Catholic Life

Our Catholic ethos underpins all that we do. We acknowledge the individuality of each pupil as a unique creation of God, with gifts and talents to develop as they grow into confident, responsible, successful and generous young people, willing to contribute to the common good.

Catholic schools were set up to serve the most needy and vulnerable in society and evidence suggests that we’re doing an excellent job at St Aloysius College.

Our Mission statement:

‘I have come that they may have life to the full’ John 10:10 is particularly apposite to our school community at St Aloysius College.

We seek to develop pupils academically, morally, spiritually, socially and culturally so that each develops into the best version of themselves, ready and willing to contribute positively to society and to the Common Good. The school’s mission is embedded in all systems, structures, policy and practice throughout the school. It is regularly communicated to pupils in Liturgical assemblies and during homilies at Friday Masses. Our school values of Courage, Dignity, Forgiveness and Justice underpin our work as a Catholic school community. The school provides an all year round, well stocked food bank courtesy of a local charity,FoodBankAid and we also purchase school shoes and uniform items for pupils whose families are in significant hardship. We also support families of pupils who are living in temporary accommodation e.g hotel or hostel by providing supermarket vouchers if they are really struggling.

Our pupils achieve excellent academic outcomes, with St Aloysius' continuing to rank amongst the highest-performing secondary schools in Islington for both examination results and attendance, and within the top 10% of schools nationally for GCSE outcomes. These achievements are a testament to the dedication of our staff, the determination of our pupils and the invaluable support of our families.

We have continued to broaden the opportunities available to our students beyond the classroom. Whether through sporting achievements, educational visits, enrichment activities or partnerships with other schools and organisations, our pupils have embraced every opportunity to learn, develop new skills and contribute positively to the wider community. We are committed to ensuring that every pupil feels known, supported and valued. Our focus on pastoral care and wellbeing; both spiritual and physical, continues to be central to everything we do, helping our students to flourish both academically and personally. Feedback from pupils through pupil voice, school council etc indicates that they feel valued and cared for and their successes are celebrated regularly.

Pupils learn about Catholic Social Teaching through Liturgical assemblies,Form time, Chaplaincy RE lessons and weekly Mass. Pupils embrace their personal responsibility to care for their common environment, to pursue the common good and to support those in need focusing on a local charity (The Catholic Childrens’ Society), a London charity (The Passage) and an international charity (CAFOD) for Advent and Lenten collections.

We are very appreciative of our part time Priest Chaplain -Fr Goba-from the Spiritan Order (CSSp)who works at the school three days per week. He works closely with the Headteacher, the Assistant Headteacher (Catholic Life) and the Head of Religious Education to develop the Catholic Life of the school.

Fr Moses Enehizena CSSp -Parish Priest of Our Lady of Sorrows, Upper Holloway also supports the school when needed.

Our chapel is located at the heart of the school and the Blessed Sacrament is reserved there for private worship during the school day. Mass is celebrated twice weekly: 8:00 on Thursdays and on Friday mornings at 8:30 for Year Groups on a rotating schedule. Pupils take part in the reading ministry at Friday Masses and they also prepare the prayers of the Faithful.

Spiritual Life

The spiritual and religious life of the school are enhanced currently through:

Weekly Masses
Annual retreats for pupils
Weekly Liturgical assemblies
Focusing on the lives of our Seven Patron Saints: Saint Aloysius, St John-Paul, St Oscar Romero, St Martin De Porres, St John Baptiste De La Salle, St Peter, St Thomas Aquinas
Understanding Catholic Social teaching and taking action where possible
Provision of the Sacrament of Reconciliation when required but especially during Advent and Lent.
The activities of ‘The Apostle’s’ group led by the Chaplain

The next stage:

Providing increased opportunities for pupils to develop empathy and compassion through Diocesan projects, peer mentoring and community outreach.
Develop a programme of external speakers on issues of Social Justice, Catholic Mission and other relevant themes.
Staff retreats
Development of an Inter-Faith group
Development of a staff Chaplaincy group
Form links with a wider group of Catholic organisations including Outstanding Catholic secondary schools.

Retreats

Our retreats follow the tradition of Jesus himself, who had a consistent pattern in his life, as shown in the Gospels, as making out time to be by himself. There are times he also invited his disciples to go to a lonely place and be by themselves. We follow this tradition by creating a time for each year group, in the calendar year, to be by themselves. During this time, they reflect on a theme we judge to be very important to them. Through reflections, prayers, activities, and discussions, we enable them to deepen their understanding and consciousness of the chosen theme. It is also hoped that this reflection will generate and renew a favourable attitude and approach to life.
Towards this end, our Year 7 had their Retreat Day on the 28th of November. It had the theme of community. As members of a new community, we thought it was very important for them to reflect on this theme, to reorientate themselves with the importance of upholding our commonly held community values. The obvious aim was to build a sense of community and
encourage positive and active membership.
Our Year 8 had their retreat day on 30th of November on the theme of Friendship, a Gospel value that is at the heart of the categorical imperative to love your neighbour as yourself. We reflected on our global connection as a human family and our shared responsibility to care for each other.
The Year 9s had their retreat on the 29th of February on the theme of Justice and Peace, which is another important focus of our Catholic ethos as a school. Year 10 had preceded two days earlier, on the 27th, with the theme of Choices - important for them at the stage of their school life. Year 11 had theirs on the 6th of February, Year 12 on the 19th of March, and Year 13's was earlier, on the 8th of February.

Our Saints

Our Patron Saint is St Aloysius Gonzaga. You can find out more about St Aloysius here.

We have have six further adopted Saints; St Peter, St John Paull II, St Martin de Porres, Thomas Aquinas, and St Jean-Baptiste De La Salle. These saints were thoughtfully chosen by our students.

Below is a summary of each of our Saints, which is also displayed prominently throughout our school.

Charitable Efforts

As a school, we are fully engaged with the Common Good and endeavour to support local, national and global causes all year round. We focus particularly intently on charitable efforts during liturgical almsgiving seasons of Advent and Lent, where each year group is tasked with organising fundraising events for their designated charity.

Foodbank

Our school is fully engaged with St Gabriel’s Foodbank initiative. We have been working with the Foodbank for ten years, supporting them in their amazing work of providing local families in crisis with essential items. St Gabriel's Community Centre offers assistance to homeless people, disadvantaged families and the elderly in our local area. The Community Centre works together with St Gabriel’s Church to offer breakfast seven days a week all year round to people sleeping rough in the area of Archway. Volunteers also provide hot dinners during the week and serve a Christmas lunch for people who are on their own and the homeless. Our parents, staff and students are continuously generous in their giving towards this worthwhile cause.

We encourage students to simply bring in one of the items on the monthly shopping list and drop it off at the Chaplain’s office. These items are usually basic food, toiletries, and household products.

We make a particular effort during Advent, creating many joy-bringing Christmas Hampers. Form groups compete to create the 'most plentiful' hamper donated to St Gabriel's.

Advent

During Advent students and staff raised over £1900 and gathered donations for World Gifts (CAFOD), The Catholic Children's Society, The Passage, and St Gabriel's food bank collection.

Year 7 students raised £308 for CAFOD World Gifts 'The Goat that gives‘, This means that Year 7 provided communities and families with in rural areas with 11 goats, which can provide a family with up to 12 pints of milk a week each! The goats also produce free fertiliser which families and communities can use to help grow crops.

Year 8 students raised £640 for CAFOD World Gifts 'Fabulous Footballs/Kits‘, through a range of innovative and fun fundraising events including a competitive bleep test! This incredible sum will provide 64 sets of footballs, kits and training for young people in poor urban areas, which can provide them with a sense of community and a positive alternative to prolific crime and gangs.

Year 9 students raised £460 for CAFOD World Gifts 'Fantastic Fish‘ by organising many fundraising events including a bake sale and an interform football match. The funds raised by year 9 CAFOD provides 23 communities with batches of 500 fish, an incredible 11500 fish in total! The communities are also provided with tools and training needed to build a pond and maintain a fish farm, which means they will not only have a source of nourishment, but also be able to build an income and business.

Years 10 & 11 bought presents and toiletries for The Catholic Children's Society, whilst also raising an extra £259.23 to donate. The items and funds raised went to disadvantaged children and families in and around London. We particularly hope the gifts of toys and children's books brought some joy to children in need over the Christmas period.

Years 12 & 13 raised funds for The Passage and purchased items for the homeless in London. Their Christmas Quiz fundraising event was a huge success and well attended by students and staff!