As we begin the school year in a time filled with uncertainty and wildly fluctuating news reports regarding COVID-19, its dangers and how best to protect ourselves and our loved ones, we wanted to focus on a part of Clapham that is unchangeable and constant: our core values.
In this state of flux, these core values, that are based on the Christian faith, are what anchors us as a school and what allows our teachers and staff to be flexible and adaptable in the face of uncertainty. Sharing these values gives the Clapham community a solid foundation and binds us together around a common goal.
These values are why everyone in this community chose Clapham as a place to educate our children, and it is why our teachers choose to teach at this school.
1. Liberal Arts Tradition
The ultimate goal of education is the cultivation of virtue and the pursuit of goodness, truth, and beauty, not merely the dispensation of information. The liberal arts prepare students to be critical thinkers, persuasive communicators, and effective leaders to navigate the complexities of the 21st century.
2. Discipleship
Clapham School seeks to partner with families to raise up faithful followers of Jesus Christ. Faith and learning go hand-in-hand as students seek to take captive every thought for Christ and grow in relationship with the living God.
3. Academic Excellence
Learning is a joyful and stretching process. Contrary to popular opinion, rigor and joy exist in harmony, not conflict. As students are challenged and stretched to reach their God-given potential, a sense of well-being and satisfaction is the result.
4. The Personhood of a Child
Children are persons bearing the image of God and created with intrinsic dignity and worth. Their natural curiosity to know stems from this reality. The role of the teacher is to facilitate opportunities for our children to grow in love, knowledge, and maturity.
5. Relationships
Students are persons who exist in relationship with God their Creator, fellow human beings, and creation. Learning occurs in community as students engage ideas and make connections with wide and varied facets of the world in which they live.
6. Service to Christ
The call of every disciple is to engage the world for Jesus Christ. Students are equipped through their education to shape culture for the common good and the glory of God in the church and society.
In conclusion, I would like to remind you that while sickness may come and go, it is the Word of the LORD that stays the same now and forever. In his Word, the LORD commands us not to fear, to have good hope, to place our trust in the Author and Perfector of our faith and as the apostle Paul demonstrated, be content in all things. In the same way, we approach this year knowing that the LORD is working through Clapham school and its teachers to uniquely equip each student.
“All our teaching of children should be given reverently, with the humble sense that we are invited in this matter to co-operate with the Holy Spirit; but it should be given dutifully and diligently”
Charlotte Mason
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