Our Christian Ethos
Contact - kcrossley@boltonstcatherinesacademy.org.uk
Tina Crossley is our Christian based Youth Worker at BSCA, whose main role is to help our students and staff members bring our Christian values to life both in the school and in the community we live in.
Alongside a team and local partners, they work with our students to creatively support them, help them feel part of the community here, and involve them in making a difference in the wider community of Bolton and beyond. They offer anything from one to one support, group work, lunch clubs and charity fundraisers.
Message from Tina
My name is Tina Crossley, and I am one of the Christian Based Youth Worker here at the Academy. We also have an Assistant Chaplain who works for the ‘Children Changing Places Project’ and is based in BSCA 4 days a week.
Our role as a team is to help our students explore and make our Christian values come alive both in their lives and our school, and in the community we live in. We have many projects and opportunities where young people can actively get involved in outworking our Academy values, here are some of the things we offer.
Believe:
Believe:
We prioritise time within school where students can reflect and explore Christian themes, and how they are relevant to our lives. Each half term, we look at a different theme in accordance with the school year, and unpack them in them in a variety of ways such as one-to-one sessions, small group work, collective worship during RISE in the morning, form times and assemblies. Our 6 half term themes are ‘I belong, I am courageous, I am reflective, I am thankful, I am resilient and I am BSCA’. As students spend time looking at what they believe, we see confidence and hope rise across all areas of their school life.
“Now faith is the confidence of what we hope for” – Hebrews 11:1.
Strive:
Resilience and perseverance are key to our student’s development, and within all our chosen Christian themes, we look at how we can strive to overcome barriers that may arise through things such as the diversity of difference, forgiveness through conflicts, and the priority of wellbeing - especially through times of exam periods or personal challenges. We do this when needed throughout the year but also through the celebration of projects and world days such as Black History Month, Anti-bullying Week and Inter-faith Week.
“But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead – Philippians 3:13”
Care:
We place a great amount of emphasis on the care of our students and staff members throughout the year by taking part in projects to help build up and develop their self-worth, and recognise their value. The Christian youth team are on hand with mentoring sessions to work one-to-one with students who need specific support with this weekly, and offer intervention sessions when needed throughout the year. As an Academy we want to not only invest inwardly into our school, but we want to impact the community we live in and beyond, in a positive way.
That is why every year we choose to support a local charity, Urban Outreach; a national charity, Comic Relief; and an international charity, Christian Aid. We rally our students together and create opportunities to not only raise money creatively, but to be part of planning and delivering how we do that. We place emphasis on our students being ‘Courageous Advocates’ and using their voices to speak up about issues and creating opportunities for them to bring change in relation to them. Our mantra for this is “know it, say it, do it” which students know well.
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you”- Ephesians 4:32
Achieve:
Our biggest desire is that we see students achieve their potential and experience life in all its fulness, and so we create opportunities throughout the year to allow them space to try new things and challenge their skills, such as leading on our Christian assemblies, planning their own care projects, taking part in videos for form worship, and running activities throughout the academic in line with the liturgical year such as Lent and Advent. We also create space for them to reflect in form times and recognise what they have already achieved, instead of solely focusing on what they are yet to achieve in the future. Finally we have an Ethos Group for those students who really want to own and develop the Christian ethos throughout school, and this is an incredible opportunity and example for where we see students thriving, leading, flourishing and achieving at BSCA.
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” – John 10:10
