Welcome to Highburton C.E First Academy

Our school is a friendly, exciting first school for children from the ages of 4 to 10 years. We pride ourselves on our nurturing, hard-working and Christian ethos. The school is located in beautiful countryside with strong community links. We aim to provide every child with the opportunity to succeed and ensure we work in partnership with parents. Our expectations of behaviour and respect are high and we provide an exciting curriculum in order to inspire a life-long love of learning.  

Our Vision

At Highburton C.E First Academy, our vision is to cultivate a vibrant learning community where every child is valued and empowered to flourish. We envision a school where kindness, helpfulness, honesty, and gratitude are woven into the fabric of daily life. Our commitment is to nurture independent thinkers who celebrate their uniqueness and embrace the power of collaboration.

 "Every child is a rainbow waiting to shine."

"Having wisdom and understanding is better than having silver and gold," 

Proverb 16:16

Church School Ethos

Recognising its historic foundation, the school will preserve and develop its religious character in accordance with the principles of the Church of England and in partnership with the Church at parish and diocesan level. Through our values we are also guided by the verse, "Having wisdom and understanding is better than having silver and gold," we are committed to providing our students with a rich and meaningful educational experience that goes beyond mere academic achievement. Our goal is to in still in them the values of wisdom, empathy, and integrity, which will serve as the foundation for their personal and academic growth. 

The school aims to serve its community by providing an education of the highest quality within the context of Christian belief and practice. It encourages an understanding of the meaning and significance of faith and promotes Christian values through the experience it offers to all its pupils.

Our Vision Journey 

How did we decide our new values? 

• Back in 2023, we spoke to the children about which values they thought were important - not just in school but in life generally. Many values were suggested and discussed in each class. 
• Each year group voted and chose one word that they wanted as part of our new vision and our rainbow of values. 
• The parents had the opportunity to take part in a questionnaire to share which values they thought were important. 
• We also discussed our ideas with staff and our governing body. 

The Importance of the rainbow

• It was agreed that the rainbow was a special symbol for our school, the children walk under the rainbow as they enter school, it appears on their school uniform and it has 7 colours which related to 6 class in school and one collective value chosen by all of the adults within school.
• The rainbow of values was created - kind, helpful, honest, grateful, independent, unique and together. 
• The children then used their finger prints to create a beautiful rainbow displayed in our main entrance. 
• Then, we thought about how this linked to our key line "Every person is a rainbow waiting to shine." 
• A rainbow is created when we have the sunshine and the rain. In life there are good and bad things that will happen, we have strengths and weaknesses that we recognise as individuals and these make us the person that we are. The rainbow is a sign of our journey through school, showing perseverance and resilience and being ready for our next steps. 

Theological Underpinning and Bible stories 

• Our theological underpinning encourages our children to understand that wisdom and knowledge are important in life. 
• We further developed this by introducing the children to three bible stories - each with a message. 
• Noah and the Ark - "The rainbow was a mark of God's promise to care for Noah, his family and his ancestors."
• Joseph - "He had high aspirations but his life was one disaster to another. His hope and trust in God remained and he never gave up." 
• Paul the Apostle - "God used his unique talents to spread the gospel across the world."  

 Our Displays 

• The children worked in mixed groups to produce some beautiful work to explain our vision and values in art form. 
• At Highburton First Academy, we truly believe that "Every person is a rainbow waiting to shine," and this can be seen throughout our school.