We aspire for every pupil and adult to 'experience life in all its fullness' (John 10:10)

Empowering Lives. Flourishing Together

Our vision becomes a reality through living our values.

Our four values

These four values anchor the culture of the Oxford Diocesan Bucks Schools Trust.

INCLUSIVITY

We mean that every child and every adult experiences felt agency in the Trust. You influence what happens here; you are not simply included in it. Inclusivity is not a posture of welcome, but a structural commitment that your voice changes things.

“Our differences are our strength as a species and as a world community” Nelson Mandela 

 

COMMUNITY

We mean mutual obligation across schools. A teacher in one of our schools is connected in responsibility to a teacher in another, and vice versa. We build the structures that make this real in practice: networks, CPD pairs, shared development days, and collaboration across phases.

“The minute we become an integrated whole, we look through the same eyes and we see a whole different world together” Azizah Al-Hibri

 

SERVICE

We mean visible care. The Trust shows up for individuals when they need it: staff, families, pupils, leaders, and governors. Service is not only what we ask of pupils; it is what we commit to one another, and what makes belonging real rather that rhetorical.

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others” Mahatma Gandhi

 

EMPOWERMENT

 We mean a shared identity that travels. A coherent story of who we are that any pupil, parent, staff member, governor, or trustee can carry across our schools. This enables meaningful autonomy: decisions can be made locally, with confidence in what is held in common across the Trust.

"There is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind" Virginia Woolf

 

WHAT WE PROMISE OUR PUPILS

You will achieve. You will belong. You will thrive. That is our promise to every child across our 15 school.

ACHIEVE means we will teach you the curriculum your school has chosen with care, and we will not lower our expectations of what you can do.

BELONG means you will be known by name in your school; you will be safe; and your voice will help shape what happens here, through your school council, through our trust-wide pupil voice day in February, and through the daily life of your classroom.

THRIVE means we will attend to your spiritual, social and personal life as carefully as your academic one.

Our promise is rooted in Jesus' words about life in all its fullness. But the promise is for every child, ether your family is Christian, of another faith, or of none. There are no asterisks.

WHAT WE PROMISE OUR FAMILIES

You choose your school. The Trust does not change what makes your school yours: its character, its leadership, its relationship with you and with the community it serves.

What we add: a wider community of schools that your child belongs to alongside their own. Trust-wide events that your child can take part in: Pupil Voice Day in February, ODBST day in June, the Advent service in December. We also provide consistency where it matters most: a shared approach to safeguarding that every school in the Oxford Diocesan Bucks Schools Trust can stand behind with confidence. 

WHAT WE PROMISE OUR STAFF

You will not be asked to do work that does not serve children.

You will not work alone. By the end of any year, you will be no more than one short conversation away from a colleague in another ODBST school doing similar work, through our subject and phase networks, our cross-school CPD pairs for ECTs and middle leaders, our Trust wide ECT cohort, and our leadership shadowing programme.

When you need the Trust to show up for you (illness, bereavement, a difficult moment at work) we will. Visible care is not a slogan. It is what we mean when we say BELONG applies to adults as well as children.

WHAT WE PROMISE OUR SCHOOL LEADERS

You own the things that matter most: your curriculum, your pedagogy, your school’s identity, the relationships that make your school distinctive. The Scheme of Delegation that defines this is co-developed with heads and reviewed openly each year. The trust takes everything else off your plate. Our partners in HR, operations and finance work alongside you as named colleagues, not visitors from head office. Their availability, escalation routes and service expectations are written down in ‘How we work together’, refreshed, with your input.

WHAT WE PROMISE OUR GOVERNORS

You hold your school to its purpose. The Trust holds you in a wider conversation about what education looks like across all our schools in the Oxford Diocesan Bucks Schools Trust. What governors can expect: clear, focused briefings on the matters that affect your role, including statutory updates, Trust-wide priorities, and the year ahead. We respect that your time, judgement, and commitment are voluntary. We do not waste them. In return, we invest in your development as governors: high-quality training, opportunities to connect across schools, and access to shared thinking that strengthens local decision-making.

WHAT WE PROMISE OUR TRUSTEES

You set the strategic and cultural direction of the Oxford Diocesan Bucks Schools Trust. We provide the time, information, and support you need to do that well. You are accountable through the Trust’s governance structures, through its Members, through external regulation and scrutiny, and through the communities we serve. Like everyone in this Trust, trustees can say: “I belong here, and I help shape what we are becoming.”