As a Catholic School the spiritual life of our pupils and staff is central to our educational mission. Inspired by our patron Blessed John Henry Newman we aim to encounter Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life. This encounter takes place through teaching the faith in the RE department, daily form prayer, assemblies (which offer opportunities for worship), regular celebration of the sacraments of confession and the mass, the care for our brothers and sisters through works of charity and by marking the principle liturgical feasts and seasons of the year. We have a school chapel, in which the Blessed Sacrament is reserved, dedicated to Blessed John Henry Newman.

In all that we do, we aim to communicate and celebrate the faith believed and proclaimed by the Catholic Church.

Each year group has an assembly once a week. Assemblies include reflection, prayer and gospel values.

Weekly Mass: Friday  8.45am

Daily Prayer in the School Chapel: Monday - Thursday 8.30am

School Mass: Friday 8:45am

Life Club: Tuesday 12.30pm

Fr Michael Docherty - School Chaplain
Miss J Brough - SAHT
Mr D Harris - Lay Chaplain
Mrs J Radcliffe - Second in RE Dept

Fr Michael is originally from Egremont in West Cumbria.  He attended St. Benedict’s Catholic High in Whitehaven and represented the county as a Rugby Union player throughout his time at school.  He was also principle trombone in the Cumbria County Youth Orchestra.  After A’levels he studied for a degree in history at the University of Nottingham.  He graduated in 1992.

Before beginning seminary formation at the Venerable English College in Rome at the age of 28, Fr. Michael was head of Religious Studies at St. Edmund’s Catholic High School in Dover.  In Rome he studied philosophy at the Gregorian University and theology at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas [Angelicum].  He has a Bachelors Degree in Sacred Theology and a Masters Degree in Dogmatic Theology.

He was ordained in 2004 at the age of 33 and has served in the Cathedral Parish in Lancaster, Lancaster Farms Young Offenders Institute, Lytham St. Annes, Workington and Warwick Bridge. He has also served as school chaplain to St. Bede’s, Lytham and St. Joseph’s, Workington and was, for a time, the Diocesan Co-Ordinator of School Chaplains.

Fr Michael is the parish priest of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Carlisle [the churches of Christ the King and St. Margaret Mary] and lives in Harraby with his three Weimaraners.  He is a member of the Diocesan Board of Education and Formation, the Diocesan Council of Priests and is Deputy Head of the Diocese of Lancaster Education Service.  As well as being a diocesan priest he also belongs to the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross.