Our School community aims to inspire and nurture the love of learning and to develop the full potential of all, within a distinctly Christian environment.

The key Christian values we embrace and foster are: Loving and Caring, Courage, Honesty, Thankfulness, Generosity, Respect and Forgiveness.

Values and Ethos of the School

Gillamoor, though small, has a big heart and a family- based atmosphere, where we allow the children to develop as children and grow together. Our Christian Ethos underpins everything we strive for in our school and helps us to achieve excellent relationships; with our community, children, parents, staff and governors our aims reflect the Christian values upheld by staff and governors.

In short, we like the children to feel secure and happy and to work to the best of their ability in a stimulating environment.

We aim to:

• provide a high quality education in a happy, Christian learning environment where everyone is respected and valued
• encourage and nurture children as confident individuals to develop and sustain their full potential for a successful future life
• provide our children with the knowledge and understanding to live a healthy, happy and safe lifestyle
• stimulate learning through enquiry, creativity, fun and enjoyment
• foster a greater understanding and respect for others of any culture, religion or group
• enable children to develop self-esteem, independence, confidence, spirituality and motivation through promoting our core values
• encourage an understanding of the meaning and significance of faiths
• promote Christian values through the learning experiences offered to our children

We want to develop the whole person by offering a wide curriculum and opportunities for the children so they can feel that they have a fulfilled and diverse education. We don’t forget the 3Rs but ensure they are embedded in our holistic approach to education and provide outstanding opportunities for our children.

Quotes from our SIAMS Inspection (November 2014) 

• The distinctiveness and effectiveness of Gillamoor as a Church of England school are Good.
• Pupil behaviour is exemplary. Consequently children are confident, happy and enjoy coming to school.
• The strong vision of the school is clearly underpinned by explicit Christian values that are articulated by all members of the community. This impacts on children and ensures positive outcomes for well-being and achievement. 

British Values

All Schools must promote the fundamental British values of

• Democracy – Justice / Trust / Hope
• The Rule of Law -Koinonia (Fellowship) / Service
• Individual Liberty – Peace / Humility / Endurance
• Tolerance & Respect – Compassion / Forgiveness / Friendship / Thankfulness / Wisdom / Reverence

Our school reflects British Values in all we do.  Our School Christian Values link well to British Values.

Schools have been asked to explain how they promote British values. So what are ‘British values? There are certain values that have been attributed to being British, by the government and some institutions, and these fall into the broad areas shown above. Our curriculum and wider opportunities are planned to ensure that every child in our school flourishes.  We ensure that there are many opportunities for our Christian Values and British Values to be at the heart of everything we do.

How do we specifically promote ‘British Values’ at Gillamoor CE VA Primary School?
At Gillamoor CE VA Primary School we live out British and Christian Values daily in our school life and seek to expand these values into the wider lives of our children and families and wider school community by the way in which we interact with one another, through our policies and practice and the way which we promote good behaviour and positive learning. 
This is evident throughout Collective Worship, Religious Education and our curricular activities. We enable visits and visitors to school to enhance experiences and develop deeper knowledge and understanding.

Democracy
We provide pupils with a broad general knowledge of, and promote respect for, public institutions and services by discussing these whenever appropriate in curriculum work.  We teach pupils how they can influence decision making through the democratic process and we encourage pupils to become involved in decision making processes linked to the local and national elections and topical issues and ensure they are listened to in school through regular pupil consultation and discussions.  Pupils also experience democracy in school through elections to positions of responsibility. We help pupils to express their views through curriculum opportunities. 

The Rule of Law
We have a school rules, rooted in our values.  These are reviewed with the children annually.  We help pupils to distinguish right from wrong during everyday interactions and Collective Worship and we focus on fairness and justice to resolve any conflict as part of our approach to behaviour, engagement and through restorative justice methods.  We help pupils to understand that living under the rule of law protects individuals including the vulnerable in society. We include visits from the Police, Community Police Officers, the Fire Service, NSPCC, Childline and other agencies in our curriculum and community safety work.

Individual Liberty
We support pupils to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence through every aspect of teaching and learning in school. Pupils take responsibility for their behaviour, as well as knowing their wider rights and responsibilities. We implement a strong anti-bullying culture through our ethos and actively challenge stereotypes.

Respect and Tolerance
We promote respect for individual differences and help pupils to acquire an understanding of, and respect for, their own and other cultures and ways of life.  We challenge prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour. We organise visits to diverse places of worship and study 3 other world religions in addition to Christianity.
We develop critical personal thinking skills throughout our curricular work. This includes discussion at an appropriate level on the differences between people, including; faith, ethnicity, disability, gender or sexuality, and different family situations.​