Newchurch St Nicholas as a Church of England Primary School

Our vision 

Design chosen by our children, staff, visitors, families and parish.

Key Christian Values

As as school we focus on six Christian Values which we think are 'KEY' 

These are

• Thankfulness
• Trust
• Hope
• Forgiveness
• Friendship
• Truthfulness

These values are the focus of Worship sessions - 1 each half term. 

Our bishops

We had a wonderful celebration in July where our current bishops handed over their duties to our new bishops, Logan and Skylar.

Our 'Value' winners

Each half term, our Ethos group look for children who are truly living our key Christian value of the half term. Children seen living these values are awarded in the final celebration assembly of the half term. One child who has helped others live the values wins our special trophy and gets to keep it in their classroom as a reminder of their achievement all half term.

Our wonderful winners so far have been...

 Our Weekly Wonder...

Every Thursday in Worship and every Friday in our newsletter, our children and families are asked to take a moment to be still and reflect on our 'Weekly Wonder'. 

Example questions so far have included:

I wonder, what is love?

I wonder, why did God only send down one of his children?

I wonder, have all the Gods of different religions ever met?

Courageous Advocacy

Being a creative advocate is about supporting, defending or speaking out on behalf of others; arguing for, or supporting a cause. We actively support charities and organisations that make a difference, and are passionate about many including those below.

We want to, through researching, educating and supporting those that need it most, to help make a difference; empowering our pupils and our community to make a difference.

Our school council arrange fundraising events within school to support various charities.

In May 2024, Ethos group chose to sell ice-pops to raise money for Christian Aid. They shared behind after school to do this. Our children really are amazing individuals! 

As part of St. Nicholas Day, December 2024, our Ethos group asked each class to create a plan of action of how to change our local community. Classes looked at how to slow down traffic around school, how to make people pick up litter and dog poo and shared the importance of having outdoor gym equipment or even a Youth Club! Classes presented their work to members of Ethos group and Y4/5 even sent their letters off to local MPs stating the positive changes a youth club could have to our local area.

During Easter 2025, Ethos organised an Easter egg and bonnet decorating competition where all donations were given to St. Nicholas Church.

Faith in Action

This year we have brought joy to the people of Brandwood by singing Christmas Carols and hymns and making Christmas cards. We have shared our talents and knowledge in church. 

Brandwood December 2024

Easter worship in church 2025

Ethos Group

Ethos is a fluid group where children can attend if like or not. Ethos work hard to develop a Christian ethos across the school, deliver worship, raise money for charities, organise fundraising and lots more wonderful things!

Ethos group have worked hard to deepen the thinking of all of our children and staff by creating and displaying Big Questions around the school.

Leaders of the future!

Our Ethos group are leading more and more whole school and class worships. Each week, we can see their confidence and knowledge growing! It is a delight to see them share this with others.

Islamic Morning

In the Autumn term, children completed a well-being survey which discussed their thoughts on many different aspects of school life. Due to the results of this survey, Ethos group decided to organise a morning which developed and deepened the understanding of the Islamic religion for our children.  On March 22nd, the school enjoyed an Islamic morning led by our Ethos group, Muslim children and their families. During the morning, parents led worship and children completed a number of activities linked to the religion. 

We had an amazing time!

'What we believe' afternoon.

In March 2024, we dedicated a whole afternoon to discussing and celebrating what we believe. During this time both religious and non-religious beliefs were shared from children of all ages. Ethos decided on four questions which they wanted all children to deeply think about. These were:

* What happens when you die?

* What makes a good person?

* Where did the first humans come from?

* What rules help you to be a good person?

Below is video of a book which we created to share these beliefs which you can see in our school. 

Ask yourself, what do YOU believe?

Celebrating other faiths

We believe children need to learn about and celebrate key celebrations in different religions. This helps them to become more immersed in the religion. 
 

2024 Festival of Light