As our parent and carer community are aware, one of the cornerstones of our educational philosophy at Bishop Vaughan is the integration of the Catholic Pupil Profile into every aspect of school life. This supports us in nurturing the holistic development of our students by instilling values such as compassion, generosity, gratefulness and faith, binding those values with an all-encompassing sense of integrity and of service to others.
Throughout this month, as we do every month, we have witnessed countless examples of our students embodying these values, both within the classroom and beyond it. From acts of kindness to displays of empathy, such as were seen in our pupils’ engagement in the Holocaust Memorial Day, each gesture serves as a testament to the profound impact of our shared ethos.
During the Holocaust Memorial Day, which this year took place yesterday, Friday 26th January, some of our pupils attended the city’s event at the Swansea.com stadium. Joining with schools from across the city, our pupils read a poem and a prayer, and our choir sang ‘When You Believe’ from ‘The Prince of Egypt’. It was wonderful to hear from primary and secondary pupils throughout the city and to see the thoughtful and imaginative ways in which they commemorated those who suffered and who lost their lives during this terrible time in history – one that is still relatively recent and from which we should learn so very many lessons.
This month, our Main Hall assemblies have focused on the paired virtues we will be focusing on this half term, those of being compassionate and loving. Our pupils identify myriad ways in which to exhibit these values daily and it is always good to have the opportunity to focus on these character traits explicitly in our Acts of Worship, and to note the ways in which they are both implicitly and deliberately lived out.
In addition, we have focused in our assemblies on learning more about the Bible and about ‘Word of God Sunday’ – the third Sunday in January having been designated in the Catholic Church as an opportunity to focus on scripture and about what the Bible offers to each and every one of us.
We have learned about the languages in which the Bible was written, those who contributed to ‘ta Biblia’, which as we know are ‘the scrolls’, and the parts of the world in which it was written, as well as what Pope Francis encourages to look for and explore by reading the Bible.
Many of our pupils have also received their Numeracy results this month and we congratulate them on some really excellent outcomes, which will stand them in good stead for their final GCSEs.
We look forward to sharing some very special news with you next month, all being well … watch this space! In the meantime, we wish all pupils and their families an enjoyable remainder of this term – a relatively short one! Just two weeks left now till half term!
Mrs Pole