St. Finian's Catholic Primary School

At St. Finian’s, we are committed to ensuring our children grow in virtue and goodness to be loving individuals who are well equipped for the world.

Our virtue literacy programme, developed through the Diocese of Leeds, is called ‘Virtues to Live By’.

Through this resource, each term, our children develop knowledge and understanding of different virtues (approximately 2 per half term) and in doing so, they become close to God.

“Those who remain in me, and I in them, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.” John’s Gospel 15:15

 Our closeness to Jesus gives us the grace to flourish and  –
“Live Life to the Full”  (John 10:10)

At St Finian’s Catholic Primary School, our intent is to nurture the whole child, rooted in the teachings and example of Jesus Christ. We aim to help every child recognise that they are uniquely created and loved by God, and to understand the dignity, worth and uniqueness of every person. 

Through our Catholic character education, we seek to develop children who know, understand and live out Christian virtues in their daily lives. Inspired by the life and teachings of Jesus, we encourage our pupils to grow in virtues such as love, compassion, kindness, courage, honesty, forgiveness, humility, justice, respect, gratitude, perseverance and service. We want these virtues to become embedded in the way children think, speak, act and respond to others. 

We provide opportunities for children to pray, reflect, celebrate, serve and encounter Christ, recognising that faith is not simply something we learn about, but something we are called to live. Through worship, relationships, our curriculum and our daily experiences, we encourage children to reflect on their choices, develop their moral understanding and seek to become the best version of themselves. 

We want our children to have the courage to stand up for what is right, the compassion to notice and respond to the needs of others, and the humility to recognise that they have much to learn. We encourage them to use their God-given gifts in the service of others and to understand their responsibility towards their local, national and global community and our common home. 

Ultimately, our aim is for every child to leave St Finian’s as a faith-filled, virtuous and compassionate young person, confident in their identity as a child of God and equipped to live out the Gospel in their everyday lives. We hope that the virtues nurtured during their time at St Finian’s will remain with them throughout their lives, enabling them to love God, love others and make a positive difference in the world. 

We focus on a new virtue every three or four weeks. The children think about what the virtue means, how we can see it in others and how we can manifest it in ourselves. 

We incorporate the virtues into our school life by: 

• displaying the monthly 'Virtue to Live By' in the corridor, staff room and all classrooms 

• displaying the Signs of Living the Virtue for each monthly 'Virtue to Live By' 

• awarding certificates in Celebration Assembly celebrating those who have shown the monthly 'Virtue to Live By' 

• taking part in a school-wide worship based on the current 'Virtue to Live By' 

• taking part in class circle times where we explore each virtue

• integrating the virtues into other curriculum planning where possible 

The virtues have been chosen to reflect the time of year for our children and often link to the liturgical cycle too. So for example, we have 'respect and courtesy' at the beginning of the year when we are setting out our expectations,  thankfulness in the season of creation and harvest, charity and forgiveness during the season of Lent, resilience and perseverance during SATs preparation.