Catholic Life

We are proud of our Catholic school and its links with the Catholic community in the area. Christ is placed at the centre of all we do through the prayer life of the school, charity work and teaching Christian values.
Over 50 years of successful teaching and learning in Coventry our core values remain to support young people as they:

Grow in the knowledge of God and in their faith, achieve their academic potential, develop self discipline, establish positive relationships with other children and adults, develop a sense of responsibility within the local and wider community and have a clear understanding of the difference between right and wrong.

Mass is celebrated every week in the chapel by our school chaplain, Fr. George Bennett and staff and students are encouraged to attend. Each year group celebrates Mass regularly and the seasons of the Church are marked by liturgies led by our lay chaplain.

During Advent and Lent, students are offered the opportunity to receive the sacrament of reconciliation and during these seasons students are invited to participate in acts of charity.

Each term Cardinal Wiseman students lead Mass in one of the three parishes close to the school and prayers are said daily in tutor groups and assemblies. Students have the opportunity to lead worship by planning and delivering an assembly for their peers and through membership of the chaplaincy team.

Spiritual development of students is led by the RE department which enables students to learn in greater depth about the teachings of the Church in relation to philosophical and ethical questions alongside theological study. At least twice per half term, students take part in a short classroom based liturgy in RE lessons.

Catechesis is the responsibility of the whole staff and this is modelled in their support for the Malawi project, CAFOD and through their own witness to the faith. The music department leads a flourishing worship choir, whilst dance and drama offer students other opportunities to deepen their faith by leading worship in through creative expression.

Every year, the whole school celebrates Mass on Wiseman Day in which students come together in song, dance and drama to celebrate and praise God as a whole school community.

We plant seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities. Archbishop Oscar Romero

School ethos

Catholic schools educate people, first and foremost, through the living context, i.e. the climate that both students and teachers establish in the environment where teaching and learning activities take place. This climate is pervaded not only by the values that are lived out, by the quality of interpersonal relations between teachers and students amongst each other, by the care staff devote to student and local community needs, by the clear living testimony provided by teachers and all staff. (Adapted from Vatican Educating today and tomorrow – a passion renewed April 2014.)

At Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School we are committed to providing a wide range of learning activities to enable young people to develop their God given talents. We believe that education is about more than examination results and that all members of the school can grow and develop their talents through the nurturing of positive relationships. Therefore as a community made up of many parts which bases everything it does on faith, hope and love we believe that in order to achieve excellence at Cardinal Wiseman the following values or “habits of the heart” will be developed. By practising these “habits of the heart” we come closer to God and to using the God given talents we all possess so that we can build a community of “faith, hope and love”.

Values

Practise “habits of the heart” through learning, prayer and celebration to help everyone in the school to prepare for an active working life rooted in faith.