Our Christian Vision

Our Christian vision is for every child to love learning in a safe environment where they feel nurtured, valued and happy. We aim for a culture of exceptionally high expectations and an innovative approach to inspire our children to believe they can achieve excellence. This is rooted in our core values of kindness, friendship and respect.

Our Christian Parable 

We believe our vision guides and influences all that we do and is the heartbeat of our school.

Our Christian Parable is the Parable of the Mustard Seed. At Thornton Dale we believe that this parable is a metaphor for our children who grow and blossom during their time with us. Each child is like a mustard seed, and each child grows and is supported within our school community. We hope that each child will have an experience of the 'Kingdom of God.' during their time here.

Our Christian Values 

Our Christian values were chosen by children, staff and parents. We treat every child with the kindness, friendship and respect that they deserve as children of God. Our school community works tirelessly to ensure that every child is nurtured and enabled to flourish through our teaching and care.

Meet Our Reverends 

Our school is supported by Reverend Sally Gough and Reverend Joe Kinsella who also support the churches in the benefice; Thornton Dale, Allerston, Ebberston, Ellerburn and Wilton where some of our children live.

Collective Worship 

Collective Worship is a very important time in our school day where we come together and celebrate our Christian values and school vision. Our Collective Worship is a time for reflection and discussion with the children about the theme of the half term and each child has the time to share their thoughts and ideas.

In Collective Worship, children are given the opportunity to praise God for the wonders of the world, to give thanks for God’s love and to learn about and celebrate the shared Christian values and vision which are the heartbeat of our school.

Half termly themes are linked to Biblical teachings and the Global planner. Collective Worship also allows the children to look out of their own experiences and understand the half termly theme within the wider world following the windows, mirror and door concept which is adopted through the Roots and Fruits planning.

Our children are involved in every aspect of our Collective Worship. We have Global changemakers and Spiritual Leaders who plan, deliver and lead weekly Collective Worships. This allows children to take risks, grow in confidence and develop a deeper, reflective approach to their spiritual learning.

Children, teachers, governors and parents are also given the opportunity to evaluate worship and services, ensuring we are always improving our practice to meet the needs of our children and community. This monitoring is overseen by our Religious Education and Christian Distinctiveness Lead -Becky Humphreys. in addition to Reverend Sally and Reverend Joe. 

Collective Worship in our local Church

We hold a termly Collective Worship within our local Church - All Saints. Parents and the wider community are also invited to attend this worship. During this worship, Open the Book team will act out a biblical parable from the bible which links to our half termly value. 

Throughout the year, we gather together with the community to celebrate important times in the Christian calendar. Here are the services which we deliver : 

Our Collective Worship Timetable is as follows: 

Our Prayer Spaces 

We have prayer spaces in every classroom. They are calm, comfortable and reflective spaces for our children to access. They include a bible, a cross, a candle, a copy of our parable and a reflective diary. In addition to this, we have a shared, central prayer space at the entrance to school for children, families and staff to access at all times

Spirituality

At Thornton Dale, we believe spirituality is shown by the sharing and expression of individuals' beliefs. This is promoted through an enjoyment and fascination of our world. We encourage in all a willingness to reflect on our own experiences and the experiences of others. Our spiritual garden is a valued place in school, where we can take time to reflect.  For children’s spirituality to develop and flourish, there must be trust; trust in a God who loves them and trust that school is a safe place where their doubts, fears and questions will be listened to. Within school, we have Spiritual Leaders in each year group who reward children that are showing our school core values of friendship, kindness and respect.

Reports 

 Click here for our latest report 

Useful Links 

• Click here to visit the Church of England website.
• The National Society is the educational division of the Church of England and has responsibility for inspecting church schools. Click here to visit their website
• We belong to the York Diocesan Family of Schools and Parishes. Our mother church is York Minster – Visit the Diocese of York web page here. As a diocese we have a vision that shapes how we grow and work together.

• Click here to visit our Religious Education learning page