Achieving personal excellence for ourselves         and the glory of God.

Our Mission Statement ensures that Christ is at the centre of all the work within our school.

Our Mission Statement is not simply a mantra that is repeated by children and staff or something that is just displayed around our school. The staff, children, parents and Governors work hard to ensure that everyone within our school community is able to achieve personal excellence so that our Mission Statement is lived out daily.

As a Catholic school it is imperative that we strive for excellence for ourselves, the children and colleagues. It ensures that we recognise the uniqueness of the individual, made in God's image and loved by him. The search for excellence is also an integral part of the spiritual quest.

We believe that our Mission Statement will only be lived out by a clear commitment to high expectations and ensuring that the love of God is present in our school.

We know that children and staff will only achieve personal excellence in an environment where they feel respected, valued and loved. Everyone in our school has a responsibility to ensure that the Gospel values are evident in our school in all the interactions that take place and that they underpin all the policies in place.

As a Catholic school we recognise that the children in our school are unique, made in the image of God and divine. Once we recognise this, how can we not have the very highest expectations of them and each other? In a loving and nurturing environment, we know that we can challenge one another and the children so that we can all achieve our very best. It is in this way that we hope the Holy Family School community can give glory to God.  

Our Mission Statement is reviewed regularly by staff, children, parents and governors. This ensures that we remain rooted in the mission of the Church.

Dear Friend,

I am writing to you to tell you about our School Mission Statement and to explain why we think it is helpful and very powerful. A school Mission Statement is there to guide everyone in a school and show the world what that school considers important. This helps to make schools distinctive so that they stand out from one another. It also gives everyone in the school community a shared purpose and common goal. 

When we try to 'achieve personal excellence', it reminds us about something very important. In the book of Genesis we learn that we are made by God and made in the image of God. We are all divine. Therefore, each of us has been blessed with amazing talents and we are capable of achieving excellence. We are children of God - of course we can achieve excellence! If we settled for less than our best or were happy not trying to achieve excellence then we would be letting God and ourselves down. By aiming to achieve excellence, we can grow to become the person that God wants us to be. Saint Henry Newman wrote that God has a 'definite purpose' for each of us. We may not know what that purpose is but if we want to fulfil the purpose that God has set out for us, then we should always be striving to achieve excellence. The word 'personal' in our Mission Statement has a truly important meaning for all of us at Holy Family. It shows us all and is a daily reminder that we are all unique. We have different skills and talents. The 'excellence' that we achieve may look different to another persons but we can always achieve 'personal excellence'. 

When we achieve personal excellence, we do not only please our parents - we also please God. When we have struggled and really tried our best to achieve excellence then we can feel proud and pleased. This makes us feel good and helps us to grow as people because we become more confident. Doing well and achieving excellence is an amazing feeling - the best! This is why our Mission Statement says that we are achieving personal excellence for 'ourselves'.  At the same time as doing it for ourselves we are also giving glory to God. We are showing the world how magnificent God's creation is. We are praising and thanking God every time we achieve excellence. At Holy Family, we always make sure that God's light is always shining through our achievements. 

Thank you for reading my letter. I hope that you now understand why we think our Mission Statement is so good. We feel very fortunate to have a Mission Statement that helps all of us - teachers and children - live in a way that pleases God. 

Tiffany - Year 5 

September 2023