wonderful they are, in both the good character and values they display and in their unique qualities and talents. It acknowledges that the strength in our school community is in understanding and nurturing what makes the children, staff and parents unique and in developing individual success.
We are all successful in different ways: some of us are brilliant writers, some are superb mathematicians, some are super scientists, and some are fantastic musicians, artists, designers, historians, geographers, sports people, and dancers.
But the most important thing is that we know that each and every one of us has something special to offer our community and our world; that by bringing our individual successes and talents together we can work as one for a brighter future.
Our role is to enable our pupils and our community to shine their amazing light to the world so we can all 'see the good things' they do.
Vision Consultation 2020
As part of our consultation and review of our school vision, we gave the pupils and parents options of Bible readings and quotes with different Vision statements to choose from (see PDF at the bottom). We asked them which their favourite was and why. Overwhelmingly, the pupils chose the vision and Christian narrative above. Here are some of the responses the children gave in the consultation.
Why do you think this is the best vision for Frieth?
"I think it is the best vision, because it gives everyone a chance to show their individual talents"
"Because everyone is good at something"
"We feel it celebrates every pupil's potential in whatever area this may be"
"... prefers this passage as it is easier to understand. she said the teachers are like the light, lighting up the darkness to the children with their knowledge"
" I think it is good because our school helps everybody"
"I would like everyone to be able to shine at Frieth"
"Because everyone is different and we all shine in our different ways."
We also asked the pupils:
How do you think this vision fits with our school values?
"It represents God"
"It challenges us to do our best in our work"
"I think it fits with our values because we are sharing our talents and caring about other people's'"
"It fits with our values as it celebrates the uniqueness of everyone in our school and encourages us to see the best in everyone"
"This goes well with our values because you should challenge yourself, share with others your knowledge and be gentle and kind to one another to be famous in the best way."
"I think it helps with our values because they help us to include everybody."
"Light is love and it is about sharing"
"I think that this fits with our values because it is about challenging yourself and nurturing and inspiring the people around you."
"Frieth encourages us to congratulate each other and be kind"
We asked the children to draw a picture to represent the vision as well. You can see some of them below.
This painting is over 500 years old. The artist was called Michel Sittow and the painting is called The Nativity at Night. The baby Jesus has been painted in such a way that he is the only source of light in the picture, and the light from him shines on the others in the image.
This demonstrates our vision emphasising that each of us has a light in us that we can allow to shine so that others can see it.
In many religions, there is the idea that we each contain a special spark, or light, which we can choose to cultivate and share with others.
‘No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.’
Jesus is encouraging us to let a light shine from within us to the rest of the world.
In the Hindu faith, a greeting used towards others is the Hindi word, ‘Namaste’. It can be translated as ‘the light in me honours the light in you’.
In 2022, we decided to change the names of our House Groups.
We asked the children to think about an individual who has let their light shine and create a presentation on this person. They had to be be significant and/or famous i.e.
- What had they done?
- What made them amazing and/or special?
- What had they achieved?
- Why did you choose them?
Following the children's votes, our new house team names were decided as the following:
J.K Rowling
Marcus Rashford
David Attenborough
Florence Nightingale
