Love, Learn, Live

“Love your neighbour as yourself” - (Mark 12:32)

We follow Jesus’ example by valuing and cherishing all God’s children in an ever-changing world.  We are loved so we can love, we learn so we can grow and therefore live our lives to the full, flourishing in the eyes of God today and in the future.   

Love your neighbour as yourself (Mark 12:32) guides everything we do at school and beyond.

Spirituality and Spiritual Development

In Cutnall Green C of E Primary School, we recognise that developing the spirituality of our pupils and adults is a fundamental aspect of enabling pupils and adults to flourish.

To talk about spirituality is, essentially, to talk about something which is beyond words, it is what makes us unique as individuals and connects each and every one of us with each other and the world.

This language of spirituality begins from a Christian understanding that everyone is a valued creation, individually and uniquely made by God, like pots made by a potter (Isaiah 64:8). Yet, in life things happen that impact on the physical ‘pot’ of life and create cracks that provide a glimpse of something ‘beyond’ the tangible. Christians would view this as an opportunity to relate to the Divine Creator God.

Wows, Ows and Nows of Life

• Cracks may be caused when something so good and breath-taking happens that the pot expands and cracks – the wows of life.
• Cracks may happen when something challenging happens and threatens the comfort of everyday – the ows of life.
• Cracks can also happen in the stillness and ordinariness of everyday – the nows of life, when a moment of stillness, a pause or prayer creates a crack in the normal, physical everyday.

In these special moments there is a spiritual opportunity. Kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending broken ceramics with golden joinery or glue, creates something that has been broken into something even more beautiful. Using this metaphor, the wows, ows and nows of life offer the possibility of cracks that are filled with “golden glue” and make the pot even more beautiful. The “golden glue” in the cracks reflect a little of the wonder of spirituality and demonstrate that these cracks will become what makes each individual beautiful and what makes you.

In the still times, the great times, the hard times, there’s a chance we may feel like we crack open a little – open to new possibilities. These moments are spiritual moments, when you feel closer to yourself or others or to nature or to God. For Christians, allowing God to be a part of these moments is like allowing God to be the Golden glue in your life.

Spirituality can be seen as the gold with which we can fill the gaps that may be caused by the ows’ and ‘wows and nows of life. The cracks will become what makes you beautiful, what makes you you!

Christian Vision and Spirituality

Our school’s distinctively Christian vision, is to teach our pupils to Love, Learn and Live as global citizens and to follow Jesus’ example by valuing and cherishing all God’s children in an ever-changing world. We teach our children that they are loved so that we can love, we learn so we can grow and therefore live our lives to the full, flourishing in the eyes of God today and in the future. The ows, wows and nows give the staff and pupils in our school opportunities to recognize and deal with things that happen throughout our lives, both good, bad and different. It helps us to reflect, inspires awe and wonder and allows us to develop and flourish in the eyes of God today and in the future.