Vision & Values

The school vision is:
‘Love one another as I have loved you’ (John 13: 34-35) helping each other to reach for the stars.'

Our aim is that every child will reach their full potential and we strongly believe that helping children reach their full potential is a shared responsibility. We encourage our children to 'Reach for their Star' and with our help, their parents'/carers help and the help of their peers our children are successful.

The Bible verse, ‘Love one another as I have loved you’ (John 13: 34-35) sets the vision for the children in a Christian context and the story of the Good Samaritan helps children understand how we should all help each other.

Our vision drives all aspects of school life at Stone CE Combined School. Children are taught to love and care for themselves and others through a rich and varied curriculum which includes our focus on well-being, mental health and 'skills for life'.
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The whole community aspire to fulfil this vision through our values of: 

• Be Safe - We invest in pastoral care and wellbeing. We teach personal development to a very high standard so all children leave Stone knowing how to love and care for themselves as well as others. 
• Be Respectful - We expect everyone to be respectful, inclusive and compassionate at at all times, celebrating the differences that make us unique.
• Be Courageous - We inspire our children to persevere and be courageous in their learning, enabling them to take risks and try new and challenging experiences.
• Be Collaborative - We teach the skills to enable children to work collaboratively with others and as a school we work together with all community members to ensure we all grow individually and as a collective.

We have used the word 'Be' so it is call to action for the whole school community 

Every half term, we focus on one of these values and teach the children how the value can be applied to school life and everyday living throughout their lives.  The values are anchored into the Christian faith through stories and readings from the Bible. Video clips and songs are used to help children understand how the life and teachings of Jesus can be related to their own lives. Children explore these values further in the course of their time in all aspects of school life. We celebrate when children have ‘lived’ one of the values by presenting them with a value certificate in our Friday Celebration Collective Worship.

Why send your child to Stone? 

• Each child is at the heart of everything that we do and is recognised as a unique individual
• We maintain our strong Christian values and ensure that families and children of all faiths are respected and welcomed.
• We deliver a broad, balanced and ambitious curriculum where all children are supported to reach their full potential
• The children experience excellent teaching & learning through evidence based practices
• We shape and nurture the whole child to develop self belief, perseverance and respect for all
• Children's behaviour for learning is excellent
• We build strong & collaborative relationships with our families to ensure academic excellence and development of children's wellbeing
• We collaborate & connect with families, the church and the wider community to provide opportunities that extends beyond the academic.
• We inspire our children to be courageous in their learning enabling them to take risks and try new and challenging experiences
• We recruit and retain the best staff and provide opportunities for development, progression and excellence.
• When children leave Stone school they know how to be safe, they are and have all the skills to be life long learners

Ethos

Stone provides an exciting curriculum packed with inspirational and meaningful learning opportunities, where all children, irrespective of gender or ability, ethnicity or social circumstances are provided with a broad and balanced education. Our topic based approach to learning allows Stone pupils access to a deeply engaging and challenging curriculum.

As part of our pupils’ broader education we aim to develop personal and moral values including respect for other people and property, honesty and a respect for religious beliefs. Pupils learn to have an understanding of how their actions may affect others. Alongside this, we aim to develop the children’s understanding and appreciation of the multi-cultural society in which we live and to develop their tolerance for all races, religions and ways of life. The children are encouraged to work together for the needs of others in the local, national and international community through charitable acts of kindness.

We aim to develop independent and inquiring minds. As a ‘Skills for Life’ school, we encourage the children to develop the ability to question, discuss and argue rationally, to make informed decisions and apply themselves effectively to tasks. We are passionate about our ‘Skills for Life’ approach. It underpins everything we do and supports our Vision Statement and Mission to love and help each other by living our Christians values. 

Throughout their time at Stone School we encourage pupils to value education for its own sake and acquire the skills and enthusiasm to view education as a lifelong process.

Religious Education
Children are taught about Christianity (at least 50% of R.E syllabus), other religions and world views fostering respect and tolerance- please see our RE and Collective Worship policies on the policies pages.

Church Links
Our school has great links with St John the Baptist Church in Stone. We visit the church regularly throughout the year for special services led by The Revd Canon Dr Phil Groves, including Harvest and Christmas. The Revd Canon Dr Phil Groves visits the school regularly, leading collective worship and services as well as talking to classes to support learning. 

‍Mental Health and Well-being
We believe that our children’s well-being is central to their success as confident lifelong learners. We therefore encourage our children to play an active role in their own learning, in their own mental health and in developing healthy lifestyles. The school values are an integral part of our curriculum and influence interactions and behaviours providing consistency and security for the children. The ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’: ‘connect’, ‘be active’, ‘keep learning’, ‘take notice’ and ‘give’ provide the children and staff with practical ways of taking responsibility to develop their own wellbeing. We provide a number of opportunities for children and staff to practice these, which include growth mindset education, teaching children and staff about taking notice of their mental health and strategies to support them, Peer Mental Health Heroes, daily mindfulness, the Daily Mile, a wealth of enrichment opportunities and promoting and celebrating acts of kindness in school. The children are nurtured and cared for by teachers and the children feel safe and secure at school.

Charitable Links
'Giving' is one of the 5 ways to well-being and is a focus for the children and staff at Stone School. We educate the children about the needs of different people both locally, nationally and internationally in order to develop empathy, care for others and the 'life-long' inclination to help others. Children have the opportunity to help others through National and Christian Charity days such as 'Red Nose Day', 'Children in Need' and Harvest festival but alongside this the children, in their 'Houses' voted to support specific charities for which they raise money annually.

St Andrew's House raise money for Children in Need
St Patrick's House raise money for Evergreen Africa
St David's House raise money for Cancer Research UK
St George's House raise money for The British Heart Foundation

History to Present Day

Another part of our distinctive ethos is our history. Stone School has been a fundamental part of village life for many years, as it still is. The original school buildings, dating from 1871, are still in everyday use but most of the school dates from 1973 when a major programme of building work provided a hall, new classrooms, library, changing rooms, offices and an extended playground. The school has a class set of Ipads and Chrome books, interactive whiteboards and visualisers. .The school is fortunate to have extensive outside areas which enhances the children’s learning and enjoyment. These include an exciting outdoor learning area for EYFS, a school playground, school field and a beautiful Peace Garden.

Useful Links

Oxford Diocesan Website

St John the Baptist Church, Stone