Our vision

To unlock every child's potential as a unique child of God

Theological Foundation for Our Vision

Unlocking every child’s potential as a unique child of God.

Unlocking every child’s potential:
God’s desire is for every person to flourish, “I have come so that you may have life in all its fulness.” (John 10:10) Helping people to reach their full potential enables them to flourish in accordance with God’s desire for them. He has prepared “good works” for each of us to do (Ephesians 2:10), and we strive for all people – children, staff, and members of our community – to bring these good works to realisation. By working hard, unlocking every child’s potential, and striving for excellence in our work and learning, we aim to bring glory to God (Colossians 3:23, 1 Corinthians 10:31).

As a Unique:

Our vision recognises the uniqueness of every person. God created every person to be unique and therefore special. Each of us have different gifts and talents. As a community and a school, following the teaching of the bible in 1 Corinthians, we recognise that we are all members of one body (1 Corinthians 12:12-26), and we strive to celebrate that. Just as the body has many different parts that are unique and have different roles, so too our community is made up of unique people that all have something different to offer. The body flourishes when all parts are working at their best. So too, we believe, that when every person is enabled to reach their potential and their unique gifts and talents are celebrated and given room to shine, then the whole community flourishes.

Child of God:

We recognise and believe that every person is created by God in his image and likeness (Genesis 1:26). Thus, we believe that all people are inherently valuable and worthy of love and respect. Every child is God’s handiwork (Ephesians 2:10), fearfully and wonderfully created by him (Psalm 139:14). The bible teaches that God loves each and every one of us (John 3:16) and call us his children (1 John 3:1). This shows our commitment to the whole school family. In Christ Jesus we are all children of God through faith (Galatians 3:26). And so we strive to create an environment where all feel loved, welcomed, and accepted as a child of God.

SIMBI - Our trust mascot

We welcomed Simbi to our trust in the Summer of 2025 following a whole trust competition to design a trust mascot to represent our vision: 'to unlock every child's potential as a unique child of God'.

Mrs Taggart, our CEO, led an act of worship in each school, to help the children think about what the vision means; what it means to unlock every child's potential and what it means to be a unique child of God.

Every child drew around their hand, and used this outline to describe how they are unique individuals. These are displayed in each school in our trust.

Bentley St Paul's CE Primary used dark green paper, Ingatestone Infant School used light blue paper, Ingatestone and Fryerning CE Junior used dark blue paper, Mountnessing CE Primary used light green paper, Ingatestone and Fryerning CE Junior school used dark blue paper and Shenfield St Mary's CE Primary used red paper.

Every child took home a competition entry form, to talk to their parents and carers about our vision and to think about a design for our mascot. We received over 800 entries and the ideas were thoughtful and thought-provoking.

A team of pupils from each school shortlisted ten to bring to a pupil working party, where the final decision was made. It was tough, but in the end, Simbi, was considered to be the best mascot to represent being a unique child of God.

Simbi's name was created using the first letter from each school's name.

The mascot is not perfect but it is special. It has wonky ears and two scars and a patch round its eye. It is proud of itself and encourages others to be unique. It wears all the school badges on his special cape.