Year of Saints 2025/2026

This year we shall be focussing our Catholic Life and Mission on our “call to be saints”. St Paul in his letter to the people of Corinth writes:

To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

We shall be reflecting on ways in which we can put our faith in action just as the Saints did in their lives.

On 17th September 2010, Pope Benedict XVI visited St Mary’s University, Twickenham for a series of events. Amongst these was the first ever Big Assembly, where the Holy Father led a school assembly for Catholic pupils across the country, broadcast live to all corners of the UK.

Pope Benedict said:

“What God wants most of all for each one of you is that you should become holy. He loves you much more than you could ever begin to imagine, and he wants the very best for you. And by far the best thing for you is to grow in holiness………and once you enter into friendship with God, everything in your life begins to change. As you come to know him better, you find you want to reflect something of his infinite goodness in your own life. You are attracted to the practice of virtue.  You begin to feel compassion for people in difficulties, and you are eager to do something to help them. You want to come to the aid of the poor and the hungry, you want to comfort the sorrowful, you want to be kind and generous.

And once these things begin to matter to you, you are well on the way to becoming saints”.

Pope Benedict left this message for schools….

“A good school provides a rounded education for the whole person.

And a good Catholic school, over and above this, should help all its students to become saints.”

Our overall aims for this year are:

To know that a saint is someone who responds to their call to serve and lives a life of holiness by following the teachings of Jesus

To know that we are all called to be saints by the way we live and act.

To know about the lives and legacy of canonised Saints who are with God in heaven

To link the lives of Saints with Catholic Social Teaching Values to further develop opportunities for faith in action.

To deepen our relationship with God through learning about the Saints

Class Saints

This year every class will have a class Saint which they will explore and learn about throughout the year.

Reception Class: St Clare                      Year 1: St Euphrasia                   Year 2: St Martin de Porres

Year 3: St Josephine Bakhita       Year 4: St Maximilian Kolbe           Year 5: St Carlo Acutis

Year 6: St Oscar Romero

Catholic Social Teaching and The Saints

This year we shall be exploring the principles of Catholic Social Teaching through the lens of the lives of Saints. Our Advent and Lent celebrations will highlight the faith and actions of the Saints so that our children will grow in their understanding of how faith influences actions.

Autumn Term 2025

On Sunday 28th September we celebrated the Feast of St Vincent de Paul by leading the liturgy at the parish Mass at 11am. This Mass was a celebration to mark the school’s move to join All Saints Catholic Academy Trust ( ASCAT) and the patronal feast day of the parish. It was wonderful that Bishop Paul could lead us in this celebration. The Mass was attended by Stephen Wheatley CEO of ASCAT.

Our St Vincent de Paul House Captains led an assembly on Monday 29th September to celebrate the life and legacy of St Vincent de Paul. Well done Emily and Jack F.

Care For Creation

In September  the children learnt about Care For Creation and reflected on the Book of Genesis, reading how God created the world. St Francis was someone who loved the natural world and thought of the sun, moon and earth as his brother and sister.