Skip to content ↓

Catholic Life and Mission

At Holy Cross, our Catholic ethos is permeated in everything we do and is apparent to all those who enter our school.

We live our mission statement which says;

‘Jesus is the centre of our lives, our learning and friendships, in a safe, happy and caring community where all are welcome.’

We are a friendly and welcoming community where children learn in a safe and supportive environment. We see parents and carers as partners in developing a child spiritually, morally and socially. As a Catholic school, we value our distinctive nature and work to nurture these values in our children.

We work closely with the home and parish to foster and deepen the children’s faith and to develop a caring attitude that reflects Gospel values and respect for each other as individuals. Our parish priest is a regular visitor to our school and we enjoy visiting our church on special occasions as both a school and parish community.

By using the Liturgical year as a framework, we draw on the wealth of the whole church to teach our children who God is and what they are.

Giving to Others

We aim to bring about an awareness of the needs of others. This is an on-going process and those less fortunate than us are remembered in daily prayer.

During the autumn season, children and the community are encouraged to bring in food for those less fortunate during the Harvest Festival celebrations. The food is taken to a local homeless shelter.

We raise funds for various charities at home and overseas, including our twin parish of Regina Coeli in South Africa. Children are always encouraged to help each other as well as their parents, teachers and other people in our community. It is our aim that our whole school ethos is one that will foster and nurture a generous giving of self.

Parental Involvement

We believe that in order to be effective, we must, at each stage, seek to involve parents and give them the confidence to play their part in the formation of their children. As a school, we support the primary task of parents as the first teachers of their children in the ways of Faith.

Providing opportunities for Holy Mass to be celebrated.

We firmly believe in the importance of celebrating the Mass by:

  • Encouraging all our school members to go to Mass on a weekly basis.
  • Holding a whole school Gospel assembly every Monday morning
  • Celebrating class Masses in KS2 where parents/carers and parishioners are invited
  • Celebrating whole school and Parish Masses throughout the academic year.
  • Celebrating Holy Mass on Feast Days and Holy days of Obligation.
  • Celebrating Mass at the key times of the school year; at the start of each new term and a leavers Mass for Year 6.
  • By teaching the structure of the Mass to the children

Garden of Peace and Prayer

The Peace Garden offers children, staff, parents and parishioners a quiet place to contemplate and reflect. The Grotto provides a focus point for the May Procession.

Further information on how we live out our faith and develop it for our children may be seen in our weekly newsletters and on the tabs to the right of this page.

Holy Cross CatholicPrimary Academy

Tracyes Road, Harlow,

Essex, CM18 6JJ

01279 424452

admin@holycross-pri.essex.sch.uk