Our Beliefs

St Teilo's rejoices in its commitment to ecumenism and inter-faith understanding. As we seek to grow closer to people of all faiths and none through worship and service to the community, we thank God for the special gifts we have to offer each other.

Division and hatred is not pleasing to God. Therefore, we encourage theological dialogue, listening and learning, as part of our witness and mission.

St Teilo's celebrates the manifold richness and fullness of all God's creation. We are each made in his image and loved without limit. Hatred in all its forms, including homophobia and transphobia, undermines the value God places on his children.

In our school, everyone is welcomed, accepted and affirmed in Christ. We encourage healthy and faithful expressions of relationships, including same-sex relationships, unreservedly and joyfully. We celebrate faithfulness in relationships and commit ourselves to upholding loving relationships which shape and sustain us.

St Teilo's is a living witness to our belief that women and men are equally made in the image of God. Misogyny and gender-based injustice, abuse or violence is abhorrent and deeply unchristian.

We are committed to helping girls, boys, women and men - cisgendered and transgendered - to participate in respectful relationships that reflect Christian values of love, dignity and justice.

St Teilo's believes in the equality of all peoples and values the richness that comes with racial and ethnic diversity. Racism is a sin; as such we oppose racism in all its forms.

We seek to promote an understanding of racism, racial issues and cultural diversity. We commit ourselves to the elimination of racial hatred and injustice and we encourage positive action to increase the inclusion and representation of black, Asian and minority ethnic people across our school.

St Teilo's believes in the glorious and joyful vision of God's intention for human life, nurtured within the family. We know that every family looks different - some with two parents, some with one. Some with carers or guardians and others with siblings or friends. Whatever the makeup of a family, it plays an essential part of God's plan for a healthy society.

In particular, our school seeks to offer a preferential option for children who are looked after or adopted. Every child needs to be loved, to have a home and a community. Every child deserves to have people believe in them, dream with them, to tell them that they matter, they are special and important.

St Teilo's believes that responding to the climate crisis is an essential part of our responsibility to safeguard God's creation and achieve a just world. Climate change hits hardest the poorest countries and poorest people of the world. Meantime, the widespread destruction of the natural world is a crisis for creation.

We seek to address the climate crisis in faith, practice and mission. This includes ethical sourcing, reducing our carbon emissions and promoting care for creation through prayer, worship and teaching.

St Teilo's believes that we are all children of God, personally called by our Father in heaven. God knows fully who we are and claims us as his own - even in our struggles. No one should be made to feel ashamed because of a mental health problem; we are enough for God just as we are.

Our school must always be a place of support and safety for those in need. Just as the Spirit is close to the broken-hearted so we, too, seek to comfort, restore and renew those struggling with their emotional and mental health. Through loving service, and in partnership with mental health professionals, St Teilo's strives to end mental health stigma and discrimination.

St Teilo's believes that the story of Jesus is the story of welcome, inclusion and service, particularly to the marginalised. God commands us to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger and clothe the naked. When we fail to do these things, we fail in our service to the Lord.

We seek to offer radical welcome to refugees, asylum seekers and all displaced people, honouring and providing for them as if they were angels in our own homes. 

St Teilo's believes that God made all people in his image, perfectly and purposefully. Poverty diminishes hope, creates division and systemically oppresses the most vulnerable. The reason for someone’s poverty does not determine the value we place on them; the poor are every bit as human as anyone else.

Our school tenderly cares for the poor, walking hand in hand together, and asking how can we lift each other up? This means asking about - and listening to - the needs of the person sitting across from us rather than assuming that we know best. In the power of God's Spirit, we seek to truly love our neighbours as ourselves.