As a Catholic school, we are committed to nurturing the spiritual, moral and social development of all of our pupils. The seven principles of Catholic Social Teaching reflect our school values and serve as a guiding light in our mission to promote justice, peace and solidarity in our community and beyond. 

As a school, we use CAFOD (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development) resources to support our pupils to fully understand the principles.  These principles encompass themes of human dignity, solidarity, care for the environment, and the common good, inspiring our pupils to be compassionate and engaged citizens of the world.

Catholic Social teaching in action

In his encyclical Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis calls us to work together to create a world where all people can flourish and no one is beyond reach of the love and support they need. In 2023, Our Lady of Hartley began its partnership with the Optimum Prime Academy in Kasoa, Ghana.

One of our first projects, led by the 2023-24 School Council was to support the school community at Optimum Prime with stocking their new school library. An appeal for pre-loved children's books saw a heartwarming response from the families at Our Lady of Hartley and in May 2024, the first batch of books was shipped to Ghana. Further collections in October 2024 and February 2025 have brought the new library close to completion.

We love to spend time with the residents of The Old Downs in Hartley. We tell them about what we have learned and they share their experiences and memories with us. The Catholic Social Teaching principle of Solidarity reminds us that we are all children of God, sharing our connected humanity and building relationships with other people.    

From collecting alpaca fleece to help birds nest in our school woods to holding a cake sale to sponsor an elephant, we work hard to care for God's creations and our environment.   

Through our regular donations of food to the Community Cupboard in West Kingsdown, we help to support people in our wider community.     

WANTED:

A new character to support Catholic Social Teaching at

Our Lady of Hartley.

The challenge was set! Create a new CST character to represent and inspire Faith in Action. Children from across the school joined together to plan some wonderful designs and interesting back stories. The winners and runners up are: