Catholic Life of the School
We live to love, learn and follow Jesus who says, "Love one another as I have loved you."
At St. Margaret Clitherow Catholic School we believe and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. We value and respect all; growing and learning together as part of God’s family, to be the best we can be. Our mission statement of “We live to Love, Learn, Respect and follow Jesus who says ‘Love One Another as I have loved you’” permeates all aspects of our school life.
The governors and staff of St. Margaret Clitherow Primary School recognise that they work to educate the children in their care in a range of ways, as the centre of this is the spiritual development of the children, particularly in the Catholic faith.
As part of the community of Catholic schools who work alongside the Catholic Church there is a clear purpose for the existence of St. Margaret Clitherow Catholic School.
It is the mission of all Catholic schools that we contribute to the ‘common good’ of our community and society as a whole in response to the Church’s teaching on social justice.
When pupils join our school they become part of this community. Every day starts with an Act of Worship, we give thanks before lunch and we end the day with a prayer. We believe that Christ is at the centre of all we do and therefore we offer each child a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum of the highest standard to meet their spiritual, emotional, moral, intellectual and physical needs and to prepare them for the responsibilities of adult life.
The programme of Religious Education we follow is in line with the Catholic Directory as specified by the Bishops Conference of England and Wales. Religious Education is taught to all children in the school for a minimum of 10% of curriculum time, not including worship. It is considered central to the whole school curriculum. We follow key teachings from Catholic traditions that are taken from the RECD (Religious Education Curriculum Directory). Through this directory, the children are taught the basics of Catholic faith and morality, with constant reference to their own life experience.
We have excellent links with our parish church, English Martyrs, and the parish priest, Fr Albert Ofere, is a regular visitor to school. The school attends mass at English Martyrs on special occasions and a class attends mass on a Friday on a regular basis. The parish priest also celebrates mass and Liturgies at the school throughout the year including the special Tie-ing in Assembly where our Reception children are officially welcomed to the school.
CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT ABOUT PUPIL CHAPLAINCY
For worship based on the weekly Gospel click here
For resources on saints which link with the liturgical year click here
LITURGIES/MASSES - SPRING 1ST 2025
School Dates
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Year 6 Coffee Morning for MacMillan at English Martyrs – 31st January 2025
27th January - Holocaust Memorial Day assembly for children
7th February (For 8th Feb) – Year 3 Class Liturgy and Own Clothes Day for their class saint – St Josephine Bakhita
VALUES OF THE MONTH
JANUARY - HONESTY
FEBRUARY - FRIENDSHIP
PUPIL CHAPLAINS
Welcome to our New Pupil Chaplains who have been selected by the outgoing Chaplains based on an application and interview process. There was a large number of applications this year and we were very impressed with the standard of applications. Our 3 existing Year 6 Chaplains will stay in position to support the new members with their role.
Our School Chaplains
Pupil Chaplains Action Plan
Please click on the links below for websites relevant to our Catholic community.
English Martyrs https://parish.rcdow.org.uk/wembleypark/
Wednesday Word http://www.wednesdayword.org
Diocese of Westminster http://rcdow.org.uk
The Holy See. http://w2.vatican.va/content/vatican/en.html
Catholic Herald http://www.catholicherald.co.uk
OTHER FAITHS
This term we will be learning about Hinduism. Hinduism is one of the world’s oldest religions, originating in India over 4,000 years ago. It is a diverse and complex faith with no single founder, centred on beliefs like karma (action and consequence), dharma (duty), and moksha (liberation from the cycle of rebirth). Hindus worship many deities, including Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer, while also recognizing one supreme reality called Brahman. Sacred texts like the Vedas and Bhagavad Gita guide Hindu practices and philosophies.
CARITAS IN ACTION
Rooted in Love is a Religious Education resource for primary schools. It addresses the objectives relating to Catholic Social Teaching from the new Religious Education Directory, including prayer and liturgy ideas around each theme, as well as suggestions for bringing this work to life in the Catholic life and mission of the school. Rooted in Love is split into 6 themes, one for each half term.
This half- term we will study “Solidarity and Peace”. We believe in showing that we care and in being peacemakers.
Loving God,
We believe that we are one big human family.
Help us to reach out to people who are suffering or sad, showing them the love you have shown to us.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Loving God,
We believe you want to bring your peace to our homes, our communities and our world.
Help us to be peacemakers, listening to and loving each other.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
CLASS SAINTS
Every class has their own class saint. On the feast day of their saint (or the closest day possible)- they will have a special liturgy and be allowed to wear their own clothes. You will be given further details of this nearer the time.
Reception - St George
Year 1 - St John Paul II
Year 2 - St Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa)
Year 3 - St Josephine Bakhita
Year 4 - St Oscar Romero
Year 5 - St Thérèse of Lisieux
Year 6 - St Martin de Porres
IMPORTAT DATES FOR THIS HALF TERM SPRING 1 2025
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5th January – Epiphany 12th January – Baptism of the Lord 19th January – Peace Day 25th January – Conversion of St Paul 26th January – Sunday of the Word of God 2nd February – Presentation of the Lord 3rd February – St Blaise (Martyr) 5th Feb – St Agatha (Martyr) 8th February – St Josephine Bakhita – Day for the victims of trafficking (Year 3 Class Saint) 11th February – World Day for the Sick 16th February – Racial Justice Day 2nd March– Day for the unemployed. |
PRAYER CYCLE
The season of Christmas has ended and it is now Ordinary Time again. During this season we listen to readings about the teachings and parables of Jesus and reflect on what it means to be a follower of Christ. In this ordinary time, we concentrate on the saints and try to imitate their holiness as Christ’s followers. As it is Racial Justice Sunday this month, we remember especially the saints from different races and cultures, and learn more about them. We also pray for the intentions above in green at any time but especially on their special days. During this time of war in our world, we do not forget those who are suffering, especially the children, and we keep them in prayer.
During Ordinary Time (Winter), i.e. up to Lent, we are asked to pray for these intentions:
Peace on Earth; Openness to the Word of God; Christian Unity; The Sick and Those Who Care for Them; Victims of Trafficking and Those who Work to Combat it; The Unemployed.
CARITAS AMBASSADORS
Our Year 5 children have been participating in the Caritas Ambassadors programme. Caritas Ambassadors is a programme for both primary and secondary schools created by Caritas Westminster. It aims to equip pupils with a strong understanding of Catholic Social Teaching and how we can put it into action in our daily lives.
The programme runs through six key themes of Catholic Social Teaching and helps the trainee Ambassadors to think about social justice issues in their local community, before taking them through responding by developing and running their own social action project. It also introduces them to the work of Caritas Westminster, offering practical examples of how we use Catholic Social Teaching to influence our work.
The Caritas Ambassadors become leaders of social action in their school, and responsible for sharing what they have learnt with those around them. They can share the work of Caritas Westminster with others, but especially share their increased understanding of the issues faced by their local community, and how they and their fellow pupils can address these to create a fairer society.
The programme focuses on the group developing their own ideas, and taking responsibility for creating and running their social action projects themselves. It guides them to use the Give, Act, Share, Pray model to design their project, looking at how they can give their time and skills to act to support those in need, and sharing this work with others through awareness raising and prayer. Year 5 have focused on a project around “Care for creation”.
Year 5 recently went on a litter pick and presented an assembly to the rest of the school. We have worked with the council and Veolia to make a difference in our local area.
Eco-Schools Green Flag Accreditation
We are delighted that our children have been accredited with the Eco-Schools Green Flag. Eco-Schools is a charity passionate about engaging young people in environmental education and action. Eco-Schools operates in 70 countries and engages 19.5 million young people globally. This makes Eco-Schools the largest educational programme on the planet.
The programme:
- inspires and empowers pupils
- raises environmental awareness
- improves the school environment
- creates financial savings
- involves the whole school and wider community in environmental projects – and most importantly it engages the youth of today to protect the planet of tomorrow.
