Schools Roundup: Living out faith both inside and outside the classroom

Friday 25th February 2022

Schools across our diocese have got 2022 off in style with an incredible range of faith, community, charity, and environmental work.

From writing to Pope Francis and No. 10 Downing Street, to raising thousands of pounds for charity, and hitting the headlines with a mental health outreach project, our schools have been working tirelessly to excel both inside and outside the classroom.

Read our roundup below for more information.

Faith

St Monica’s RC High School in Prestwich received an exciting letter from the Vatican this half-term, when students wrote to Pope Francis asking about his life and work as pope after studying the history of the papacy. Students were curious about why the pontiff chose the name Francis – the first in history – and wrote about their concerns about social and environmental justice.

Meanwhile, Corpus Christi RC Primary School in Oldham has been learning about forgiveness, and about how Jesus washes away our sins. To help visualise God’s mercy, pupils wrote down their sins and placed them in water to symbolise this forgiveness.

St Gabriel’s in Bury spent time in prayer and collected more than 600 prayer cards from students to display in their chapel.

Schools right across the diocese have been busy learning about key stories from the life of Jesus, as told in the Gospels. Our Lady’s RC Primary School in Aspull tweeted about learning more about The Last Supper, whilst St John Bosco RC Primary School in Blackley studied the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

Community

We were delighted to see some of our schools strengthening their ties with local communities this half term. MACFEST (Muslim Arts and Culture Festival) provided lots of inspiration for many schools, including Newman RC College, who spent time exploring the valued contribution of Muslim Arts and Culture to our world.

Meanwhile, Year 3 pupils from St Chad’s RC Primary School in Cheetham enjoyed their visit to Khizra Mosque to learn a little more about Islam.

Corpus Christi RC Primary School in Oldham enjoyed learning about how Jesus brings people with different gifts together to make our world a more wonderful place, whilst St John’s RC Primary School enjoyed improving school and parish links by chatting to their new parish priest, Fr Anthony Ekpunobi.

For Holocaust Memorial Day, Year 9 students from St Antony’s Roman Catholic School in Urmston attended a memorial service to remember our brothers and sisters who endured the atrocities of the holocaust. The service was held at Sale Waterside Theatre and had the theme “Be the light in the darkness”.

Schools right across the diocese got creative for Random Act of Kindness Day, with students creating works of arts and giving gifts, whilst one school hit the headlines for their work around mental health.

Platinum prefects from Blessed Trinity RC Community College in Burnley, have been working hard to offer mental health support to other pupils, in addition to promoting core values and living out the Catholic faith.

The team’s mental health strategy includes working with students of all year groups, in addition to neighbouring primary schools, to better understand some of the issues pupils might be facing and how the school can help. Plans also include distributing keyrings with key contact numbers in case any young person needs more professional support.

Click here to read the full story.

Charity

Once again, schools have been working hard to support key charities this half term, with St Damian’s RC Science College in Ashton-under-Lyne handing over an incredible £4,000 to Tameside East Foodbank.

It’s also lovely to see our schools working closely with Caritas Salford, with St John the Baptist Primary School in Burnley learning more about some of the challenges people in our communities may be facing and how charities like Caritas might be able to help.

St Patrick’s School in Walton-le-Dale welcomed a visitor from CAFOD for a special assembly, and enjoyed working together to plan their fundraising activities for Lent.

Environment

Once again, our schools did some amazing work to care for our common home.

Students from St Augustine of Canterbury Primary School in Burnley wrote to Number 10 Downing Street to call for a change in law making it illegal in the UK to sell products containing unsustainable palm oil.

Meanwhile, St John’s RC Primary School in Chorlton were looking a little closer to home and made bird feeders out of apples to help encourage more biodiversity in their local area.

Eco-warriors from St Wilfrid’s in Hulme were getting ready for spring by preparing their bedding boxes for planting, as well as taking on a litter-picking mission around the school grounds.