What does ‘Catholic Social Teaching’ mean?
Catholic Social Teaching comes from our belief that
God has a plan for creation, a plan to bui
ld his kingdom of peace, love and justice. It is founded on
the knowledge that God has a special plan for every single one of us, whoever we are. Our part in this
plan involves every aspect of our lives, from the things we pray for, to how we live as a responsible global citizen. We are called to love others through our actions.
The Catholic Church has seven principles of social teaching that we share with our children through all that we do, through the curriculum, special events and activity and through our ordinary actions in school.
The Christian values at the heart of our Catholic faith incorporate the key British values and we aim,
in everything we do, to further each child's sense of commitment and responsibility to themselves, to others and in the wider world.
Through the relationships and support for each other that children, staff and parents enjoy within the school community, we enable children to come to know and experience God's love and to understand the commitment that we are called to make to serve others.
Year 5 Caritas Project 
This year the children in Year 5 became Caritas Ambassadors. Caritas means LOVE and the work of Caritas is to 'put love into action' by following the Catholic Social Teachings. After learning about these, Year 5 planned a local project where they had identified a need and believed they could make a difference.
They appealed to the whole school for donations to support a local foodbank. The foodbank organisers told us that they were in need of breakfast foods particularly, so that was the focus of the appeal. As usual the school was extremely generous and we had a small mountain of breakfast food and drink items donated!
The class brought the items to St Luke's Foodbank in Chelsea and took turns to serve the local people who use the foodbank. They also served cakes and fruit juice to people waiting in the queue. Everyone was pleased to see the children and delighted with the food items they received.
Year 5 really enjoyed the experience too!
Here are some of the things they had to say about it.
‘Food banks are good - they help people less fortunate than us’. Jacopo
‘It makes me feel happy to give food to people who need it’. Alban
‘It’s wrong that people do not have what others have and have to
live in a separated world’. Paolo
‘This was a unique opportunity to help others and I saw how much they liked our donations.’
At assembly the class received their Caritas Ambassador
badges from Sr Silvana and her team-mate, Nigel.
Catholic Social Teaching is at the heart of what we provide and the many opportunities that we give the children to take action to help others in need. Throughout the year we support a number of charities and special appeals or fund-raising activities which are chosen and coordinated by the children, led by our Young Missionaries group. Some of the charities we have supported are: CAFOD, UNICEF, McMillan Cancer Care, The Catholic Children’s Society and local charities who support the homeless.
This Lent we have been raising money for CAFOD (The Catholic Agency for Overseas Development) who support the poorest and most vulnerable in our global community. Children gave up treats and saved their money
St Elizabeth St Anne St Joseph
Reception St Bernadette St John
Children also supported the Big Lent Walk, aimed at tackling hunger. The children were challenged to walk around the school, all of the laps adding up to 200kms. The money raised will be used by CAFOD to help the 200million children in the world who are hungry. 
Congratulations to everyone who contributed to raising £1,175 for CAFOD!
