The responsibility for supporting your children in their faith journey is shared by all in the school community.

As the primary educator, the parent is the first and most constant influence in a child’s spiritual development. At St Anthony’s we wish to work in partnership with our parents, supporting them and complimenting their efforts with their children. Many of you have had your child baptised. For those of you who have not, but are considering this, we can support you with communication with the Parish Priest – Fr George Thomas.

The class teacher and teaching assistants will be those who directly influence your child on a daily basis. Whether or not a Catholic themselves, the expectation of our staff in school is to help pupils develop spiritually. When we recruit staff, this is a fundamental part of the selection process. We look for characteristics within people who we believe can help nurture children spiritually as well as academically. Our staff are also employed on Catholic contracts, which have high expectations for them as professionals in Catholic Education.

The RE Coordinator is Mrs L Bond. She holds the specific role of ensuring that standards of RE teaching are at least good. She is also involved in elements of the Catholic Life of the school, such as sacramental preparation, nurturing the Liturgical Leaders and evaluating Collective Worship.

The Assistant Principal, Mr Bradbury and the Principal, are responsible for providing collective worship events across the year and ensuring that the Catholic Life of the school is alive and effective. This includes responsibilities such as arranging fund raising events and developing a sense of mission and vocation within pupils.

The Liturgical Leaders are made up of two pupils per class in KS2 and their role is to ensure that class prayer tables are always reflective of the time in the Liturgical Calendar. They have a responsibility to jointly plan, deliver and evaluate weekly assemblies to KS1 with the Principal and the RE Coordinator. They represent the Academy at Diocese events and take responsibility for planning and leading Academy liturgies. These pupils volunteer themselves and stay in role for the school year. They are highly respected by the younger children as they help them to be able to discuss ideas about their faith and are exceptional role models.

Working together with the Parish Priest Fr George Thomas, the Principal, Assistant Principal, RE Coordinator and Liturgical Leaders make up the school’s Chaplaincy Team.

All pupils contribute to leading prayer in class, evaluating RE and Catholic Life and live the gospel values that we expect within our community.