Aims, Values and
Beliefs
We believe our school should be a happy and caring place where
children want to come and where they will feel secure. As teachers we
aim to create an environment in which children can experience the joy of
learning, be valued as important members of the school and belong in a
community which celebrates their differences.
We recognise that each child is of equal value and that it is our
privilege and responsibility to accept each child into our community.
Beginning from their first day and throughout their stay with us, we
should have high expectations of all children in order to encourage them
to develop their potential to the full.
We believe that every individual in the school should be accorded the
respect and dignity which is the right of every person. In all our
relationships, we should try to be fair, consistent, encouraging,
understanding and compassionate. As a Catholic school, we feel religious
education should permeate and, indeed inspire the whole life and work of
the school, and we believe it to be our responsibility to instil respect
for religious and moral values and an awareness and appreciation of
other races, religions and ways of life.
For each individual, we aim for genuine excellence in every sphere of
activity: academic, pastoral, social, physical, moral and spiritual. We
do not see knowledge as a means of material prosperity and success, but
as a call to serve and be responsible for others.
We believe that education is the shared responsibility of parents,
teachers, children, Church and the community. Parents have a right to
expect that what a child is taught is what a child needs to know and
that education should develop a sense of self-respect and the capacity
to live as independent, self-motivated people with the ability to
function as contributing members of co-operative groups.
We believe that each child has a right to be taught all areas of the
curriculum and that we should aim always to cater for the needs of all
children, enabling them to develop concepts, attitudes, values and
skills through stimulating and relevant experiences. We should help
children to develop lively, enquiring minds, the ability to question and
argue rationally and to apply themselves to academic tasks and physical
skills.
As adults, we believe that we should demonstrate a commitment to
life-long learning and that this should be ever permeated with the
desire to seek that which will best serve the needs of our children. We
should strive to develop a personal openness to change but also to model
the attitudes and behaviour we expect from our children
We believe that children enjoy success, and become more effective
learners once their image of themselves is positive and good.
We believe that this can best be achieved by us working through open
and participative structures.
We would like to emphasise the words of Archbishop Murphy in 1958.
" You cannot educate the mind and neglect the heart. When they
leave school they will forget quite a number of subjects, but there is
one subject they will never forget and that is you. Your person is going
to have a greater influence on their future life than all the
blackboards in the country."
Reviewed September 2002
