Principles of Catholic Social Teaching at St Cuthbert Mayne

Young people are not meant to become discouraged; they are meant to dream great things, to seek vast horizons, to aim higher, to take on the world, to accept challenges and to offer the best of themselves to the building of something better.

Pope Francis, Christus Vivit 15

Catholic Social Teaching (CST) provides us with principles to help guide us on how we should respond to our faith as individuals and actively respond to God’s call to work towards a common good. Each half term we will look at one of the key themes:

• Creation
• Preferential Option for the Poor
• Solidarity and Peace
• Community and Participation
• Dignity of Workers
• Dignity

Each theme will be introduced through a whole school act of worship. Resources are provided in Rooted in Love to support the planning of this. 

In classrooms

In class, teachers will use Rooted in Love resources to explore the theme more with the children. Rooted in Love provides teachers with a lesson plan and PowerPoint which they can adapt to meet the needs of their class. There is also a teachers’ notes section to support adults' subject knowledge and to provide ideas for additional, cross-curricular activities they could complete with their class if they wish to. Any written work will be completed in the back of the children’s R.E books (this work will be marked in line with all other R.E work).

In the school year 2024–2025, Years 3 & 4 will use the resources created for Lower Key Stage 2, and Years 5 & 6 will use the resources created for Upper Key Stage 2.

The 6 themes will be displayed in each classroom to raise the profile of CST and remind the children of what they have already covered and the themes they will be exploring.

Whole School Display

Each half term classes will be invited to contribute to a whole school display sharing what they have learnt about that half-term's theme.

Catholic Social Teaching in 2024–2025

Community and Participation

Over 45 pupils went and sang for the Parishioners at a Caritas event. Thank you to everyone who supported the event.

Creation

Recycling: The POPstars and Chaplaincy teams wanted to raise our awareness and encourage us all to change our recycling habits. This is because out of 311,000 tonnes of plastic wrapping that is placed on our shelves, only 6% is recycled. UK supermarkets now collect soft plastic and so, they set two challenges for the children: to design a collecting box for use at home and to see which class could collect the most single use plastic in November. Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to everyone who helped us, as a school, to collect over 14kg of soft plastic. We took 8 huge bags of soft plastic to our local supermarket. By recycling together, we can be stewards of the earth and have a positive impact on the planet.

Dignity of Workers

This half term, we’ve been reflecting on the Catholic Social Teaching principle of the Dignity of the Worker—recognising that everyone’s contributions, whether in the classroom, at home or in the wider local and global community, has value and deserves respect.

Solidarity and Peace

Earlier this in the Spring Term, as part of our peace and solidarity work, we prayed at lunchtime each day for Peace. Previously we have invited families to light a candle and say a prayer for peace at home. The Chaplaincy Team posted on class Google Classrooms with some prayers that they might like to read whilst the candle is lit and created a display showing us all praying for peace together.

Last year, the Chaplaincy Team encouraged us to light a candle at home and pray for peace. The Chaplaincy Team posted some suggested prayers that they might like to read and created a display showing us all praying for peace. This year, they invited us to pray for peace before every meal: at school with our class and at home with our families. Again, they posted a simple prayer for us to say if we wanted to.

By doing this, we will be living in harmony and following Jesus' teaching (Romans 12:16).

Preferential Option for the Poor

A non-uniform day raised money for the ASCAT 'Hope Fund' which has been created to provide practical support to families within our schools at times of crisis and difficulty. Thank you for your donations.

Christmas Caritas Collection: We raised over £500 for families within our local community who require support with food, heating or other essential goods or services.

DENS: Thank you to all families who donated food items during advent for DENS. We filled Mrs Hobbs's boot and delivered them to them before Christmas.

News

Our Diocesan Advisor, Tony Hall, was delighted with our progress in embedding the principles of Catholic Social Teaching in school, writing in his report: 'Pupils have a growing understanding of the principles of Catholic Social Teaching and are able to articulate how the example given by Jesus in Scripture, guides us in our call to serve others.'

Together with other schools in our newly formed St Mark's Hub, our new Chaplaincy Team attended the ‘Building the Kingdom’ event entitled ‘Hearts on fire, feet on the move’. This gave students an opportunity to express their thoughts on various themes of Catholic Social Teaching—what they mean and how they can promote them as part of the school’s mission. It took place at the Verso Vineyard Church in St Albans and involved a large gathering of children from Catholic schools in Westminster Diocese. Following an introductory session, six schools presented a number of breakout sessions for small groups to rotate around. A concluding whole group gathering summarised the key messages of the event and considered how to take the ideas forward. It was an exciting event, strengthening our understanding of Catholic Social Teaching and giving ideas for its development in our schools.