Love

‘A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you should love one another.’

John 13:34

Christians understand God as Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For Christians, this suggests that God is inherently relational; as John articulates it in his first letter, “God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4:16). In everything they do, Christians are committed to follow Jesus’ commandment to love one another (John 13:34) and to “ ‘love your neighbour as you love yourself’” (Mark 12:31). Acting in a way that is the most loving to all is a key feature of Christian living.

In our school community, we show that we care and love in each by the way we treat each other on a daily basis. If things go wrong, we use the restorative approach and discuss how we can put things right. We reflect on who loves us, who keeps us safe and how we can show compassion and love through everything we do here at school. Our curriculum gives children a change to discuss love in a range of contexts and at different period in time. We carry out different Christian events to show love to our community for example handing out Harvest boxes to the elderly in our community. 

Peace

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you…”

John 14:27

Christians understand peace to be more than simply a lack of violence and hatred. In Christian thought, the idea of peace reflects ideas about healing and wellbeing. The Old Testament contains a vision of a society in which “swords will be beaten into ploughshares” (Isaiah 2:2); throughout his lifetime, Jesus teaches others of the value of peace (Matthew 5:9) and the transformative impact it can have on human relationships. A peaceful community is one in which all are able to live well together, respecting each other’s dignity as individuals and working towards the flourishing of all.

In our school community we all work together to create a peaceful environment. Where there is conflict, we have a culture of forgiveness and work together as a community to live well as a group. We also discuss the different meanings of peace in different contexts and how we can use this to contribute to a peaceful community in which we all serve. 

Kindness

 'Kind words are like honey–sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.'

Proverbs 16:23-24

The root of the word ‘kindness’ is the old English word ‘kin’, which means ‘family’. For Christians, showing kindness is about seeing all people as part of a single family of humanity, created in the image of God. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus treats others as family members, including the Samaritan woman (John 4:1-42), the paralysed man (Mark 2:1-12) and his friend, Lazarus (John 11:1-44). Christians believe that by becoming human in the person of Jesus Christ, God understands our experiences and models ways in which we can treat each other as honoured members of family. They believe God calls them to act in a similar way towards everyone in society.

In our school community we hold a great deal of importance on being kind. Kindness ensures we can all flourish and enjoy our journey at Newton on Trent Church of England Primary School. We discuss the impact of our words and actions on others and we all work together to show kindness to everyone in school but also in our wider community. We contribute to charities, help and support our community through food packages or through random acts of kindness.