Our School is very proud to have been one of the fore-runners in developing the Romero Award. This award is a framework which supports Catholic schools to recognise and celebrate what they do to promote Catholic Social Teaching (CST), challenging them to weave CST into the culture and ethos of the school – strategic planning, curriculum development and practical choices.

Named after one of our House Patrons, St Oscar Romero, the award aims to support schools in the advancement of the key Christian teaching of loving God and neighbour through key CST principles. Our actions might mot change the world, but it is a start. Romero once said, "We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realising that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.”

Principles of Catholic Social Teaching

1. Dignity of the human person – policies and strategic decisions that our school takes promote the value and worth of each person – both pupils and staff - as children of God.
2. Option for the poor – as well educating those in our community to make preferential options to support those who are poor, as a school we also ensure that we make the extra effort to support pupils who are ‘poor’ in the broadest sense of the term. This can be those who are educationally poor but also those who are materially poor. One of our core beliefs is EQUITY over equality - meaning that in order to be fair, some people require additional support or preferential treatment.
3. The common good – as a school we promote diversity and inclusion among staff and pupils, and, like our vision statement says, enabling everyone to achieve more than they ever thought possible, wherever they are in the world.
4. Solidarity – emulating our House Patron, Claudette Colvin, we foster the desire and ability to stand up for others who treated badly, so that a sense of social justice is embedded in the values of children, and adults, as we journey through life.
5. Care for creation – with the children, we nurture a care for all of God's Creation, but as a school, we also try to be a sustainable body. utilising the Earth's resources as responsibly as we can. 
6. Dignity of work and participation – supported by the school's vision of enabling all to succeed and make a difference to the world by serving God through helping others, we expect all in our community to be treated with dignity and respect. This is something which we believe should be experience by all people across the world, and we aim to educate children, as future leaders, to enable all to be treated in this way.
7. Peace – as another of our House Patron's, Mahatma Gandhi, said, "Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong". Our school value of forgiveness helps us to pursue peace at all levels. We promote reconciliation, forgiveness and understanding between members of our school community as well as the wider world.

To learn more about Catholic Social Teaching, click the picture below.