Our Mission and Values
Life to the Full
This vision comes from Jesus’ words; he said, ‘I have come that they might have life to the full’. When he spoke these words, Jesus was offering his early followers a whole new kind of existence – a new way to be human. This title includes embracing social justice, forgiving people that hurt you and living generously.
At St Luke’s we enable all students to explore what this life looks like, experience life in all its fullness and be equipped to live life to the full. We value students’ academic, social, spiritual and physical development.
St Luke’s
Ethos
As a Church of England School, our vision of life to the full is taken from the words of Jesus. We want all staff and students that are part of the St Luke’s community to flourish, and during their time at St Luke’s enable all students to explore, experience and be equipped to live life to the full.
We value student’s academic, social and physical development, and also their spiritual development – growing in awareness of the aspects of life that are beyond physical things and exploring some of life’s big questions.
We want all students in our care to know and feel that they are all highly valued as human beings and worthy of an excellent eduaction.
St Luke’s was initially established as a school linked to St Luke’s College (now part of the University of Exeter), which began training teachers in 1839. During the 1800s, many schools were set up by church leaders and Christians in order to give all students the opportunity to receive an education.
We are inspired by figures such as Elizabeth Fry, who set up a school for children whose parents had been placed in Newgate prison, and Robert Owen, who ensured that the children of workers in his mill were able to go to school instead of working long hours in the dangerous conditions of nineteenth century factories.
After the school building was damaged during the Blitz, St Luke’s moved to a site on Ringswell Avenue and was renamed Vincent Thompson High School, after the Chair of Governors. In 2006, the school moved to our current site.
The Christian faith has shaped our life and culture for over a thousand years. It has been a foundation stone in the search for knowledge; in art, literature and music; and in the way we organise our civic and political institutions. Many people with a passion for justice or the courage to challenge accepted norms have been motivated by a deep faith, and by the example set to them by Jesus. And many ordinary people to this day find a deep vein of personal and spiritual strength in the teachings found in the Bible.
As a Church school we celebrate this living heritage and these teachings shape our 5 values: showing respect; being inclusive; giving hope; achieving your best; taking responsibility. These values are taken from the Bible, but are not exclusive to those who follow the Bible’s teachings; indeed, they are the foundation blocks of British values and democratic society.
We welcome all students, staff and parents into our school community, whether they have a faith background or not; we believe that all people are created in the image of God and have unique worth. Therefore, we do not seek to force feed the Christian message, but invite everyone in our community to explore the message of Christianity, other faiths and no faith positions, and make an informed choice. As they do so, we want all students in our care to know and feel that they are highly valued as human beings and worthy of an excellent education.