Mission

Our mission is to inspire every child by ensuring SUCCESS, providing OPPORTUNITY and fostering STEWARDSHIP within a loving, Catholic community.

Vision

Our vision is that everyone will leave our school feeling they have achieved more than they ever thought possible, and they will make a difference to the world by serving God by helping others.

Everything that our school does, is based around three aims ...

St Thomas More’s Catholic Primary School is a supportive learning community where:

• prayer and worship are at the heart of daily life

• home, school and church work together as God’s loving family to motivate and challenge

• individual differences are recognised, respected and valued, and responsibility is encouraged

• all are empowered to learn through living out the teachings of Jesus in a spirit of love, care, fun and friendship.

Ethos values

We believe that there are core values which every member of our school community should hold with the upmost importance. These values should be displayed in our work with others, at playtimes and in the classroom. These values influence our approach to everything we do and our attitude towards others. They are steeped in gospel teachings and reflect the kind of person Jesus was and the person he wants us to be.

School House System

All staff and pupils are assigned to one of four houses.  The houses have patrons that portray strong links with the school values.  They comprise of:

• Claudette Colvin [Red]
• Oscar Romero [Green]
• Mahatma Gandhi [Blue]

• St Therese of Lisieux [Yellow]

At St Thomas More's we celebrate the successes of all our pupils who strive to demonstrate our school values and achieve their best in all aspects of school life.  The House system gives our students this opportunity to be rewarded for efforts and achievement in all areas.  Each house has two Year 6 house captains, who have been voted for by their fellow students.

We wanted our House patrons to;

1. be role models of our school values
2. be of different ethnicities and genders in order that different children can feel represented
3. be in photographs - it may sound strange, but I felt it was important that children saw our role models as modern, as real people, and for St Romero and Therese, that sainthood is something we can all strive for as saints are not all from distant history.

Claudette Colvin - Nine months before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, Colvin did the same. She wasn't being rude or selfish (as there was a seat free across the aisle from her), but this was a stand for all humans to be treated with dignity and respect during segregation in 1960s America. Colvin was only 15 when she took her stand against racism, and so she is an excellent role model for our pupils - to be dedicated to what is right, even if it means standing alone.

Oscar Romero - Catholic Social Teaching calls us to give preferential treatment to the poor - not just those who are poor in monetary value, but those who are disadvantaged in any way. Oscar Romero spoke out for the voiceless, which ultimately cost him his life. He serves as a reminder to us to be that voice for those who can't make themselves heard, to empathise with how they may be feeling and take action to put things right. We teach the children that equity is more important than equality.

Mahatma Gandhi - The Indian political ethicist is often quoted as saying "Be the change you wish to see in the world" - a motto which fits so well with the teachings of the Catholic faith. However, Gandhi is our patron for the value of Forgiveness. He said, "The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong." We teach children to forgive, but it is important that they also recognise forgiving shows great strength. It isn't always easy to do, but forgiving is something Christ taught us, therefor we must strive to this.

St Therese of Lisieux - St Therese struggled in many ways, something which we all do, but she lived her life doing random acts of kindness for people, calling people to love Jesus. This is something very simple for the children to understand and emulate. We teach the children to be stewards of all that they have been given - their time, their talent, their treasures, and to be generous with all of these things, just like St Therese.

Catholic Social Teaching

At St Thomas More's we are dedicated to promoting Catholic Social Teaching, the principles of which are listed below.

We are very proud holders of The Romero Award which celebrates the work which schools do and challenges them to travel further along the road to creating a society where these principles are lived out daily and where equity is strived for, more than equality.