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St Benedict's Catholic School

St Benedict's
Catholic School

Our Community, Ethos & Values

"Pupils flourish as a result of the school's powerful caring ethos"
Ofsted, 2022

 

Catholic Life 

Our mission statement focuses on key Gospel values and links to our Benedictine motto:

“Developing Wisdom, Compassion and Resilience through Prayer and Work'

To do this, we live and work and worship together, sharing a belief in the values of the Gospel. Our students have opportunities to explore their faith through retreats, charity work and being educated in an environment that encourages them to question.

I believe that St Benedict’s is a very special school, and our greatest testament is the young people who leave us every year to take up their adult lives. I hope that, in looking at this website and visiting us, you too will wish to be part of our community.

What do Catholic Schools do?

  • Catholic schools share the vision of the Catholic Church
  • Provide the best learning for each child to reach her/his potential
  • Give the best context for young people to engage in worship and Christian action
  • Have head teachers who witness as prophet and priest, anointed to the service of school community
  • Have community members, i.e. staff, who lead worship and model Christian life and values
  • Provide learning opportunities about faith: evangelisation and catechesis
  • Are the place where children and young people engage daily with their faith: worship, witness of staff, opportunities to reflect, pray and put their beliefs into practice.

Education develops the potential of each person. We share responsibility for the education of our children and young people: ‘it takes a village to raise a child’.

The documents of the Second Vatican Council recognise the work of Catholic Schools in the formation of young people:

“Education is, in a very special way, the concern of the Church, not only because the Church must be recognised as a human society capable of imparting education, but especially it has the duty of proclaiming the way of salvation to all men, of revealing the life of Christ to those who believe, and of assisting then with unremitting care so that they may be able to attain to the fullness of that life.

The Church as a mother is under an obligation therefore, to provide for its children an education by virtue of which their whole lives may be inspired by the spirit of Christ.”

Documents of Vatican II vol.1: Christian Education: Gravissimum Educationis

Our Mission Statement 

Our mission informs all that we do

All policies and practices in the school are informed and shaped by our mission statement. Our curriculum is built around this mission and on the commitment to a wide education. Our purpose extends beyond the delivery of the overtly taught curriculum and completion of examinations and is rooted firmly in our expectation that the experience of a student at St Benedict's will enable them to take their place in the world and in doing so, make it a better place. This therefore means that our classroom practices, behaviour policies and expectations are consistent with our mission. 

Acts of Worship and Prayer are part of the daily life of our School. Meeting together as Tutor Groups, Years or as a School, we share our belief in the teaching of Jesus Christ. That shared belief gives us a very special sense of community, and is fundamental to our 'Bennies' identity.

 

What are needed are new pathways of self-expression and participation in society. Education serves these by making it possible for each human being to shape his or her own future."

Pope Francis 'Fratelli Tutti'