Catholic Life of the School

Our Catholic Life and Mission

The peace, joy and love of Christ are at the heart of all that we do at The Cathedral Catholic Primary School.

One of the aims of our mission is to be a school where the teachings of Christ and the Church are embedded in every aspect of school life, so that the love of God is proclaimed in all our words and actions.

Through religious education and our commitment to prayer, love, charity and service, we seek to share the Gospel with each other, the people of Lancaster and the whole world.

This page will explain how we live out this mission.

 

1. We enjoy strong links with our Parish – The Cathedral Parish of St Peter and St Thomas More

Our school is right next to St Peter’s Cathedral. In fact, we have our own door from the school playground so we can easily visit this beautiful place for prayer. We regularly see our parish  priests, Father Steve and Father Chapple, who celebrate the liturgical year with us. We are delighted that many families join the parish for Mass on a Sunday where there is also a children’s liturgy. For more information, see the parish website here.    

 

 

2. We follow and celebrate the Church’s liturgical year

Our RE curriculum, prayer and charity activities all follow the Church’s liturgical year. Through this, we grow in love and understanding of the life and teachings of Jesus, whose example we try to live out every day. Displays around school and liturgical celebrations reflect the Church’s seasons as these images show:

 

3. We reach out to help people in need

Reaching out to help others, just like Jesus did, is an important part of our mission as a Catholic School. 

Children from Years 5 and 6 who are inspired by the example of St Francis of Assisi meet regularly as our St Francis of Assisi Group. Their mission is to organise activities to promote outreach work to help people in need throughout the world.

The example of St Francis of Assisi inspires a love of God’s gift of creation and a desire to protect it and help our brothers and sisters throughout the world. Our St Francis of Assisi Group supports a different project to help others every half term. They have helped to collect money and items to support CAFOD, Mission Together, Lancaster and District Homeless Action, Lancaster’s Olive Branch, NISCU, our local parish and more. The children in this group show great dedication and commitment and help us all to live out our mission to bring God’s love and care to the whole world. 

 

 

 4. We learn about the lives of others

We regularly join with national initiatives which help us to learn about and reflect on the lives of others, for example,

Black History Month, Red Wednesday (led by Aid to the Church in Need) and Refugee Week.    

 

 

5. We pray together

At The Cathedral Catholic Primary School, prayer and liturgy allows us all – children, staff, parents and parishioners – to come together to know, to serve, and to love God. Prayer is part of our daily life and over the week, we pray in a variety of groupings and. Prayer is an expression of our love for God and through prayer, we receive the gifts we need to become better followers of Jesus. Parents and parishioners are regularly invited to join our times of prayer and liturgy and every half term, parents are invited to our ‘Parent Prayer Drop-In’.

For more information about the prayer life of our school, visit the RE and Prayer and Liturgy page.

See our Prayer and Liturgy Policy for further information.

 

 

6. We are strengthened by the Eucharist

The Mass supports us and strengthens us on our journey of faith and we celebrate Mass as a school in St Peter’s Cathedral at important points in the year, for example, the start of term, the end of the school year, our school feast day. Children in Key Stage 2 join with the parish to celebrate feast days and our priests visit school to celebrate class Masses with Years 5 and 6. In June, children in Key Stage 2 participate in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament – a special time of prayer in the presence of Our Lord.

 

7. We Grow in Faith

We aim to provide varied opportunities for children to grow in their faith. Every year, children in Year 4 visit Castlerigg Manor, near Keswick, where they take part in a retreat led by our Diocesan Youth Service.

 

 

8. We celebrate with the wider Church community

We enjoy taking part in liturgical celebrations with the wider Church community. In February, we celebrated the feast of our Diocesan Patronal Saint, Our Lady of Lourdes, with a time of prayer with staff and children from other Catholic schools in our area. In September 2022, we were delighted to join with many others to visit the relics of St Bernadette when they were at St Peter’s Cathedral.

 

9. We live our faith daily

Most importantly of all, every day, we work together and support each other so that each person can be the best person that God has created them to be. In all our interactions, we strive to follow the example of Jesus, showing love, compassion and forgiveness to all and sharing the joy of the Gospel in friendship together.

 

10. We live out Catholic Social Teachings

Catholic Social Teaching (CST) is rooted in Scripture, formed by the wisdom of Church leaders and linked to faith in action. It is our moral compass, guiding us on how to live out our faith in the world. 

At The Cathedral Catholic Primary School, Catholic Social Teaching underpins the essence of our daily life in school. It is embedded in our learning through our religious education curriculum and it is lived out through our mission as a Catholic school. We use CAFOD Catholic Social Teaching resources to support our learning and these are organised into nine principles. The document below outlines some of the ways we live out Catholic Social Teaching in our school, linked to CAFOD's nine principles.

Catholic Social Teaching