We put Christ at the Centre of Our Lives: Think, Speak, Act
We live out our Mission Statement in everything we do at St. Philip Neri with St. Bede. As a staff team, we are committed to teaching and modelling to our children that Christ is at the Centre of our Lives in how we Think, Speak and Act. It is the aim of staff and governors at our school to support our children to grow, develop and flourish following the example of Jesus.
The Catholic Life and Mission of our school is integral to all that we do and is present and woven in all aspects of our school life. We are proud of our welcoming, diverse and caring community that built on Christian values, where all members valued, encouraged and supported to achieve their potential as children of God. Our Catholic identity and ethos is explicit through the learning environment, chaplaincy provision, community cohesion and the strong relationships that we hold with all members of our community.
At St. Philip Neri with St. Bede, our school calendar reflects the Liturgical Year of the church. To help children understand the various times in the church’s year, we hold celebrations, reflections and retreats. As a consequence, our children show a deep understanding of the church’s year and can recognise signs of this in Mass, their RE lessons, sacraments, celebrations and the actions of believers.
Our children are proud to profess their faith and are taught the importance of standing up for social justice. They have the opportunity to bring about change by joining one of our various pupil voice committees. Further to this, the children who form our Chaplaincy Team support each member of our school to grow in their faith. They are supported to do this by our Hub Lay Chaplains, Clare and Luke as well as our staff chaplains, Mrs Shivley and Mrs Wood.
We are also very proud of the strong links that exist between our school and our Parish – Our Lady and All Saints’. We work closely with Canon John Kyne, our parish priest, and the clergy to work together for the good in our community. We greatly value weekly opportunities to visit our beautiful church for Mass or Liturgy of the Word services and appreciate Canon John’s support with the teaching of RE, for example, by visiting to talk about various topics such as baptism, reconciliation and vocation.
Catholic Life & Mission Policy
Our School Virtues
From April 2022, our school launched Our School Virtues based on the work in the Diocese of Leeds on virtues and character education. (See companion documents here dioceseofleeds.org.uk/education/re-catholic-life/character-education).
Our School Virtues enables us all to explore each virtue over the period of a year with the overarching aim of improve the school community’s virtue literacy and to deepen understanding and appreciation of the essential role that virtues play in the education of the whole person towards human flourishing.
We regularly hold discussions to ensure children understand what each virtues means, how we can see each virtue in others and how we can manifest them in ourselves. When children are seen by adults living out this virtue, a coloured token is rewarded to them. These tokens are added to each class’ token jar and are converted into Dojo points. The class with the most tokens at the end of each half term receive a reward of their choosing.
Read more about each virtue below:
Faith: What does Faith look like at St. Philip Neri with St. Bede’s?
We pray with others, attend assemblies, actively plan worship, contribute to worship, work on mission, take part in RE, be like Jesus (kind, thoughtful, thinking of others, charitable), forgive, say sorry, talk to God, trust God.
“All things are possible for those who believe.” Mark 9:23
Hope: What does Hope look like at St. Philip Neri with St. Bede’s?
We are prayerful, talk to God, believe that good things will happen, hold onto hope and pass it on to others, plan for a good future.
“I have good plans for you” says the Lord, “I plan to give you hope and a good future.” Jeremiah 29:11
Love: What does Love look like at St. Philip Neri with St. Bede’s?
We show concern for others, act unselfishly, let others play, use manners, play with each other, use kind words, helpful hands, listening ears and try our hardest to be a good friend.
“We love because God loved us first.” 1 John 4:19
Justice: What does Justice look like at St. Philip Neri with St. Bede‘s?
We see other people’s point of view, be honest, trustworthy, kind. Understand what the world can look like for others, let everyone have an opinion, know St Philip’s is fair, pupils get what they need and deserve.
“The Lord does what is right and he loves justice. Honest people will see his face.” Psalm 11:7
Courage: What does Courage look like at St. Philip Neri with St. Bede‘s?
We will try new things, have patience and perseverance when trying a new skill, have resilience when things go wrong and determination to keep trying. Take risks, stand up for others, speak out in class and assembly, contribute and make an impact.
“Be strong and brave. Don’t be frightened. The Lord your God will go with you. He will not leave you or forget you.” Deuteronomy 31:6
Solidarity: What does Solidarity look like at St. Philip Neri with St. Bede‘s?
We work well as a team – in the classroom and around school, working with our school council, chaplains and eco-teams. We share ideas, talents, include everyone in everything, respect everyone. We strive to be a good citizen.
“In Christ, there is no difference … You are all the same in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28
Temperance: What does Temperance look like at St. Philip Neri with St. Bede‘s?
We show self-control of feelings, actions and thoughts, remain calm, patient, show strength of humility and forgiveness, live simply, love learning and have a sense of humour.
“God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” 2 Timothy 1:7
Sense: What does Sense look like at St. Philip Neri with St. Bede‘s?
We have the will to do the right thing, be thoughtful and reflective, make the right decisions, have practical wisdom and ask “What would Jesus do?” Think before you act and speak. Be forgiving of others.
“Good sense makes us slow to anger and it is His glory to overlook an offense.” Proverbs 19:11
Charitable Acts
As a Catholic school, we are fully committed to providing opportunities for our pupils to grow as missionary disciples of Christ. Charitable acts forms part of this. Recently, as part of our Lenten almsgiving, we raised nearly £400 for our chosen charity: the St. Vincent de Paul Society in our Parish.
Further to this, all children throughout school were provided with the opportunity to research and present to their peers information about a charity at the beginning of the academic year. Following the presentations, class votes were counted and the charities that each class will support this year were chosen. Click below to see which charities each class are supporting this year.
CAFOD LiveSimply Award
In order to support our pupils to care for our common home, we are about to embark on an exciting journey called the CAFOD LiveSimply Award. We are confident that by working towards this Award, it will help our children develop their response to Pope Francis’ invitation in Laudato Si’ to “work with generosity and tenderness in protecting this world which God has entrusted to us”.
The LiveSimply Award is earned by communities and schools who can show how they have been living:
- simply
- in solidarity with people in poverty
- sustainably with creation.
If you would like to see how we intend to LiveSimply, please view our Action Plan below.
Prayers
Prayer forms part of daily school life at St. Philip Neri with St. Bede. Our daily prayers can be found below:
Please click below to find further details of the prayer life of our school:
