Sacred Heart World
Sacred Heart Mission
Sacred Heart Primary School was opened by the Sisters of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1906. The Society was founded by Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat in France in 1800. Her faith was rooted in Jesus Christ and she had a deep desire to reveal to others the love of the Heart of Jesus, as it was a love which she herself experienced so powerfully. She chose to express this love through the service of education.
Sacred Heart Goals
The development of the Goals came about as a means of continuing the traditions of the Society, which were founded by Madeleine Sophie. The English network includes Sacred Heart Schools from the North and South of England, of which there are five. Each school has their own Goal's coordinator who works in collaboration with other Sacred Heart Schools to develop joint projects.
At the heart of these lie the Goals which embody the core values by which each school promotes and lives by. They guide us and identify us as belonging to a common family and they express what we are and what we stand for. Each year a goal is embedded into the life of the schools.
The goals are:
FAITH
Encouraging pupils in our care to develop their own spirituality and to practise gospel values, which will include having an informed respect for people of other religious traditions.
BUILDING A COMMUNITY
Fostering relationships with each other, with staff, parents, parish and the wider community. Creating an atmosphere of mutual interaction where all are valued and where all involved both give and receive.
INTELLECT
Developing the potential of each pupil, enabling them to become questioning and reflective young people, who will use their knowledge to understand, interpret and interact with the world today.
PERSONAL GROWTH
Affirming the uniqueness and the worth of each pupil, providing opportunities for self development, personal formation and self knowledge as they journey towards becoming integrated and autonomous human beings.
SOCIAL AWARENESS
Giving pupils the knowledge, values, skills and opportunities to enable them to deal effectively with injustice, conflict and environmental issues and thus becoming agents of transformation.
A celebration of life: The Society of the Sacred Heart arrives in England in 1842:
December 8, 2022
Marking anniversaries remind us of what matters to us and they provide opportunities to look back over the years since the event we are marking, to reflect with gratitude on how it has shaped us as an individual and a group.
This is true of the 180th anniversary of the arrival of the Society of the Sacred Heart in England, an event we mark in a year of celebrations beginning on December 8th, 2022. On that date in 1842, six Religious of the Sacred Heart, including the first superior Mother Merilhou, travelled to England with two students to make a new foundation.
It had long been a dream of Madeleine Sophie Barat, our foundress, to plant the seeds of the Society on English soil. As far back as 1802, Sophie had declared that “this nation (England) is made for great things.” In December 1842, after long negotiations, the conditions were deemed right for such a foundation. The newly arrived RSCJ settled in Berrymead Priory in Acton, at that time a small village six miles outside London.
Four days before the six foundresses left France to sail across the English Channel, Sophie made clear their objective in a special farewell conference. She reminded them that "(God's) particular gift to you is to make devotion to His Heart loved in this country (England) where it encounters a thousand obstacles and prejudices; by your awareness of the constant presence of God you will merit to discover the treasures and immense riches enclosed in the Divine Heart and you will share your abundance with others. Everything is there for you....
With this foundation a new chapter opened in the Society's rich story, a story we are still part of 180 years later. Across the years, countless women of faith have committed their whole lives and given their all to the service of the mandate given to our foremothers by Sophie Barat in 1842. Today we might express it differently, but the meaning is the same.
"To discover and make known the love of the Heart of Jesus"
How did they live that mission and shape what has now become the province of England -Wales? By being rooted in that awareness of the constant presence of God and by sharing from the abundance of their gifts and creativity as educators, teachers, poets, mystics, scholars, artists, dancers, writers, prophets, thinkers, scientists, listeners, healers of mind and body, dreamers, nurturers of body and soul, welcoming others with a loving heart and befriending the vulnerable and those on the margins.
On this anniversary we recall with deep gratitude those on whose shoulders we stand, those who are the present stewards of the charism including those who walk with us as partners in mission, creating together the next chapters of the story. We remember too all those whose lives have been touched and shaped by the Society's mission over the nearly two centuries of our presence in these islands.
It seems appropriate to dedicate to them all the words of Dag Hammarskjold:
"For all that has been, Thanks. To all that shall be, Yes."
Catherine Lloyd RSCJ
December 8th, 2022.