Vision & Christian Ethos

Our Vision

Here at Watford St John’s, we are one family, defined by our core Christian values of Growing Together, Thankfulness, Courage, Joy, Respect, Love, Forgiveness, Hope, Friendship, Peace and Wisdom. Each member of our school is seen as unique and all are enabled to flourish under God’s love and in His image. Our Mission Statement of ‘Growing Together in Love and Respect’ steers all that we do and the relationships we hold and enable every child to develop as a moral, social, spiritual and cultural human being.

Our vision of Loving Your Neighbour, Respecting Everyone and Valuing Diversity is all underpinned by our mission of ‘Growing Together in Love and Respect’. Through this, our children will learn about the importance of community and serving others so that they become citizens who make positive contributions to society. Through the stories of The Parable of the Mustard Seed (Matthew 13:31-32), The Parable of the Good Samaritan (Matthew 22:34-35) and the story of Daniel (Daniel 1: 3-16), the children will develop their understanding of what Growing Together in Love and Respect means to them, and how it can help them as they prepare for the next phase of their school journey.

The school provides a unique educational experience for children in Watford through its Christian ethos, its understanding of the needs of the community and the pupils. It is wholly committed to high quality education and the improvement of life chances for all.

St John’s is at the heart of a richly diverse community. The education and services we provide serve the whole community, valuing and making the most of its dynamic blend of ethnicity, languages, cultures and religions.

We welcome children from Christian families, from other faith and from no faith backgrounds. Every child, whatever their background, will be valued as a unique child of God, and will be enabled to grow in confidence and self-belief with the opportunity to reach for the skies.

Our Vision encompasses the following four key Values:

Educational excellence

The school will provide a creative and challenging curriculum, which enables children to aim high with a clear emphasis on spoken English, reading, writing, maths, RE and computing.

The school is committed to:

  • Being fully inclusive and meeting the needs of all children
  • Delivering the EYFS and the National Curriculum in creative, exciting and challenging ways
  • Aiming for high standards of achievement that exceed national standards
  • Giving high priority to spoken English, reading, writing, maths and computing
  • Challenging all children to achieve their full potential and preparing them to move to the next stage of their education with confidence

Development of the whole child

The school is committed to all aspects of a child’s development, supporting them to become responsible and moral members of the community, to make healthy lifestyle choices and to flourish as creative and inquisitive life-long learners. Through education inside and outside the classroom, the school will raise awareness of core British values and prepare children for life in modern Britain.

The school will enable children to:

  • Develop as creative, inquisitive and independent learners
  • Understand right and wrong and achieve exemplary standards of behaviour
  • Show resilience, a Growth Mindset and have the ability to navigate challenges
  • Make healthy lifestyle choices
  • Have opportunities for reflection and spiritual growth.

Christian ethos

The Christian ethos of loving your neighbour, respecting each other, and valuing diversity will be integral to our school life. The ethos of the school will:

  • Be rooted in Christian values
  • Enable all children to explore the Christian faith, experiencing collective worship and prayer
  • Enable children to have an understanding of people of faith.
  • Be respectful and tolerant to all

Community

The school will be at the heart of our community, serving those that need us and instilling values of service and community in its children. It is our aim that the school will work to:

  • Have strong links with the Parish Church and wider community
  • Encourage children, staff, parents and carers, Church and local community to work together as a team
  • Develop social responsibility through serving others in the local community
  • Build a strong partnership with parents to support the education of their children and the life of the school
  • Provide support for families through local services, social events, adult education courses and parenting advice.

 

Our Christian Ethos

St John’s is the first and only Church of England school in Watford and is a proud member of the Diocese of St Albans and we align our ethos to the Church of England’s Vision for Education very closely:

Our Christian Distinctiveness enables our children to benefit from our inclusive Christian ethos where loving your neighbour, valuing others and celebrating diversity are all underpinned by our Mission Statement of ‘Growing Together in Love and Respect’, the golden thread that runs through all that we do. Father Corniel and the Church of St John’s provides our children and families with ongoing pastoral support.

 

Our school grew from the foundation of St John’s Church and was built through God’s love and now we educate and nurture 420 children from a variety of faiths, non-faith backgrounds, ethnicities and backgrounds. We aim for all our children from all religions or none to flourish within a school family that embraces God’s love. We see our rich diversity as incredibly valuable- through the wide variety of experiences, practices and beliefs, we can embrace each other and celebrate our wonderful community.

Our children are given opportunities to embrace the Christian ethos and to become loving and giving community members. Our children benefit from learning on how to contribute to the local and global community through our strong links with local charities such as the Watford Blind Centre and the Three Rivers Watford Refugee Project.

We collaborate with other local churches and religions, businesses and community groups. Each year every child has the opportunity to carol sing for the community. We have supported global projects linked with the Diocese as well as national charities including Anaphylaxis UK and the local Rotary Club.

Our daily acts of Collective Worship are the beating heart and the rhythm to our school week. They are a daily gathering of the school family where children have a time to pause, engage and grow in reflection, spirituality and respect for others steeped in our strong Christian values.

Our theologically rooted vision was developed by Fr Corniel, Miss Pyatt and the teaching team through much discussion, contemplation and reflection about what makes Watford St John’s such a special family to be a part of with staff being quoted as saying, ‘our school values are important and being followed’, ‘I love the atmosphere and watching the school grow’, ‘it has that feeling’, ‘the vibrant community’, ‘we put the children first’, ‘we are all valued’, ‘the school is like a family’ and ‘children talk about God independently and reflect’. We reflected on how our Mission Statement of ‘Growing Together in Love and Respect’ is firmly embedded and this has been mapped out to show what this looks like for our children as they travel through the school. The mission statement will be reinforced through the stories of The Parable of the Mustard Seed (Matthew 13:31-32), The Parable of the Good Samaritan (Matthew 22:34-35) and the story of Daniel (Daniel 1: 3-16) to enable the children to truly understand what it means to grow together, what is means to respect and what it means to love.

As a Church of England school, St John’s is evaluated according to a SIAMs inspection. Our most recent inspection was in May 2019 and can be viewed on our ‘Performance Data’ page.