The work of the chaplaincy team at St Benet Biscop has Catholic Social Teaching at its core and is concerned for the dignity and equality of each person. Every person is seen as equal. They’re lovingly and beautifully made in God’s image and likeness. If we believe that this is true then we are inspired to care for one another, whether we know the other person or not, and to care for the world we live in. The principles of Catholic Social Teaching guide us on how we make decisions about the way we live our life and how we treat others – locally and globally.

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As a faith community our Chaplain, Bridgid Duffy, plays a vital role in developing and supporting our Catholic ethos, providing spiritual nourishment for the whole community. Bridgid plans and prepares liturgies, as well as promoting the Catholic ethos of the school through supporting staff and pupils in the development of daily prayer, reflection and liturgy.

The school has a beautiful chapel located in the heart of the school, which provides a peaceful place for staff and students to reflect and have some quiet time. Every Friday morning staff gather to pray and reflect; and every fortnight, Mass for students and staff is held in the Chapel. The Friday reflection is prepared and led by staff, pupils, and clergy.

Bridgid plays an active role in the Diocese meetings with other chaplains, in addition to organising retreats for our pupils at the Diocesan Youth Village; enabling them to develop their faith and spirituality in an inspiring way. Every year, year 9 students and pupils from the other secondary schools in the Diocese, attend the annual summer festival led by the Youth Ministry team.

Within school, we have several flourishing Chaplaincy teams. Over the course of a week, there is a Justice and Peace club available for every year group to access. We have lots of passionate students who want to make a positive change in our world. We primarily focus on how we can raise awareness in school about charities close to our heart, as well as planning lots of exciting fundraisers for those charities. We regularly run fundraisers for the Catholic Agency For Overseas Development (CAFOD), in addition to many other charities. 

For students in KS3 who come along to our Justice and Peace clubs, we also give them the opportunity to the Faith in Action award. The aim of this award is to reward young peoples’ active service in helping to build the Kingdom of God on Earth. We give students the opportunity to do this award as it encourages young people to serve others in school and their local parish, and to take that service into their wider community. It also inspires young people to shine the light of faith upon their experience of service through guided and personal reflection.
For our 6th form students, we provide them with the opportunity to do the Pope John Paul II Award. The Pope John Paul II Award is a faith achievement award for young people between the age of 16 and 18. It is non-competitive, inclusive, flexible and voluntary.

The Award enables participants to take an active part in the life of their Church – in the life of their community and society. It enables young people to become more aware of the teaching and role of the Catholic Church in the world and to engage at a deep level with Christ.

The Award was created to commemorate the late Pope Saint John Paul II who was so committed to young people and who had such belief and confidence in them.