Catholic Life

Catholic Social Teaching

Teaching children about global issues and encouraging them to see the world through other eyes is of huge importance. We aim at St Hugh’s to allow children to thrive in the progress of their knowledge of social justice to become in the future citizens with global awareness who seek justice and peace. We have embedded Catholic Social Teaching into our curriculum through our oracy project and have made links by adding big questions into the Science, Geography and History planning.

Children are also keen to commit to being global through fundraising events for charities like CAFOD, HCPT, Let them eat cake and the Shepherd’s Food Ministry. They enjoy creating events in school to fundraise for their own charities (e.g. British Heart foundation, Water Aid, Heart links etc.). Teachers support Catholic social teaching by regularly making links to the children’s Religious Education programme. Some examples of this Faith in Action this year are when EYFS donated food and toys to charities. Key stage 1 helped the community by making cards for the local nursing home and neighbours bordering the school grounds and Key stage 2 made positive messages shared using social media platforms. Children regularly donate food items to the Local Foodbank as the collection box is regularly filled and donations taken to the Arise Church on Birchwood Avenue which is our local collection point.

Jubilee 2025 

 The Holy Father has announced that 2025 will be a Jubilee Year, an event that takes place every 25 years. The theme for Jubilee 2025 is “Pilgrims of Hope,” and it will serve as a year of hope for a world enduring the impacts of war, the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the climate crisis. School communities are invited to come together as pilgrims of hope, pledging to work collaboratively for God’s kingdom of justice, peace, and love. Each class has made a pledge for the Jubilee year, which they will begin working on during the Lenten term.
 Our Jubilee journey began with a visit from Ann Neale, the Nottingham CAFOD representative, who is also a director of our Multi-Academy Trust. This Lent, we aim to raise money to support communities, such as those in Kenya, which Mrs. Neale shared with us.

In Kenya, there is a group called the Glitter Group, a community severely affected by drought. CAFOD has supported them by assisting in the purchase of livestock and crops.

We are planning fundraising events to help them acquire more livestock, including chickens, which Mrs. Neale affectionately referred to as “Glitter Chickens.” The Mini Vinnies will be meeting this week to discuss fundraising ideas, ensuring that CAFOD can continue its vital work supporting communities around the world

Synod 2025

On Tuesday, 21st January 2025, we gathered with all the schools in the Our Lady of Lourdes Multi-Academy Trust for a meeting that was part of the ongoing synodal journey that began in 2021. This deeply spiritual and reflective process provided an opportunity for delegates to engage in listening to Scripture, sharing ideas, and building relationships. We left the meeting feeling inspired to share our knowledge and insights with other students within our Multi-Academy Trust.

One of the ideas we brought back was the creation of our own Eco Club. Mrs. Hargrave-Nanton has introduced the Eco Team to the school and is currently preparing activities and eco-focused initiatives for the Lenten term. This work is inspired by Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’, which calls on us to care for our common home. As part of this initiative, students will be encouraged to find ways to improve the school grounds and adopt more environmentally friendly practices.

Additionally, one of our school governors introduced us to a valuable resource called Superbook. Mrs. Pallister has since launched the Superbook Club, which meets every Wednesday lunchtime. The aim of the club is to foster a love for Scripture and to develop the children’s religious literacy.

Synod 2021-2023

In October 2021,  Bishop Patrick Mc Kinney wrote a letter to the children in all schools across the Nottingham Diocese, asking them to reflect on Pope Francis’ invitation for the Church to question the Synodality. Children at St Hugh’s have thought about and reflected on  the questions sent from Bishop Patrick, these included:  What’s your dream is for God’s Church? How would you like it to look? What do you like about God’s Church? What would make it better? Who would you like to invite to church? The children initially responded on post-it notes and their ideas were then developed into a collaborative piece of Art work.

 To find our more information please follow this link https://www.synod.va/en.html

Trust Synod Meeting

On Thursday 19th October Miss Webster and members of the School Council- Amy, Riley, Corey and Ruby had the opportunity of being a part of the Trust Synod- (an ongoing project in the Catholic Church to help us all work together and address issues concerning the good of the Church and the advancement of the Church’s missionary activity.)

The discussion points had three main areas of focus: Communion, Participation and Mission. The childrenspent the day with other schools in our Trust discussing these important themes and how we can address them.

It was such a thought provoking day, with times of prayer, scripture and song woven into our discussions.

Mini Vinnies -St Vincent de Paul

Children at St Hugh’s have a Mini Vinnies group,  with children from Year 3 to Year 6 forming a part of the St Vincent de Paul Society. The St Vincent de Paul Society is a voluntary organisation dedicated to tackling poverty in all its forms. Mini Vinnies meet each week at St Hugh’s to discuss, pray and talk about ways that they can make a difference in their communities.

Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural Development

Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural Development

As a Catholic School the four elements of Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural development are all linked and are intrinsic in all that we do. In order to allow children to flourish and reach their full potential. St Hugh’s Catholic Voluntary Academy provides the children with the tools required for their future, so they can live life to the full and engage in their role as global citizens. At St Hugh’s our school this is actively promotes this through our school motto ‘To live, love and learn through the light of Christ’.

Spiritual Development

Children celebrate the Liturgy of the Word during whole school prayer and liturgy time, this is led by the prayer leaders. In addition, all pupils have the opportunity to lead Celebration of the Word in their classrooms. They plan and prepare liturgies using resources from NCDRES Chaplaincy Space.

Assemblies, plays and liturgies are also held to mark significant events like Remembrance Sunday, Mother’s Day, May Assembly, Easter and the Nativity.

Masses are prepared to share with the parishioners and Holy Communion preparation for both parishes takes place in school.

Adoration and Masses are celebrated by the Parish Priest or Deacon.

Children encounter other Faiths through first had experiences like visits to the Lincoln Mosque or vi through visitors like Sunita from the Hindu Experience.

Moral Development

Is addressed through social teaching to enable children to recognise injustice and inequalities both locally and globally. Children regularly donate and collect items to support the Lincoln Foodbank, The Shepherd food ministries, CAFOD  and the Lincoln Christmas Sacks appeal.

Children are given opportunities to explore moral concepts through RSE materials, Dare training in Year 5/6, School council training and visits, E-Safety Week, CAFOD universal Church topics and Community police visits.

Children are encouraged to live out the moral literacy of our Faith by following a Catholic Virtue. Every three weeks a different virtue is shared and encountered, children are guided as to how they can follow this virtue and strengthen the ethos and values we uphold at St Hugh’s.

Social Development

Peer support and social development within the school, is supported by Sports leaders, Playground Buddy scheme, Mini Vinnies and the School councillors.

Children are keen to help in the community:  the infants have been visiting a local care home, the Junior Choir singing in Lincoln Cathedral to raise money for Age concern and the Co-op and visiting a care home. Children have worked with a local charity to design a logo and playground to develop the local park. Mini Vinnies wanted to create their own Foodbank within the school and to donate these items to the Birchwood Foodbank.

Cultural Development

Children are keen to commit to being global through fundraising events for CAFOD, HCPT and the Shepherd’s Food Ministry . They enjoy creating events in school to fundraise for their own charities.(eg British Heart foundation, Water Aid, Heart links etc)

Visits to the Usher Art Gallery, Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage sites, Lincoln bomber command, Lincoln Mosque, Lincoln collection Museum, Lincoln cathedral and Castle help develop pupil’s engagement in different cultural experiences.

The school has provided high quality texts and stories that promote equality and diversity, which allow children to explore as readers to see their own lives reflected and a window into the views of lives and stories that are different from their own.