Catholic Life of the School – St Bedes Blackburn

Our Mission

At St Bede’s we believe that all things are possible. Our pupils are guided and encouraged to fulfil their God-given potential and are inspired to become the best versions of themselves; the people that God created them to be.

Together, we will learn to understand and live moral lives, based on the gospel values of; hope, love, forgiveness and compassion. We believe that every person is made and loved by God, with the potential to grow into the likeness of Christ.

Being part of the St Bede’s community will be a journey of faith, discovery and learning where all pupils are provided with the opportunities to shine.

Guide

Inspire

Shine

St Bede

Our school patron Saint is St. Bede the Venerable. Bede was a priest, monk and scholar who is at the heart of our school values, where all pupils are encouraged to take a journey of faith, discovery and learning.

Bede was born during 673 near the English town of Jarrow. His parents sent him at a young age to study at a monastery founded by a Benedictine abbot, St. Benedict Biscop. The abbot’s extensive library may have sparked an early curiosity for Bede, who would grow up to have a love of reading and writing.

Later, Bede returned to Jarrow and continued his studies. Bede developed his passion for scripture and theology, but also sacred music, poetry and the Greek language.

Bede’s tutors could see that his life demonstrated a remarkable devotion to prayer and study and he was ordained a deacon when he was 19. Bede studied for 11 more years before entering the priesthood at the age of 30, around the beginning of the eighth century. Afterward, Bede took on the responsibility of celebrating daily Mass for the members of his Benedictine community, while also working on farming, baking, and other works of the monastery.

As a monk, Bede gave absolute priority to prayer, fasting and charitable hospitality. He regarded all other works as valueless without the love of God and one’s neighbour. These values are reflected in our school mission, where all of our pupils are inspired to understand and live moral lives, based on the gospel values of; hope, love, forgiveness and compassion. Bede understood that love was his life’s purpose.

During his life, Bede wrote a wide range of books about theology, the Bible, science, literature, and history. He also taught hundreds of students at the monastery and its school, which became renowned throughout Britain.

Annual Plan of Provision

Liturgical Calendar 2024-2025

Chaplaincy

Chaplaincy is an essential part of life at St. Bede’s. With guidance from the Chaplaincy coordinator, both pupils and staff have a mission in making the love of God visible and real in the lives of everyone in the school and the wider community. We acknowledge that faith is required for us to fulfil our mission and, through the work of Chaplaincy, we aim to create an ethos where the faith of our school community will flourish.

At St Bede’s, our faith is nurtured and developed through weekly themes which are closely linked to the liturgical calendar, and provided as prayerful and reflective activities, integrated into Prep periods and assemblies. We have strong links with our local parish and a regular priest presence in school.

Prayer Room

Our beautiful prayer room is available for all of our school community to use. Throughout the week, reflective and spiritual prayer activities take place that our school community can participate in. The prayer room is also used by Prep groups throughout the year to allow an opportunity for each pupil to develop their own personal faith experience.

Our prayer room is open every lunchtime.

Monday – Prayer activities

Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday – A quiet space

Thursday – Social Justice Group

Prayer and Collective Worship

Collective worship at St Bede’s involves our whole school community and is central to the heart of our daily school life, connecting us by faith. Prayer is at the heart of our school life supported by a range of prayerful and reflective experiences that our school community are invited to participate in.

Our school community meets together during Year group assemblies where they are invited to develop their faith, empathy and compassion through meaningful and reflective use of scripture and prayer. The call to respond through action and mission is a key message given to our school community. Throughout the Year, Prep Groups are given the opportunity to plan an assembly with their peers and Prep tutor, contributing to the faith journey of all our school family.

As part of the weekly theme of the week, pupils gather together in Prep to listen to the Gospel message and pray. They are also invited to respond to the message every week, putting their faith and the teachings of Jesus into action.

Prep groups visit the prayer room throughout the year to participate in God’s Story, Our Words. This provides our pupils with the opportunity to prepare a short para-liturgy with their peers, reflecting on the Gospel message and prayer.

Staff meet together weekly for staff reflection to listen to the message of the Gospel and come together in prayer.

Fr Brian from the Catholic parishes of Darwen, celebrates Mass for our school community at important parts of the year and pupils are encouraged to participate and plan for these special occasions. Parents, Carers and the wider school family are always welcomed to our Year 7 Welcome Mass and Year 11 Leavers Mass.

Small groups of KS3 pupils participate in the celebration of Mass at the Darwen parish church on a regular basis. This gives our younger pupils an opportunity to develop their faith journey and receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Parents and Carers are informed of the Mass that their child attends and are welcomed to join us as part of our wider faith community.

Pupil Prayer Leaders plan Para-Liturgies for important times of the Liturgical Year, for example during Advent and Lent. Pupils are encouraged to use their talents during the services and contribute in creative and engaging ways.

Prayer themes of the week

Our prayer themes of the week are linked to the Church’s Liturgical Year, Patron Saint’s Days, Feast Days and other important times in the calendar such as Holocaust Memorial Day, Interfaith Week and Remembrance Week. Our prayer life is rooted in scripture and the teachings of Christ. Prayers reflect our core Gospel values as a school of hope, love, forgiveness and compassion for others.

Faith in action

Charity fundraising

At St Bede’s we place the teaching of Christ to show love for others through our charity fundraising. Pupils live out the Gospel values of love and compassion as part of our school mission by their action to help people in need. Throughout the year there are focused times of charity fundraising where pupils raise donations for their own Year group charity. Pupils organise their own events to support their chosen charity. This is often a charity that is personal and has special resonance to members of the Year group community.

Our school community comes together during Advent and Lent to fundraise for Caritas and CAFOD, living out Catholic Social Teachings of solidarity with our brothers and sisters in our local and global communities. Throughout the year, pupils organise donations for a local homeless charity in Blackburn, Nightsafe, and also organises food donations for local and parish foodbanks through the ‘bring a tin in’ initiative.

Social Justice Group

St Bede’s have a thriving social justice group who live out Catholic Social Teachings by following Pope Francis’s teaching, Fratelli Tutti, focusing on fraternity and social friendship. Highlights of their work so far are planning charity events, contributing to Caritas Salford Diocese ‘Lenten and Advent thought of the day’, organising the Christmas Jumper Day to support the Caritas Cornerstone Day Centre and in supporting the school ‘Spring Stalls’ event raising money for our school garden project and getting involved in school recycling projects. They have visited the Laudato Si Centre at Wardley Hall to learn about the importance of ecology, the environment and social justice. Some of the pupils are working towards the Salford Diocese Faith in Action bronze award where they live out their faith through acts of service in school and also within the parish.

Charity visits

During the year, pupils live out their faith by connecting to those in need within our local community. Visits are made to the local care home where our pupils use their God-given talents through dance, drama and music. Our pupils through their English lessons, have connected with the residents writing to each other through the pen pals project. At Christmas, our pupils make cards for the residents, bringing joy and hope to them. Visits have been made to the local homeless charity, Nightsafe, and the local foodbanks to deliver the generous donations from our school community.

CAFOD

Our school community supports CAFOD through projects such as ‘The Big Lent Walk’. Representatives from CAFOD visit school and speak with our pupils and teaching staff about our responsibility as a faith community to look after those in need and uphold the principles of Catholic Social Teaching.

Caritas

Our school community supports Caritas within Salford Diocese and during Advent, have donated much needed hats, gloves, socks and toiletries for the Caritas Cornerstone Day Centre for the Homeless in Manchester.

A representative from Caritas has also visited school and spoken with our pupils and teaching staff about the core values and principles of Catholic Social Teaching.

Each term we celebrate pupils living out their faith through Gospel values. The Caritas Love for Others Award is given to the pupil or group who have demonstrated love for others and is awarded by the Head Teacher in assemblies. This award has pride of place in our school reception and is a reminder of the important work that our school community strives to carry out.

Laudato Si

St Bede’s has an active Pupil Ecology Group who act out Pope Francis’s message about our role to care for our common home, through his teaching, Laudato Si. Pupils in this group have also visited Salford Diocese’ Laudato Si centre where they took part in planting and environmental activities.

Our pupils have been in involved in the ‘Guardians of Creation’ project run by St Mary’s University and Salford Diocese. Some of the initiatives from the project have been incorporated into the daily life of the school such as ‘bringing the outside in’. This allowed each Prep group to be guardians of creation taking responsibility for growing herbs and seeds in their own Prep planter.

Currently our school community is developing a school garden area to reflect our role as guardians and stewards of God’s beautiful creation. Sensory planting areas, flowering planters and a small outdoor seating area are under construction.