Welcome to St Gregory's Catholic Primary School - proud to serve the people of Bearwood as part of the Emmaus Catholic Multi Academy Trust providing education for pupils aged 3 to 11 years.

We are an integral part of the parish of Our Lady of Good Counsel and St Gregory the Great,  serving mainly the Catholic families of the Parish. We do, however, warmly welcome applications from parents of other faith traditions who wish to have their children educated in a Roman Catholic school.

The school is situated near the centre of Bearwood, in  the middle of owner occupied terraced housing. It has a standard number of 30 children per class in the main school and 26 full time equivalent children in the Nursery.

Catholic Ethos

The school is a Catholic community, founded and governed in accordance with Canon Law and the teachings of The Roman Catholic Church and in accordance with the Trust Deeds of the Archdiocese of Birmingham and in particular:

• Religious education is to be in accordance with the teachings, doctrines, discipline and general and particular norms of the Catholic Church.
• Worship is to be in accordance with the rites, practices, discipline and liturgical norms of the Catholic Church.

At all times the school is to serve as a witness to the Catholic faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Mission and Values

Our mission and guiding principle is Loving and Learning

We love all those with whom we come into contact as taught to us by Jesus through the Gospels.

We learn to the best of our ability and serve others using our God given talents.

At St. Gregory's we teach and live Gospel Values, as taught to us by Jesus Christ - what He said, what He did and what He told us to do. These values are:

• Respect - Respect for others, respect for the school building, respect for the values and beliefs of others, respect for ourselves, respect for our Catholic community, respect for other religions, countries and cultures.
• Forgiveness - Following Jesus' teachings by seeking to reconcile our differences, by saying sorry and by forgiving others and giving opportunities to make things better.
• Truth - Knowing that telling the truth and being honest is always the right way.
• Kindness - Trying our best to show kindness to others in all that we say and do, having kind hands and kind words for everyone - even those we find it hard to get on with sometimes.
• Equality - Every human being is equal and valuable and loved by God. Everyone in our school is equal, unique and special and we treat everyone fairly. Everyone is equally special regardless of their gender, religion, ethnicity or cultural background.

British Values

The school also promotes British Values which are linked to our school values, ethos and mission. They are:

Democracy

We teach our children to understand the meaning of democracy and promote respect for public institutions and services eg. visits to Parliament, MP visits into school, visits to/from Fire Service, local councillors, visits to the town hall, debates. We support children in understanding how they can influence decision making through the democratic process eg. School Council, suggestion boxes. Furthermore, we encourage our pupils to express themselves, make decisions and recognise they have a valid contribution to make to school life.

Rule of Law

We actively promote and model the rule of law by:

• We ensure the school rules are clear and fair and are followed consistently.
• We help children to distinguish between right from wrong eg. by using the example of Christ when dealing with behaviour that is not acceptable.
• We promote respect for the law and the basis on which it is made, eg. through visitors to school.
• We support children to understand that living under the rule of law protects individuals eg through our RE curriculum, theme weeks and visitors to school.

Individual Liberty

We actively promote and model individual liberty by: Supporting pupils to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence eg. through our Catholic ethos, our way of treating people, by meeting the needs of all of the children, by providing equality of opportunity and by knowing and understanding the needs of all our children.

We encourage pupils to take responsibility for their behaviour as well as knowing their rights, eg. through linking rights with responsibilities, by having a fair and consistent Behaviour Policy. We support the pupils in challenging stereotypes, eg. visitors into school, anti-bullying and anti-racism learning and Multi Faith week.

Respect and Tolerance

We strive to promote respect for individual differences eg. through assemblies and masses, the RE curriculum, multicultural learning, multi faith week and through our Catholic ethos. We help children to acquire an understanding of and respect for their own and other cultures and ways of life, eg. through Geography, International Links and Religious Education. During Multi Faith Week, for example, children visit different places of worship such as a church, gurdwara, synagogue, mosque and Hindu Temple. We discuss and celebrate the differences between people such as differences of faith, ethnicity, disability, gender and different family situations, such as looked after children and young carers.