Catholic Life of our School

St William of York is a mainstream Catholic Primary School, the religious character of which inspires, unifies and shapes every aspect of school life. Our school has strong links with Salford Diocese, our parish and the wider community. We are a vibrant multicultural, multi ethnic and multi faith inclusive Catholic school. We know our children well and welcome children from a diverse community, including International New Arrivals.  We celebrate diversity and appreciate that our often complex intake adds a valuable dimension and contribution to our ethos. We have a very supportive parent body who are increasingly involved in school life. Our Parish Priest comes into school weekly to lead worship for our pupils. We have active GIFT team and our pupils lead many aspects of the Catholic life of our school. Our aim for our children is that they know they are loved by Jesus Christ and that this inspires them to follow in his teachings.

Please click here to read our Autumn 2 RE newsletter.

Religious Education

“In the life of faith of the Catholic school, Religious Education plays a vital part.”1 (Religious Education in Catholic Schools, Bishops’ Conference, 2000).   At the heart of Catholic Education lies the Christian vision of the human person. This vision is explored and expressed in Religious Education; therefore Religious Education is the foundation of the entire education process. At St. William of York School, Religious Education is the core subject, at the heart of everything we do.

“The outcome will be to produce religiously literate young people with the knowledge, understanding and skills – appropriate to their age and capacity – to think spiritually, ethically and theologically, and who are aware of the demands of religious commitment in everyday life.” (Religious Education in Catholic Schools, Bishops’ Conference, 1996)

We expect what is taught in Religious Education to be reflected in the daily life and values experienced by our children in school and hopefully in their homes and the wider parish community.

According to the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, the Aims of Religious Education are to develop:

• Knowledge and understanding of the Catholic Faith and Life
• Knowledge and understanding of the response of faith to the ultimate questions about human life, its origin and purpose
• The skills required to engage in examination of and reflection upon religious beliefs and practice.

Its objectives are:

• To develop knowledge and understanding of the mystery of God, Jesus Christ, the Church and its central beliefs
• To develop awareness and appreciation of Catholic belief and its impact on personal and social behaviour and the relationships between faith and life and life and faith
• To encourage study, investigation and reflection by the pupils
• To develop appropriate skills e.g. the ability to listen and the ability to acquire knowledge
• To foster appropriate attitudes: e.g. respect for truth

Religious Education makes up at least 10% of our teaching time.  “Come and See” scheme of work forms the basis of our curriculum for Religious Education and this is supplemented with a variety of other resources.  The Bible is of course a vital resource for our school life.  We aim to deliver the objectives within our scheme of work in the most creative and engaging ways possible.  This could include writing, reading, art, drama, debate and the use of ICT. Cross curricular approaches to Religious Education are encouraged e.g. R.E through literacy – using a religious topic for the basis of a Big Write; using religious work as a stimulus for art work; using ICT to research aspects of Religious Education.

Reflection is an important aspect of religious education, and we provide opportunities for this, even for our very youngest children.

Eucharist, Prayer, Worship and Services

School and class masses, class assemblies and celebrations such as Nativity plays, Carol and Lenten Services and the Parish sacramental programme form an integral part of the Religious Education of our children and we are rightly proud of the very high standards of such celebrations. The children are a central part of our services so we encourage as much participation and involvement as possible, by, for instance having children from across the school reading, miming, preparing work or programmes for the services and celebrations.

Our Chaplaincy room is at the heart of our school building and is used regularly to promote prayer and worship as well as being a quiet space where our staff and children can take some reflection time.

Each class has a prominent prayer focus area, which is regularly changed to reflect the RE topic, the Church’s year or a particular focus for the class or school.  This allows the children to see the importance of prayer in our daily lives. We are developing prayer stations around our school to further this.

Work with Parish Priest

We are fortunate that our Parish Priest is willing to support our Religious Education and collective worship. This includes supporting visits to church and coming to school to work on aspects of the Religious Education curriculum.  From Year 2 to Year 6, each of our classes are able to attend Mass at church each week.

Sacramental Programme

Our children’s sacramental journey is an important part of developing their religious education. In  Year 3, the children are given an opportunity to continue this journey, following on from Baptism, by receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation and celebrating their First Holy Communion. Children who wish to participate in the Sacramental Programme, led by the Church and supported by school, will be invited to do so early on in the year.

Bolton School’s Catholic Education Partnership

           – Please click here for more information on our Caritas Ambassadors.