Catholic Social Teachings

Our work with Catholic social teachings (CST’s) began in 2022.  Our first Year 11 Mission Team were formed when several pupils wanted to make a difference and bring social action into STM.  The decision was made to form a group of pupils who wanted more education to our pupils on equality and inclusivity.  We met every Friday after school to firstly discuss our concerns and then to bring about a social action rooted in our faith and beliefs.  It was led by our Head Girl, Mary Stanway and continued with Harrison, Halle, Rachel, Eva, Luke B, Molly, Grace, Kayleigh and Luke S. These pupils felt strongly about living out their beliefs and empowering others to profess equity and equality in school.

This is where we began to explore the churches response to social action through Catholic Social Teachings.  We found that there were many variations of the teachings, depending on which website you looked at.  We discussed these at length, each Friday, and researched the different teachings.  We decided therefore, to assign our own bespoke teachings that fitted the purpose of our school.  This was exciting and we relished in deep conversations about the purpose of the teachings and what they would mean to our school community.

We were all so delighted with our chosen CST’s.  See below for how we mapped them out.  Once we had our school teachings, we very quickly began to see the value of this, and how we could use these in all areas of school life and faith development.  The group presented the teachings to the Senior Leadership Team, and then after school in full staff training.

Our next steps were to design certificates, clarify how pupils can we awarded the certificates and ask staff to be involved.  From there, the group wanted further social action.  The Mission Team could see some unkind words and deeds in school amongst pupils, especially aimed at different cultural communities.  They therefore began the first ever ‘This Is Me’ assemblies.  Members of Year 11 put together presentations about their families, country of origin, culture and backgrounds.  They presented these at our full school assemblies, and our school community loved hearing all about the heritage of our children.  The idea was to learn more about each other’s culture, in order to promote understanding and inclusivity.  These powerful assemblies culminated in our International Evening, celebrating culture, cuisine, entertainment and friendships from around the globe.  The whole community was involved and the evening was a huge success.  These practices have been continued each year and our school community really look forward to them.

The Catholic Social Teachings grew from strength to strength.  They were our beacons of ethos and inclusivity, ensuring that our faith was the reason for our dignity and actions.  The CST’s are now at the very core of STM.  Every policy and practice, every routine and decision, comes from a root of CST.  All our personal development, our staff continued professional development, our curriculum maps, our services and liturgies, our parental engagement, our visuals and prayers, our commendations and reports, our behaviours and expectations, all are rooted in our CST’s. These are powerful statements of social action which are rooted in the gospel values of love, tolerance, respect, kindness, stewardship, dignity, faith, hope and service.

We were so delighted that out recent Catholic Schools Inspectorate Inspection in December 2023, agreed that St Thomas More Catholic High School is an OUTSTANDING school for Catholic Life and Mission, Religious Education and Collective Worship.  Every member of staff has a part to play in this report, as all our staff are invested in their vocation and job roles, seen through the lens of CST’s.

Highlights from the report:

“Catholic social teaching shines through this community, is clearly understood and firmly rooted in the warp and weft of school life. It is central to the curriculum.”

“Catholic social teaching is the foundation of all that the staff do across all aspects of school life. This provision is outstanding. It is seen in documentation and most importantly echoed in the day to day. Staff fully embrace the mission of St Thomas More and are keen to serve as role models. In word and deed, they take every opportunity to celebrate the mission of this school and remind pupils that Catholic social teaching is embedded in all that they do.”

“Planning for Catholic social teaching is exceptionally strong and as a result it is firmly embedded across the whole curriculum. It is the prism through which education at this school is delivered. Curriculum leaders work together to ensure that it is planned coherently and is explicit. The school has created a foundation for the whole taught curriculum which is exemplary.”

We are incredibly proud of our journey.  Our prayers remain with Mary Stanway, may she rest in peace and to Martha, Archie, Clare and Paul and all her family and friends.