Horse Shoes Lane  Sheldon  Birmingham  B26 3HU

Christ is the centre of our school community where we live, love and learn together

Our Faith

As a voluntary aided Roman Catholic School Religious Education is an integral part of our ethos, aims and relationships.

Our faith permeates all aspects of school life. We believe that links between home, school and parish are vital.

Liturgy and Collective Worship

Our Catholic Faith is central to the day-to-day life of our school and all aspects of the curriculum, and pupils are encouraged to recognise the importance of their faith and they respond to all forms of liturgy and collective worship with respect and reverence.

We have a rich liturgical life in that the experiences we provide are wide ranging and take place in school, out of school, in Church and in the wider community, and engage and involve pupils, parents, staff, governors and the parish.

The Celebration of the Eucharist and prayer are central in our school.

Our Parish Priest regularly celebrates Mass in school. Each class has their own celebration of the Mass and the children are involved in the planning and participation of the celebration. In addition, we celebrate Whole School Masses at the beginning and end of term, our school feast day, holy days of obligation and other significant occasions.

Our Young People's Mass held regularly in St Thomas More Church is well supported by pupils, their parents, school staff and governors.

All acts of worship have a liturgical structure and are thoroughly planned and delivered.

Religious Education

We use the curriculum strategy for Religious Education in the Catholic Primary Schools of the Archdiocese of Birmingham Learning and Growing as the People of God. It makes learning about our faith lively, interactive and relevant.

There are numerous opportunities for cross curricular activities that link with and often stem from RE lessons.

We use the internet, we visit places of worship and we invite people to speak about their faith.

Sacramental Preparation

In Year 3, Catholic children are prepared for the reception of the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Communion and in Year 6 for Confirmation. Children learn about the importance of the Sacraments through drama, story telling, writing, singing and dancing.

The children are supported in their preparation and celebration of the Sacraments by the school, parents and the parish.

Outreach

Our parents are encouraged to use their God given talent for the benefit of others and are very keen to help those in need, by their prayers and actions.

The Birmingham Catholic Primary Partnership have been involved in helping a whole Rwandan village to become self-sustaining, and for a number of years, we have been sponsoring four of the village children through their education.

In addition, since the Tsunami disaster, we have sponsored two Sri Lankan children to rebuild their lives, by providing funding for their education. We regularly receive cards and reports from the children, which is a wonderful way of connecting with the children.

Our outreach work also focuses on local charities. Regularly we support the Birmingham Fireside Centre, for local homeless, by providing Harvest and Advent gifts from our 'Giving Tree'; Father Hudson's Good Shepherd Appeal; Blue Peter Shoebiz appeal; CAFOD; Macmillan Aquaaid: RNLI and Barnardos.