Our ethos
School verse
Remember to stay alert and hold firmly to all that you believe. Be strong and courageous. Let love and kindness be the motivation behind all that you do.
1 Corinthians 16 v 13 & 14
Who are we?
Christ Church Secondary Academy (CCSA) opened in September 2021, welcoming the first cohort of students into year 7 and is growing year on year into a 11 – 18 Church of England academy. The vision is for all to flourish together within a Church School community. We are one community: students, parents and carers, staff and governors learning together and serving the community of Yardley Wood and beyond. At Christ Church we aim to provide an exceptional education, supported by excellent pastoral care with an insistence on securing the highest standards in everything we do.
We value each student as an individual, recognising their different talents and needs, and in working together we aspire for each one to be courageous, confident, and successful in all they do.
As a Church of England Church school in Birmingham we are shaped by the educational visions of the Church of England, Birmingham Diocesan Board of Education (DBE) and Birmingham Diocesan Multi Academy Trust (BDMAT).
The Church of England vision for education is rooted in the promise of Jesus for ‘life in all its fullness’ (John 10.10). The vision embraces the spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional, moral and social development of children and young people. It offers a vision of human flourishing for all, one that embraces excellence and academic rigour, but sets them in a wider framework. This is worked out theologically and educationally through four basic elements which permeate our vision for education:
Wisdom
Hope
Community
Dignity
The Birmingham DBE vision for education states Church schools are at the heart of the Church of England mission to the nation, serving families, communities and neighbourhoods by ‘educating for fullness of life for all’. As the Gospel of Jesus changes lives and thus, the world, our educational vision needs to be transformative and enable the capacity of children and young people to be agents of change for themselves and others. Out of a sense of justice, this means offering every opportunity we can give them to enhance their life chances beyond school, with proper access for all to employment and housing. Within our schools, children and young people should receive and be enabled to give love. It summarises this vision as ‘Church schools living out the good news of Jesus: Transforming the world by transforming lives.’
BDMAT aims to provide high quality education within a Christian framework that allows all pupils to reach their full potential through experiencing a broad and balanced curriculum whilst ensuring staff have a good life / work balance and are fulfilled in their roles. It summarises this mission as:
Life in its fullness, for all
Success, for all
Positive well-being, for all
What are we doing here?
Shaped by these visions for educating for life in all its fullness we have formed our own distinctive school vision which expresses how we can support everyone within our school community to share in abundant life and share this with the communities around us and the world beyond:
The CCSA Vision:
To be a community, wanting to learn and live well together
by instilling hope,
gaining confidence,
showing perseverance,
inspiring ambition and creativity,
supporting each other
to achieve our God-given potential.
To send our students out into the world
to be courageous,
to be beacons of light in their local communities,
knowing the love of God.
Scriptural basis
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”
Jeremiah 17 v 7-8
Remember to stay alert and hold firmly to all that you believe. Be mighty and full of courage. Let love and kindness be the motivation behind all you do.
1 Corinthians 16.13-14 The Passion Translation
At CCSA we are shaped by two biblical texts. The first is Jeremiah 17.7-8 which provides a vision of flourishing in all seasons by being well rooted in a life-giving relationship with God which results in abundant life (the trees which never fail to bear fruit.). Flourishing is at the heart of the biblical vision of how life is meant to be. The account of creation in Genesis 1.1-2.4 affirms its fundamental goodness at every point with its vision of the Garden of Eden with the tree of life at its centre. At the conclusion of the biblical witness in Revelation 22 the vision of a tree of life found is reiterated (this time set in the New Jerusalem) as a symbol of divine abundance.
For us our vision of education is about being rooted and grounded in this divine abundance of life, light and love. We believe that young people and adults learn and live well together best by being formed in a community which is founded on such a foundation. Growing together in love and learning is the way to achieving our God-given potential and thus experiencing life in all its fullness (John 10.10). One way we have chosen to express this in our daily living is by naming our houses in school after biblical trees: Cedar, Cypress, Sycamore, and Acacia. As well as reflecting our commitment to growth and flourishing, they also reflect our history in Yardley Wood, the ancient woodland to the southern end of Yardley Manor.
Our school motto is Flourishing Together which succinctly states our belief that the best way to experience fullness of life is in community. The Christian emphasis on loving one another (John 15.12) is best understood, experienced, and practised in community. If life in all its fullness is to be experienced in our world, then we believe this includes the formation of joy-filled, love-filled, hope-filled, life-filled school communities which are centred on mutual love and learning.
How then shall we live?
Our second biblical text is 1 Corinthian 16.13-14: ‘Remember to stay alert and hold firmly to all that you believe. Be mighty and full of courage. Let love and kindness be the motivation behind all you do’. For us it sums up the way we wish to live together as school community. It also provides the basis for our school values and the CCSA Way.
The CCSA Way:
We are
Courageous in our learning,
Compassionate in our caring,
Supporting each other in love and
Achieving in everything we do
so we flourish together.
School Values
Courage
Compassion
Support
Achievement
The CCSA Way provides a practical summary of how we intend to live well together for every member of our school community. It also demonstrates how our school values are rooted in our fundamental purpose of flourishing together.
Courage: Joshua 1.9 (‘Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.’) reminds us that when we have God’s presence and strength with us, we can face challenges and accomplish great things – as learners and in all aspects of our lives.
Compassion: 1 Corinthians 16.13-14 reminds us that we link courage and kindness in our school. As courageous advocates for one another and for a better world, we approach others and our world with compassion. John 15.12 reminds us of the call of Jesus to love one another and the Gospels provide multiple examples of Jesus responding with compassion in the face of the needs of others (e.g. Matthew 9.36; Mark 1.40-42; Luke 7.13-15; John 11.33-36). Micah 6.8 reminds us that living compassionately involves seeking justice as well as loving mercy.
Support: Galatians 6.2 (‘Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way, you will fulfil the law of Christ.’) reminds us of the importance of caring for one another within our school community and calls us to support and help each other during difficult times. 1 Corinthians 12.25-26 reminds us that as members of one body (the same community) that we shall have equal concern for each other: we suffer together, and we rejoice together.
Achievement: Philippians 4.13 (‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’) reminds us of our belief that being rooted in Christian community and values provides the best basis for achievement which is never simply individual or solely academic and always aimed at the benefit of others and the Common Good. A commitment to achieve acknowledges our desire to flourish together in every sphere of life and to succeed as individuals and as a school community.