‘The Saints were not Superhuman. They were people who loved God in their hearts, and who shared this joy with others. ‘

Pope Francis

At St Catherine’s we want to help our children to respond to Pope Francis’ call to holiness. As such, the Saints play an important role in motivating our pupils. They inspire us to lead joyful lives; they serve as role models; they teach us that holiness means being who you are; and they pray for us from heaven, giving us the strength to be who God created us to be.

On entry to St Catherine’s, each class is dedicated to a carefully chosen Saint. Each cohort keeps their class Saint as they progress throughout the school and it forms their identity during their time with us.

As part of our Enrichment Units, each cohort revisits their Class Patron Saint at the start of every Academic Year. As they progress through the school, pupils learn more about their Class Saint and increasingly make links between Gospel stories, the lives of the Saints and how they should live their own lives.

Selecting our Class Saints

The tradition started in 2015, in my first year of as Head of St Catherine’s, when I resolved to dedicate each class to a Saint. As a Leadership Team, we wanted our Saints to reflect the diverse nature of our community – in gender and ethnicity. It was important to us that they were relatable to young children, so we deliberately included many modern Saints, who demonstrate ways of dealing with very current challenges, such as modern slavery and homelessness. We wanted to make the children realise that Sainthood extends beyond the traditional Saints that they may already know.

Each year, the school community (parents, staff and children) is asked to nominate saints for consideration as the future EYFS class Saint. From those nominated, Year 6 children research the options, debate and then vote on the future EYFS Saint – in this way passing on their faith to our new pupils and leaving their legacy with the school.

Class Saints:

EYFS St Francis of Assisi  

Year 1 St Cecilia

Year 2 St Dominic

Year 3 St Romero

Year 4 St George & St David

Year 5 St Patrick & St Andrew

Year 6 St Jacinta