Community Cohesion

‘An insight of Christian faith in the Trinity is the knowledge that the desire to belong to human society is God-given. Human beings are made in the image of God, and within the one God is a divine society of three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Communities are brought into being by the participation of individual men and women, responding to this divine impulse towards social relationships – essentially, the impulse to love and to be loved – which was implanted by the God who created them.’ (The Common Good in Education, p.6, 1997)

‘Christ taught us that our neighbourhood is universal: so loving our neighbour has global’, as well as local and regional, ‘dimensions… Christ challenges us to see his presence in our neighbour, especially the neighbour who suffers or who lacks what is essential to human flourishing… In meeting our neighbour’s needs, we are also serving Christ. For the Christian, therefore, there can be no higher privilege and duty’. The Common Good and the Catholic Church’s Social Teaching, Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales, paragraphs 12 & 14, 1996.

Consequently, for the Catholic community, striving for a cohesive society is essential to human flourishing. Since September 2007 all schools have had a duty to contribute to ‘working towards a society in which there is a common vision and sense of belonging by all communities; a society in which the diversity of people’s backgrounds and circumstances is appreciated and valued; a society in which similar life opportunities are available to all; and a society in which strong and positive relationships exist and continue to be developed in the work place, in schools and in the wider community’ (Guidance on the duty to promote community cohesion, Department for Children, Schools & Families, 2007).

We at St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School, in light of our Catholic life and character and the insights gained from Catholic social teaching, make this contribution by creating opportunities, through the curriculum and otherwise, for pupils to interact with those from different backgrounds to themselves to enrich their understanding of community and diversity.

We recognise that a school’s community is defined through 4 dimensions:

• the school community,
• the community within which the school is located,
• the UK community,
• the global community.

We at St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School understand that there are links between the duty to promote community cohesion and the duty to promote equality through the interplay of subsidiarity and solidarity, although each has a distinctive focus. Through subsidiarity equality can be increased when people at every level of an organisation are given power to make decisions. ‘Solidarity means the willingness to see others as another self, and so to regard injustice committed against another as no less serious than an injustice against oneself’ (The Common Good and the Catholic Church’s Social Teaching, paragraph 22 & 23).

We recognise that our school’s contribution to community cohesion should be organised under three main headings:

1.  Teaching, learning and curriculum

• helping children and young people to learn to understand others
• to value diversity whilst also promoting shared values
• to promote awareness of human rights and to apply and defend them
• to develop the skills of participation and responsible action
• to increase knowledge and understanding of the lives and challenges that face others
• to teach, model and represent the values of fairness and justice
• to develop a sense of social responsibility 

2.  Equity and excellence

• to ensure equal opportunities for all to succeed at the highest level possible
• striving to remove barriers to access and participation in learning and wider activities
• working to eliminate variations in outcomes for different groups
• to identify and remove barriers to learning
• to put in place interventions to enable children to succeed
• to work in partnership with parents and outside agencies to enable success

3. Engagement and extended services

• to provide reasonable means for children, young people, their friends and families to interact with people from different backgrounds
• build positive relationships
• receive services which build positive interaction and achievement for all groups