Catholic Social Teaching
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Rooted in Love

At The Holy Family School Catholic Social Teaching is incorporated into our school curriculum. Children are asked to put their faith into action and reflect on how their learning enables them to do so.
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At our school we have been working collaboratively with other local Catholic primary and secondary schools on 'Building the Kingdom.'

Through our BTK work we have through liturgical year themes explored with our pupils the concept of big questions of purpose and meaning to contextualise learning across the curriculum whilst promoting Catholic Social Teaching.

Some examples of the collaborative work we have undertaken with other schools is a cross school celebration of the feast of Pentecost. The children spent a week away from their usual curriculum and learning was based on the symbols of Pentecost, Fire, Water and Wind.

We continue to work collaboratively with our neighbouring schools on Building the Kingdom projects this academic year with an exciting project on 'Advocacy for Oracy' and 'The leaders of tomorrow.'

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'Advocacy for Oracy' - Leaders of Tomorrow

This term as part of our 'Building the Kingdom ' work our Year 5 pupils have been working on a cross school project with Nicholas Breakspear Catholic secondary school and Our lady's, St Phillip Howard and Pope Paul Primary Schools.

The aim of this project was to enable our pupils to confidently speak in public about their passions and what they want to see from the leaders of tomorrow in both church and state. Ultimately we want our children to be the leaders of tomorrow!

We were very proud of our Year 5 pupils as they led a seminar about leadership at Holy Family and our pupils Amelie and Flynn who spoke with confidence and assurance in front of a large audience at Wyllyotts Theatre about the leaders of tomorrow.

This was a fantastic cross school project that we will build on across the year.

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The Holy Family Chaplaincy Team
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Being a member of The Holy Family School Chaplaincy Team is a significant role of responsibility at our school. The Chaplaincy Team support pupils across the school in developing and deepening their faith.
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Our team help to lead and plan collective worship across our school based on liturgical themes, in particular during significant liturgical events such as Lent and Advent. During October and May they lead Rosary prayer groups in our Prayer Garden. During Harvest time our Chaplaincy Team help organise our food collection for our local food bank and during Advent our reverse Advent Calendar in support of Helping Herts Homeless.

Our Chaplaincy Team lead the faith life of Holy Family in our wider community, representing our school at Westminster Cathedral for the Diocesan Advent Service and recently at St Joseph's Church in Stevenage for the veneration of the relics of St Bernadette.
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CCS Advent Service at Westminster Cathedral 2022

House Saints
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In the academic year 2021-22 our children decided that we should review our House Saints and think about whether they reflected who they are and represented our school community and our school mission, 'As a family we live, love, learn and celebrate with Jesus.'

The House Captains took the lead on this review and researched possible alternatives to the current Saints. This was discussed at School Council meetings and the House Captains presented their research to all pupils leading to a vote for the Saint they felt represented our school community. The new Saints were introduced at the end of last year. Our new House Saints are St John Henry Newman, St Mary Mother o God, St John Paul II and St Josephine Bakhita

This year our House Captains are:

St Josephine Bakhita  -  Liliana & Mason
St John Henry Newman  -  Alice & Andrew
St Mary Mother of God  -  Reggie & Lily
St John Paul II  -  Elizabeth & Lillian
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Information about our House Saints from the House Captains
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Links to Parishes
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Diocesan Christmas Card
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2022 - The shepherds found Mary, Joseph and the baby (Luke 2:15-20)
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