Our Catholic Life

OUR CATHOLIC LIFE

We welcome and value all as individuals created by God, to work, learn, pray and play together. Like St Francis, we show care and respect for each other and our world. We have high expectations of each other, and inspire children to be the best they can become.

This is our Mission Statement that encompasses our faith. The spirituality of our school is enriched by daily prayers, collective worship and regular masses and liturgies.

The Catholic faith is at the heart of our school. We work very hard to treat everyone in school with care and respect just as Jesus taught us to 'love one another as I have loved you'. Our close link with our Parish is very important to us. All of our assemblies and prayer services throughout the week are rooted in the teachings of Jesus.

St. Francis’ is a vibrant, multicultural and multi-faith community and care and respect for individual differences is very much at the heart of our ethos.

As well as the weekly acts of collective worship, our children also pray regularly throughout the day in their classrooms.

Jesus is at the heart of our school and as such we welcome and value equally all members of our school community.

LITURGY AND COLLECTIVE WORSHIP

Our Catholic Faith is central to the day-to-day life of our school and all aspects of the curriculum, and pupils are encouraged to recognise the importance of their faith and they respond to all forms of liturgy and collective worship with respect and reverence.

We have a liturgical life in that the experiences we provide are wide ranging and take place in school, out of school, in Church and in the wider community, and engage and involve pupils, parents, staff, governors and the parish.

The Celebration of the Eucharist and prayer are central in our school.

Our Parish Priest celebrates Mass for us at school. Each class takes on the responsibility of planning and taking part in the celebration of the Mass. In addition, we celebrate special Whole School Masses throughout the year, like our school feast day and other significant occasions.

Children say prayers at the beginning of the day and end of the day, as well as before and after meal times. These are suited to the growing spirituality of the children

ASSEMBLIES

We have a whole school Liturgy on Mondays. These have a focus around the weekly theme, usually based on Sunday’s mass reading and children are invited to think about the message and respond.

We have a whole prayer service and hymn on Thursdays. Children have the opportunity to practice a wide range of hymns.

Celebration assembly takes place every Friday (for alternating phases). This is led by our house captains, who celebrate the achievements of all our children.

Rights respecting assembly takes place on every Friday (for alternating phases). This is led by our rights respecting ambassadors, who focus on the right of the week, and ask children to participate in activities.