Together with parents, our task is to help form, develop and polish the three attributes of human character that make us wise, and admirable in the eyes of others and most important, in the eyes of Almighty God: The Intellectual, the Moral and the Spiritual. This is the unifying task which runs through all the three stages of a London Oratory School education: In the Junior House, the Senior School and in the Sixth Form.
Saint John Henry Newman challenges us to ensure that the pursuit of truth is not confined to silos of subject area, but that these flow into each other and stretch beyond the classroom. Below you will find descriptions of how we aim to achieve this.
We see the identification, pursuit and celebration of what are called the ‘Cardinal’ Virtues of Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude as a central part of what we strive to offer so as to harness Saint John Henry’s educational vision and make it our own.
- In the classroom, our teachers are encouraged to identify examples of the virtues at every stage and in all subject areas.
- Outside the classroom , the school is organised vertically into six houses, each with a house patron drawn from the English martyrs who gave their lives for their faith. The housemasters are responsible for urging members of the house to grow in the practice of these virtues, to recognise the importance of them in their lives, and to celebrate those who demonstrate particular virtues in the course of time spent at school.
- In Sport and other extra-curricular character forming activities, because our school we see these as providing the opportunities to practise these virtues.
The pupils’ formal spiritual formation permeates their lives at the school. Every morning begins with a formal service of prayer that follows a cycle of weekly themes which unfold throughout the year, anchored to the liturgical calendar, to the celebration of the virtues, and to the Sacraments of the Church. They incorporate reflections, religious art and intercessionary prayer. Every two weeks there is a choral prayer service in the School Chapel for every house group, with readings, a spiritual reflection from the Headmaster, and a polyphonic Motet sung by the school’s famous Schola Cantorum, along with hymns, sung antiphons and intercessionary prayers.
Pupils attend small class Masses every term, Benediction twice a term, ‘whole school’ Solemn choral Masses at the Oratory Church twice a term as well as the daily opportunity to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation from the school’s Oratorian chaplain who is a daily presence in the school, and to join in the Rosary every week, and Stations of the Cross and Liturgy of the Hours in the school chapel in Advent and Lent. We provide lots of opportunities for pupils and members of the school community to grow in the virtue of Faith, but also to grow in Charity through their commitment to helping each other within the House system and also further afield in our outreach to local schools, the homeless in London, and those who suffer elsewhere in the world especially because of their faith.
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