The spiritual life of the school is of the highest importance in enabling all to achieve their full potential, from staff to students. From prayer life to fundraising, all awaken an understanding of a greater call that brings us strength and nourishment in light of the teachings of Christ in the Gospels.
Our Religious Education is a compulsory programme of study for all students in all year groups and makes up one the four core subjects that must be taken at GCSE level. There is an option to take it as an A level and all students take one lesson of General RE a week and one cycle of a ‘Religion and the Media’ course. The Religious Education we offer to our young people combines the rigour of the academic in achieving GCSE and A level grades, while at the same time encouraging the faith development of our young people during this part of their lives. The subject also finds itself as one of the key areas that promotes the importance of community cohesion and extending a way of thought and understanding that creates a respectful and tolerant world view.
We are an inclusive school as a Catholic school and seek to nourish the development of all regardless of faith backgrounds. We seek to stir the numinous in all in our care and encourage all to be nourished by their respectful spiritual understanding of the world and those around them. We fully recognise the right of parents to withdraw their child from the act of collective worship if they wish. However, we would hope as a school that all our young people would be able to attend all our school events and not feel excluded in any way.
All students, from Year 7 to Year 13 begin each morning with tutor prayer. This, we believe, is a hugely important time of shared experience through prayer and sets a focus for reflection and petition that allows both students and staff to prepare in the best possible way for each day. The Head Teacher, Heads of House and Chaplain, Mrs Proctor also begin or end assemblies with our school prayer to highlight the importance of prayer in daily life and achievement. It is the belief at Cardinal Hume Catholic School that a community that prays together stays strong and is successful in all aspects of school life. Prayer has a depth that surpasses the sounding of words and it is this prayer connection we seek to develop with all in our school community.
Assemblies run throughout the academic year for all Year groups. They run in cycles of 3, with Head Teacher assemblies first, followed by Heads of House assemblies and then Year assemblies with the Chaplain Mrs Proctor. The assembly programme is an important part of school life as it enables all students to come together to understand their role as part of a positive school environment.
Collective worship is something we enjoy celebrating as a school community in a number of ways.
We have a class liturgy programme that runs from Year 7 to 11. This is organised by the Chaplain, Mrs Proctor and run through the RE Department. It runs on themes provided by the Mrs Proctor which seeks to include all in an area of collective worship that nourishes the spiritual dimension of the young person.
There are whole school liturgies at the end of each term. These services are a time of celebration and a shared sense of community that allow all students to appreciate their sense of purpose within the school environment and celebrate their achievements. They are also a time of reflection for all in the school, a time to offer thanks to God and also ask for his inspiration in all that we do at Cardinal Hume Catholic School. These events are particularly enjoyed by our Year 11 and Year 13 as leaver celebrations.
Cardinal Hume Catholic School
Old Durham Road,
Gateshead,
NE9 6RZ
Tel: 0191 487 7638
Fax: 0191 482 4421
Email: info@chs.bwcet.com
