Our Founder
Our Founder, Saint John Henry Newman’s vision was one of an all-round education – developing each child’s mind, body and soul. He was a world-famous theologian who was also a brilliant and precocious student, poet and educationalist who left this country with a wonderful legacy of books, prayers and schools. This lives on in all aspects of our school life and is an inspiration to us all.
Newman’s influence on education and Catholic Life is like a golden thread that runs through the rich tapestry of the school’s tradition of teaching, empowering our young people.
His vision and the Christian virtues of faith, hope and love, kindness, compassion and forgiveness are key to shaping the moral awareness and convictions of our pupils. In all that the school does and teaches, children grow and learn under the founder’s motto of ‘Cor Ad Cor Loquitur’ {Heart speaks to Heart}.
Catholic Life at The OPS
- We welcome children from all faiths or none and teach understanding and respect for the beliefs of others and different ways and places of worship, including visits to gurdwaras and synagogues.
- We encourage our pupils to explore, develop and nurture their faith. We explore Catholicism alongside other faiths in RE and have opportunities to visit churches and sites related to the life and work of our founder. In addition, there is an annual trip to Rome to explore the origins of the Oratorian tradition.
- Children start the day with a morning prayer in their classrooms and in assemblies, with Mass celebrated weekly in Year 3 upwards and regularly for children up to Year 2. There is a wonderful sense of community with the children feeling integral to celebrations, through singing, reading and serving at the altar, if they wish.
- Each year, Catholic children are prepared for the sacrament of Reconciliation and First Holy Communion and celebrate these at school.
- The school’s assembly programme allows pupils to understand and present ideas connected with faith, but also to explore themes connected with the work of the Church. Pupils are taught and encouraged to have a real sense of right and wrong and responsibility and respect for the welfare and safety of each other.
- As they mature and progress through the school, our pupils are involved in projects and ventures to support those in need, both locally and within the region, as well as overseas. Social justice topics are developed through different areas of the curriculum and action for these are shown from the school as a whole, within groups, or individual initiatives.
Providing an education that has a moral purpose where our pupils develop a greater sense of mission and moral responsibility is fundamental to our Founder’s conviction for education in the fullest sense.
