Our Catholic Life

We do our best, following in the footsteps of Jesus.

As our school song exclaims "Our school is a school for everyone!". The Rosary Catholic Primary School welcomes pupils from all families. Many of our pupils are from Catholic families, but many have no religious affiliation. We also welcome pupils, of course, from families who follow other world religions.

The Rosary is a Catholic school. We follow the practices of the Roman Catholic church, including its liturgy and prayers, and we observe in appropriate ways the holy days which mark the church’s year. We respect the faith of Christians of other denominations, whose contribution to our school is highly valued, and welcome members of other world faiths. We have important things in common with all people of goodwill who seek truth and justice.

By using the ancient tradition of the liturgical year as a framework, we draw on the wealth of the church to teach our children who God is and what they are. We introduce children to the lives of saints, to the changes of season and the mood and colour expressing these changes. Children are given an understanding of the associated language, signs and symbols.

Spiritual Growth

At the Rosary School, we work to develop each pupil’s spirituality and to enhance the awareness of spirituality in their lives. Provision for spiritual and moral development is, therefore, at the heart of the whole school experience. It encompasses and enriches all aspects of the school day. It is also integrated into each subject area and into all of the systems that support the ethos of the school including reward and sanctions, behaviour, assemblies, policies, physical environment, health and well-being.

Creating an atmosphere for spiritual growth is at the centre of all our teaching. The children are encouraged to pray, reflect, contemplate and make links between daily life and religion.

Prayer

Prayer plays an important part in the life of the school. In all classroom environments, ‘stillness’ is encouraged at certain points of the day for communicating with God. Whole school prayers are taught throughout the year groups. The children are invited to participate in collective worship, or liturgical prayer, each day in school. This takes place in different ways across the week.

Gospel Values

All our pupils learn about the Gospel values and are encouraged to follow them in their daily lives.

The Rosary

The Rosary defines a religious exercise in which prayers are recited and counted on a string of beads or a knotted cord. By extension, the beads or cord may also be called a rosary. The practice of using prayer beads is widespread, occurring in virtually every major religious tradition in the world.

In Christianity the practice of using prayer beads in the rosary was adopted in the third century by Eastern Christian monks, and various forms of the rosary were developed.

In Roman Catholicism the rosary became a popular method of public and private prayer. St Dominic has become associated with the development of the rosary as an aid to meditative prayer. The most common rosary is the one devoted to Mary, the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin.

Prayer beads are also a traditional tool in Buddhism and are especially common among Tibetan Buddhists. In Hinduism, prayer beads are used to direct and count the recitation of mantras during meditation.  In Islam the ‘subha’ consists of three groups of beads whose total is one hundred. The ‘subha’ is also used in an act of prayer and is carried by all classes of Muslims, especially pilgrims.

School Houses

There are four houses in the school all all pupils will be a member of one. Siblings will be in the same house. The four houses are named after pilgrim destinations and shrines dedicated to Fatima, Glastonbury, Lourdes and Walsingham.

Chaplaincy Team

Each year, pupils volunteer to serve on the school’s chaplaincy team to help with the liturgies and other aspects of the Catholic Life of the Rosary.

Charity

We want our pupils to learn that those who can should give to help those in need. This may take the form of donations and fund-raising, but there are other ways of helping. For example, the choir sings at Christmas for the residents of local care homes. For more news

The Environment

As stewards of God’s creation, we believe that we all have a responsibility towards the environment. We teach our pupils that we all have a duty to do what we can to ensure we are environmentally responsible. All individuals are responsible for their contribution to the environment and therefore must ensure they act to protect it.