At Thorncombe, St Mary’s CE Primary Academy, we believe the purpose of education is to nurture and enable every child to thrive and to achieve their full potential. Our vision encapsulates this: 

Living, Learning and Growing Together

Through living, learning and growing together, we nurture each individual’s uniqueness and potential so that they may enjoy life in all its fullness (John 10:10).

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Our Christian Core Values

As a Church of England school, we have six core values that permeate through all that we do. Our core values guide us all and help us to reflect upon how we can be compassionate, respectful, aspirational individuals with the resilience to cope with the challenges of life.

Our six core values are:

• Love and Compassion
• Thankfulness
• Service
• Hope
• Forgiveness
• Endurance

Each half term, we focus on one of these core values during our daily collective worships. We award 'core value apples' to children who have been recognised as demonstrating our core values and these can be found on our 'Living, Learning and Growing Tree' which takes pride of place in our school hall.

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Our Ethos

At Thorncombe St Mary’s, we believe passionately that everyone has the potential to succeed. We are committed to providing and developing a positive, safe and stimulating learning environment underpinned by our core Christian values. As a fully inclusive school, everyone can learn, grow and feel uniquely valued and nurtured.

We Aim High

Through endurance and hope, we believe that all children and staff should aspire to the highest possible standards in all aspects of school life and provide a high quality of education that delivers the best outcomes for young people. Our broad and rich curriculum allows children to develop their talents and skills so that they can flourish and become ambitious as they move onto their next stage of learning.

We show respect

Through forgiveness and thankfulness, we believe that all children and staff should respect others regardless of their background so that every child can reach his or her full potential. We make it our mission to inspire every child so that they develop a love of learning.

We make a difference

Through love, compassion and service, we believe in celebrating all cultures, beliefs and abilities so that everyone is given equal opportunity. We believe in forging a partnership with parents, the local parish and the wider community so that we can make a difference to one another. Through this, children engage with different religions and cultures with the aim of encouraging them to appreciate, enjoy and care for the world we all live in.

Ethos Committee

Governors, Heads of schools and Christian Distinctiveness Co-ordinators from across the Academy Trust meet once a term to continually support and progress the Ethos of each school by combining a variety of expertise and sharing strengths from other schools. They ensure RE, Ethos and SMSC is delivered to a high standard in every school.

Together, we work to investigate different areas and create action plans to improve these areas, which are shared with the governing body. We also regularly evaluate collective worship.

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Collective Worship

Monday - Open the Book Worship

Tuesday - Whole School Worship

Wednesday - Key Stage Worship

Thursday - Whole School Worship - praising through song.

Friday - Celebration Worship