Scroll below to celebrate many of the elements which make our Catholic school so special, including:
WELCOME | LATEST UPDATES | PRAYER & REFLECTION | OUR PARISH | USEFUL LINKS
Welcome:
On this page you will find information to help families, the Parish and school work together in supporting the development of our children's faith and Religious Education.
You will find examples of prayer and reflection to support families at home.
You will also find photographs showing special celebrations and some of our diverse opportunities for Collective Worship.
Latest Updates:
Here you will find the latest updates from our School Life & Learning Blog that relate to Catholic Life at OLSJ.
To explore all of our Catholic Life updates, please click here to visit our School Life & Learning Blog.
Oscar Romero Award: Ambassador School
We empower young people and staff to be agents of the change they want to see in the world by putting their faith into action. We are committed to social justice through Catholic Social Teaching Principles and embed this into all that we do. This is weaved through the culture, ethos and actions of our school; from strategic planning, to curriculum development, as well as practical choices we make alongside our outreach work.
“Those who have a voice must speak for the voiceless.”
Archbishop Oscar Romero
We recognise and value Archbishop Oscar Romero’s dedication to living simply and responding with genuine compassion to the poor and needy by striving to create an ‘option for the poor’. Similarly to Archbishop Oscar Romero, we seek to teach and live by truth, honesty, peace and justice. We aim to provide outreach to all from a local to a global scale.
For more information regarding the Oscar Romero Award please click here: The Oscar Romero Award - Home
CAFOD: Live Simply
“What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?”
Pope Francis
We often take time to reflect on how we ‘Live Simply’ and continue to strive for a sustainable and simple life in solidarity with one another. We are passionate about caring for God’s creation, nourishing our spiritual life and strengthening the bonds of our community. We are committed to co-jointly “protecting this world which God has entrusted to us”. We spend time together as a staff, school and local community with our parish, considering the impact we already have within our school, local community and globally. We aim to start, sustain and create substantial impact in order to leave a legacy for those who follow after us.
Here at Our Lady & St Joseph, we aim to exemplify how to:
· Live simply
· Live sustainably with creation
· Live in solidarity with people living in poverty
Learn more about ‘Living Simply’ take a look below or online here: https://cafod.org.uk/campaign/livesimply-award/livesimply-award-for-schools
Prayer & Reflection:
At Our Lady and St. Joseph Catholic Primary School collective worship is far more than a statutory requirement. It is crucial to the spiritual life of OLSJ and to pupils’ moral and spiritual development. Collective worship is an important part of a Catholic school’s distinctive ethos.
Taking part in daily collective worship helps build community cohesion by creating a consistent structure around the core values and symbols of Christianity. In Catholic schools, pupil participation and engagement in worship are important criteria in the diocesan inspection of Catholic education, not least during the daily act of collective worship. From Reception to Year 6, pupils are invited to play an active part in collective worship.
Throughout the year, OLSJ celebrates important events in the Church’s calendar, such as Lent and Advent, as well as the start and end of the academic year. Through regular prayer and worship, including Mass, the rhythm of the Church’s year becomes a normal part of school life and each pupil’s life.
Prayer Leaders:
Here at Our Lady & St Joseph, our prayer leaders work closely with staff and our parish to assist, plan, deliver and lead collective worship. They are passionate about celebrating the word of God and supporting our school within prayer. Each year, our prayer leaders apply for the role. Their applications clearly demonstrate how they intend to support our school community and develop us as individuals on our own faith journeys. Our prayer leaders demonstrate ways in which we can show our love for God, support using the Word of God and demonstrate how to live our lives in Jesus’ footsteps.
Prayer leaders aim to:
Support in creating a calm, supportive and sacred environment for prayer and worship.
Supporting and ensuring that prayer is accessible for everyone.
Share and lead prayer.
Support and being to lead a time of reflection on key messages
Alongside our parish links, our prayer leaders support the preparation of Mass. Collectively, we select suitable readings that we feel will best support deep reflection, create and deliver bidding prayers and support times of reflection.
Latest Updates:
Our Parish:
Links with our Parishes:
Thank you to the parishioners from our three parishes of OLMSJ, St Anne’s and St Francis of Assisi generously raised £600+ for trees for the orchard, and plants and tools for our gardening club.
Thank you to Barbara Marklew who regularly supplies our school with good quality plants to brighten up the school grounds.
Catholic Social Teaching:
Our schools have a strong Catholic ethos which underpins everything we do. Knowing we are guided by God, we aspire to live our mission of truth, honesty, justice, and peace for all. Catholic Social Teaching permeates through our curriculum, interactions, and relationships. This is all manifested through God, Love and Family.
Our vision is to empower children to become architects of a better world. We therefore continuously seek to evolve our holistic understanding and application of learning. We hold a shared belief that this requires knowledge, effort, empathy, passion, and innovation. This is our mission.
Catholic Social Teaching (CST) is our moral compass, guiding us on how to live out our faith in the world. Our faith calls us to love God and to love our neighbours in every situation, especially our sisters and brothers living in poverty.
Following in the footsteps of Jesus, we hope to make present in our unjust and broken world, the justice, love and peace of God.
Modern Catholic Social Teaching is said to have originated in 1891 with the encyclical letter, Rerum Novarum. Since then, a wealth of teaching continues to give new life to the Scriptures and shape the Church’s response to our modern world. Pope Francis’ continues to add to Catholic Social Teaching with his own encyclicals including Laudato Si’ (2015)
From these Catholic social teaching documents and encyclicals we derive core principles. There is no fixed or official list of principles. At Our Lady & St Joseph Catholic Primary, we share nine different principles with the children, as suggested by CAFOD, which are represented by characters. There is some cross over between them and our actions for global and local justice will often be in response to more than one principle at a time. These principles are:
Human Dignity - We are beautifully made in the image and likeness of God.
Common Good - We are called to work for the good of each and of all.
Participation - We all have the right and duty to participate fully in society
Subsidiarity - We are called to empower communities, to let everyone have a say
Stewardship - We are guardians of God’s creation, living sustainably and enhancing the wellbeing of our planet.
Option for the Poor - The needs of the poor and vulnerable should be put first.
Solidarity - God created us as one global family called to support our brothers and sisters.
Distributive Justice - Everyone should have access to their fair share of resources.
Promoting Peace - We can be God’s instruments of peace through seeking justice
