Catholic Life

Mission Statement 

In God’s Love We Flourish - In Amore Dei Floremus

Our Catholic mission is to enable every child to have an active mind, a sense of empathy and compassion, aspiration and ambition so that they become what God calls them to be

Aims

• To uphold established Catholic values and traditions
• To provide a happy, safe and secure environment for teaching and learning
• To nurture and respect every child as a unique individual
• To value and respect all cultures
• To encourage growth and independence rooted in relationships
• To ensure equality for all enabling full potential to be achieved
• To integrate each individual’s special needs

Our mission statement, In God’s love we flourish, emphasis to our children that we cannot live on this earth without Christ, flourishing in God’s love will serve as a constant reminder that that we will see the human face of God in every person.

This mission statement encompasses our values and beliefs. Our faith is central to all that we do at St. Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary School and Christian worship is an integral part of our school life. We aim for children to develop a personal relationship with God, become aware of the Church year and the sacramental links and reflect and respond to the message of the scripture.

The church’s’ Catholic Social Teachings are taught throughout the year to ensure all our children are fully aware of their role as a child of God, part of a global family, knowing that we are put on this earth to serve.

As a Catholic school, Collective Worship is an important time during which we can share in celebrating God's love and learning more about our Catholic faith through stories, songs, drama, games and prayer. 

Class teachers pray with their children throughout the day, at the start of each day, at lunchtime and at the end each day and are encouraged to employ a variety of styles of prayer. Progressively, children will be helped towards experiencing short periods of reflection and silent prayer.  Acts of worship in the classroom may only be 5-10 minutes in length but might include: music, a focus / image, a candle, scripture, reflection through thought provoking questions and a song or prayer. We also explore the traditions of other religions in order for children to become more understanding of the beliefs of others.

Catholic Pupil Profile

As a Catholic school we work hard at forming attitudes and values in our pupils which are based on the gospel teaching, values and actions of Jesus Christ. The Catholic Pupil Profile are values we promote through collective worship and these values and virtues are the foundation of our school ethos and help us to live by the Gospel Values.

Pupils at St. Thomas of Canterbury Catholic School are growing to be:

• Grateful for their own gifts, for the gift of other people, and for the blessings of each day; and generous with their gifts, becoming men and women for others.
• Attentive to their experience and to their vocation; and discerning about the choices they make and the effects of those choices.
• Compassionate towards others, near and far, especially the less fortunate; and loving by their just actions and forgiving words.
• Faith-filled in their beliefs and hopeful for the future.
• Eloquent and truthful in what they say of themselves, the relations between people, and the world.
• Learned, finding God in all things; and wise in the ways they use their learning for the common good.
• Curious about everything; and active in their engagement with the world, changing what they can for the better.
• Intentional in the way they live and use the resources of the earth, guided by conscience; and prophetic in the example they set to others.

 SMSVC

Spiritual, moral, social, vocational and cultural (SMSVC) is an outstanding feature of life at St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary school. Children are provided with a wealth of opportunities to develop spiritually through inspiring child led prayer services, outstanding collective worship, use of high-quality prayer resources and thought -provoking lessons.

From a moral perspective, the children are encouraged to approach problems and decisions focused on 'What Jesus would do?' The school follows ‘Ten:Ten -  Life to the full’ programme.

Lots of opportunities are provided for pupils to socialise with others from different socioeconomic, ethnic and other religious groups so that children develop a respect for all people as children of God. Students' vocational development is catered for by dedicated mission weeks as a time to reflect on our call to serve others; this encompasses all that we do here at St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary school. Children's cultural development is enhanced by our topic work in which we study national and international topics; engaging with the cultures of people who live there.

SMSVC is a central aspect for our school as 'through faith and education we seek to achieve fullness of life' for all members of our community and the world in which we live, as God's people.

Management & Organisation

Supporting the Less Fortunate & Those in Need

At St. Thomas of Canterbury, there is a culture of great generosity (over £1000 annually) when it comes to raising money for those less fortunate than ourselves. The whole school, children, staff and parents become fully involved. The children contribute, they make sandwiches for the Homeless centres, they help deliver the food and speak to the organisers learning about challenging situations.

The pupils are taught to think more deeply beyond fundraising by making a real difference to issues they care about. They are also involved in choosing various charities some local, some global together with supporting our Bishop’s chosen charity.

Wednesday Word

The Wednesday Word is a double sided A4 leaflet that the children in school will bring home every Wednesday. The leaflet will support you to prepare your son or daughter for the Gospel at Mass on the following Sunday.

(Click here to get access to this week's Wednesday Word)