At Sacred Heart, our faith is central to everything we do and we show this in many ways. We have regular assemblies, masses and Celebrations of the Word to which parents are always welcome, and each class has regular visits to explore our own parish church. Our curriculum and ethos instill the Gospel values in our children, teaching them to be kind, caring, forgiving and respectful young people. Links are made between the teachings of Jesus and how we behave and treat others in our own lives. The curriculum we follow is based around the ‘Come and See’ scheme as recommended by the Bishop’s Conference. More information can be found in the RE Curriculum section. We expect all children to participate in various RE activities, and we always aim to include all children wherever appropriate. All children have opportunities to lead and participate in prayers, readings and singing whatever their religion. We embrace the culture and heritage of all children and follow a planned programme of work to raise multi-cultural awareness.
Prayer is an integral part of school life. In school we pray in lots of different ways:
We have a house point system, which involves four houses. These houses were named after the four Gospel writers of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Upon entry each pupil is allocated to a house which is represented by a different colour. A pupil can obtain house points for excellent homework, good attendance, being polite, showing kindness, being a good example, trying their best in class, good manners in the dining hall or just showing a little extra effort and good behaviour in and out of the classroom.
In order to develop the faith life of the school, we have a beautiful and spiritual Prayer Garden which is used at times to be quiet and calm. The area is also used for reflection and stories. The garden is located within our Forest School environment and there are lots of different things to look for which represents God’s wonderful world. In July 2017, we officially named the space our ‘Fr Kelly Prayer Garden’ in honour of our lovely Parish Priest who retired after a number of years. Fr Kelly was a huge asset to our school and parish community in so many ways. We won’t forget his generosity and caring nature towards our parents, staff and children. The children sang songs, presented cards and unveiled our leaving gift to Fr Kelly.
We support lots of charities throughout the year and staff, children and their families are always extremely generous in their support of others. Money is raised through fund raising events, fairs and charitable donations from the school community. In recent years we have made donations to CAFOD, Jeans for Genes, Save the Children, The Poppy Appeal, Red Nose Day, Comic Relief, Children In Need and Wear It Pink. We also support a range of food banks by collecting and donating food during Advent. During Lent, we take part in the CAFOD Big Lent Walk which brings together our whole school community for a sponsored walk on school grounds.
In addition to this, we have also supported Project Iringa in Tanzania and the Bauleni School in Zambia.
The Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust is an exempt charity. It is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales under company registration number 07890590. The registered office address is Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education HQ, Barmston Court, Turbine Business Park, Nissan Way, Washington, SR5 3NY