Catholic Life

At St. Gabriel’s Primary School, a Catholic Voluntary Academy, one of the core drivers of our curriculum is ‘Faith and Spirituality’. Our faith is an integral part of everything we do as a school. While attending St Gabriel’s, we aim to instil in our children Gospel values such as kindness, forgiveness, truthfulness, service and respect for themselves and others. These Gospel values are the foundations of our School Mission Statement:

“Learning and Loving on our journey with Jesus.”

We hope that these values will live with our children as they journey through life, and that they grow to see themselves and others as unique parts of God’s family – all different, yet all equal and all loved by God.

At St Gabriel’s we believe Religious Education to be fundamental to the development of the academic, physical and spiritual development of our children and believe Religious Education is central to the educative mission of the Church.

We acknowledge and concur with the Bishops’ view of the importance of high quality Catholic Education: ‘At the heart of Catholic education lies the Christian vision of the human person. This vision is expressed and explored in Religious Education. Therefore Religious Education is never simply one subject among many, but the foundation of the entire educational process. The beliefs and values studied in Catholic religious education inspire and draw together every aspect of the life of a Catholic school….. All pupils have the right to receive an overall education which will enable them, in the light of the faith of the Church, to engage with the deepest questions of life and find reasons for the hope which is within them.’

We are very fortunate to be part of a wonderful parish, with which we share our site. We use the church regularly for the celebration of Mass, and during the COVID-19 pandemic we were able to share the online Masses and services with our families using our Facebook page. We are very much looking forward to worshipping together as a whole school again this year.

We believe that our Catholic life must not be limited to school – we should be a beacon of hope for our community. We run a small foodbank in the school porch, named ‘The Community Cupboard’ – anyone is welcome to use the cupboard on weekdays between 10am and 2pm to stock up on essential food items. Please call the school office if you would like any information on this. We also provide our children with opportunities to fundraise and to learn about the work of various charities in our community and around the world. We hope that they will come to understand the importance of caring for our global home, and treating all people around the globe with dignity.