All Saints is a Roman Catholic School guided by the teachings, traditions, spirituality and sacraments of the Catholic Church and is committed to Christian Gospel values. Our thriving Sixth Form is at the heart of the Catholic Life of the school. All students, including students in our Sixth Form are expected to support and engage with the distinctive Catholic Life of the Sixth Form. The Stella Maris Award is integral to accompanying students on their character development and providing a moral compass. We look to Christ for leadership and inspiration and our school community is characterised by his example of love, caring and service. It is based on the practices of the Catholic Church.
Christians are called to fulfil their potential and strive for excellence in all aspects of their lives. Catholic education therefore strives to offer students every opportunity to develop their talents to the full through their academic work, spiritual worship and extracurricular activities.
Within Catholic schools and colleges, each individual is seen as made in God’s image and loved by Him. All students are valued and respected as individuals so that they may be helped to fulfil their unique role in creation. It is important therefore that we provide high quality pastoral care throughout our schools and colleges in order to support the individual needs of each student.
Catholic education is based on the belief that the human and the divine are inseparable. In Catholic schools and colleges, management, organisation, academic and pastoral work, prayer and worship, all aim to prepare young people for their life as Christians in the community.
Our belief in the value of each individual leads Catholic schools and colleges to have the duty to care for the poor and to educate those who are socially, academically, physically or emotionally disadvantaged. Service to those who are amongst the most disadvantaged in our society has always been central to the mission of Catholic education.
Catholic education aims to offer young people the experience of life in a community founded on the Christian virtues. In religious education in particular, the Church aims to transmit to them the Catholic faith. Both through religious education and in the general life of the school, young people are prepared to serve as witnesses to moral and spiritual values in the wider world.
ERE: Context and purpose
It is a legal requirement that all Sixth Forms in England provide some form of Religious Education for its students. As a Catholic community we take this obligation seriously and provide this through one hour of Enrichment RE each week. This is a non-examined course that aims to engage students of all backgrounds and interests in some of the big questions in life, such as – Is there a God and, if so, what is God? What is our responsibility to our planet? Do humans have intrinsic rights? Is religion still relevant in a scientific age? We do this through well-planned and resourced lessons, taught by specialist teachers, that allow students to discuss, debate and deepen their own understanding of their place in the world. ERE lessons also support the completion of the Stella Maris leadership award.
Stella Maris:
Jesus said ‘I have come to serve not to be served’ and the Stella Maris Leadership Award aims to recognise how this is shown by our students. It is based upon the development of Character Virtues: Intellectual, Moral, Civic and Performance. The focus of the award, named after Mary the mother of Jesus, is to help each of us practise these virtues in order to become ‘our best self’. Each student will learn about these virtues through ERE and look at how they can be developed through deliberate acts. Students are encouraged to develop these virtues outside the classroom, not just in school but in their everyday life, by caring not only for themselves and others, but also for the environment. The award also aims to nurture and recognise the skills, qualities and experiences that our students already demonstrate throughout their time at Sixth Form. There are three levels of award: Bronze, Silver and Gold. Each student will be expected to gain at least the bronze level in Year 12 and then begin to demonstrate how they are meeting the criteria for the silver and gold awards as they start Year 13. Each award is recognised by a star-shaped badge and certificate.
