The Catholic Life of the school is integral to what we do at Christ the King and runs through all aspects of school life. We have a welcoming, caring community built on Christian values, where all members, adults and children are valued and encouraged to achieve their potential as children of God. The Catholic Identity and ethos is explicit through the learning environment, chaplaincy provision and community cohesion.
Our mission statement is the foundation stone on which we build the Catholic Life of the School and we aim to achieve our mission by:
- Establishing, maintaining and developing a Catholic ethos which is permeated in everything we do and is apparent to all those who enter the school
- Providing frequent opportunities for conscious and active participation and leadership in collective worship
- Creating a place of learning where faith is central
- Providing an enriched curriculum which is creative, inspiring and inclusive for all pupils
- Being an outreaching centre of God’s mission on earth in promoting the virtues of faith, hope and charity
- Ensuring that the Gospel values are permeated through all policies such as inclusion, behaviour, curriculum etc.
- Developing children’s understanding of vocation, that God created each person for a unique and special purpose
- Supporting the Sacramental Programme within the Parish
- Aiming to bring about an awareness of the needs of others
- Developing links with the parish, diocese and wider community.
As part of the Catholic Life of the school, we are focusing on the three themes set out by Bishop Patrick McKinney. Each term we will focus on one of the three topics, starting with Encounter, where we invite the children to find more opportunities to be with God and allow Him into our hearts and minds. The following terms will focus on Discipleship and Missionary Discipleship.
These words mean:
Encounter – to call
Discipleship – to build
Missionary discipleship – to send
Please see the documents below highlighting some of the work we are currently doing for Bishop Patrick’s three spiritual themes.
Jesus taught us how we should live: “Just as I have loved you, you should love one another” (Jn13:34).
When we read the Gospels, we can identify values to focus our attention on this commandment and how we should obey Jesus in our everyday lives.
We have decided to focus on the Gospel values of love, compassion, forgiveness, gratitude, hope, service and justice on our CTK Journey. The values are inter-related and our children will identify the ways in which they are linked as they develop through the school.
Each Year Group will focus on a different gospel value and explore the significance of that value through study, prayer and reflection. The scriptures and lives of the Saints offer a rich store of inspiration and explanation for our children in order to illuminate these values.
When we practice the Gospel Values and use them in our lives, they become part of our behaviour. Positive patterns of behaviour are virtues. Virtues can be understood as ‘good habits’ that improve our lives and bring us closer to God.
‘The aim of living virtuously is to grow closer to God.’
Positive habits shape our character and who we are. This forms the culture in our school. Our culture refers to what we do and how do it: ‘how things are done around here’. Our culture is Catholic when we all lead virtuous lives.
St Thomas Aquinas, known as the doctor of the church, outlined the four Cardinal Virtues that we should practice in our lives.
- Prudence is making the right decisions for the right reasons (Wisdom).
- Justice is being fair to everyone (Fairness).
- Fortitude having the courage and the strength to do the right thing even when you are afraid. (Courage).
- Temperance is self-control – resisting the temptation to do something wrong. (Self-control).
The Church also teaches that there are 3 Theological Virtues – these are virtues given to us by the Grace of God when we practice the four main virtues. The Theological Virtues are Faith, Hope and Charity.
- Faith is believing in God and trusting in what He tells us. (Belief in God)
- Hope is that we trust God will fulfil his promises and look forward to eternal life with God (Trust in God)
- Charity is we love God and love our neighbour as our self. (Love of God and Love of neighbour)
At Christ the King, we are concerned with the formation of the whole child. Virtues education is fundamental to Catholic character education; we strive to help our children become virtuous, successful members of society and members of the Christian community.
Please see the following document to explore how Gospel Values and Catholic Virtues are mapped across our school:
Whole school worship is on a Monday and Friday morning for the whole school, with KS2 phases rotating between the Weekly Word assembly on a Monday and Hymn practice on a Wednesday.
We celebrate Mass and have whole school liturgies linked to the Church’s seasons. Please see the chaplaincy blog (link below) which is updated weekly with whole school worships.
Child-led worship takes place weekly in the classroom, which is planned, led and evaluated by the pupils, facilitated by an adult. Other forms of worship include Christian Meditation, which takes place weekly in class, and Lectio Divina’s, which take place bi-weekly in class, and is given special focus during the Liturgical season.
There are also a variety of lunchtime clubs available for the whole school to worship: Christian Meditation (Infants), Rosary club (October and May) and Lectio Divina club (Juniors).
Daily, we say morning, lunchtime and end of day prayers, as well as other prayers when applicable.
2021 is the Year of Saint Joseph: The Sleeping Father of the Church. We have a prayer area on both sites dedicated to St Joseph which we encourage children to visit for spontaneous prayer.
Please see the chaplaincy blog for our weekly word.
Our school respects and learns about other faiths, with a focus in the Advent Term on Judaism. During the Pentecost Term, children learn about one other world religion each year, as outlined in the Come and See RE curriculum. We are lucky enough to be able to provide our children with visits to local places of worship to learn about the customs and traditions of other faiths, as well as inviting guests into school to talk about their religion.
We welcome everyone into our community at Christ the King, and want to help families new to our community to feel supported and informed. We have put together an Induction Handbook for RE to help families transition to joining a faith school if their children have not attended one before. Please see below for this handbook.
We believe that parents are the first educators of their children; we work collaboratively with our families to ensure we are providing the very best Catholic education we can. To keep our parents informed, we hold a Parent RE Curriculum Meeting at the start of the year where we outline the Come and See programme and invite our children to share their favourite piece of RE work with their parents.
Please see our weekly newsletters for regular updates on the Catholic Life and Mission of the school.